NEW YORK—The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) launched its green strategy at its board of directors meeting on Sunday, November 9. The strategy focuses largely on minimum environmental guidelines, which are culled from a total of 88 overall guidelines targeting effective energy, water and waste management. The guidelines will be continuously added and built upon, with the next set focusing on design and construction, materials and resources, chemicals and cleaning, and indoor air quality. Each of the minimum guidelines includes case studies, business cases, and resources for general managers to implement. In addition, the AH&LA board of directors will...

NEW YORK—Carlson Hotels Worldwide has introduced a comprehensive new green guide outlining sustainability strategies and practical steps for environmental responsibility, that can be applied across all of Carlson’s five hotel brands. Entitled “Practical Guide to Greening Your Hotel,” the green guide is part of Carlson Hotels’ global initiative to develop programs, policies and partnerships based on responsible business practices. The new guide and strategy were announced at the American Hotel & Lodging Association Fall Conference in New York this past week. Carlson Hotel brands include Regent Hotels & Resorts; Radisson Hotels & Resorts; Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts’ Country Inns...

NEW YORK—Five exhibitors in five green categories were honored with Editors’ Choice Awards during the Opening Ceremonies of the 93rd annual International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show (IH/M&RS), Sunday, November 9, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The awards program recognizes best new products within the categories of décor, essentials, luxury, restaurant and technology. The first day of the IH/M&RS was also highlighted by a keynote presentation on “Sustainability” by Christine Ervin, former president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and president of Christine Ervin/Company. The 2008 IH/M&RS Editors’ Choice Award winners in the five...

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Delaware North Companies Parks and Resorts at Yellowstone National Park recently received a 2008 EcoStar Award for its successful and efficient waste reduction efforts at the historic park. EcoStar Awards are given to companies and organizations leading the way in pollution prevention. Delaware North expects to recycle more than 175,000 pounds of cardboard and 2,000 pounds of paper at Yellowstone this year. The company will also recycle more than 28,000 pounds of glass and 17,000 pounds of plastic in 2008. “Our company is thrilled and honored to receive this EcoStar Award,” said Derek Zwickey, Delaware North Companies Parks &...

NATIONAL REPORT—Here’s a riddle for you: They are hitchhikers you would never want to pick up. To them, we look like Big Macs on stilts. If they reproduced as fast as rabbits, we would all be better off. What are they? Bedbugs. They are spreading like wildfire across the country, with hot spots in New York City and states such as Florida, Texas and Ohio. They are also living large in the Southwest. One motel owner in New Mexico is paying $63,000 to get rid of them. How bad is it in New York? Last year, there were almost...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Member balloting for LEED 2009 is underway, marking the U.S. Green Building Council’s final step in this latest evolution of the LEED green building certification system. Member approval is the final stage of the process used to develop, test, evaluate, revise and publish all LEED rating systems. Member ballotting opened on October 14 and will close November 14, 2008, at 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. LEED 2009 represents an important major evolution of the existing LEED rating systems for commercial buildings, and includes a series of major technical advancements focused on improving energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and addressing...

KEYSTONE, COLO.—As the public becomes increasingly conscious of being green, choosing a meeting space that is environmentally-friendly has become a top priority for many incentive groups. Keystone Conference Center, the largest conference venue in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, has made a commitment to the environment by introducing clean energy technology. Keystone, located in the White River National Forest, is entrusted with the stewardship of lands. Because of its location, the destination has the opportunity to directly protect the environment of its surroundings and engage in resource conservation by means of renewable energy use, recycling, composting, and other forms of...

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) announced that the 2010 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) will be June 21 to 24 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. HITEC, produced by HFTP, is the world’s largest hospitality technology exposition and conference. It offers a unique combination of top-notch hospitality technology sessions led by industry peers and experts, and an unparalleled trade show showcasing the latest hospitality technology products and services. “Orlando has always been a popular HITEC location for attendees and vendors, with some of the most attended HITEC’s held there,” said Frank Wolfe, CAE,...

NATIONAL REPORT—It is odd that the most-recognized graphic symbol for a good idea is a lit incandescent bulb, but that’s been the case for at least a century. It’s getting to be common knowledge, however, that the incandescent is likely to go the way of its immediate successors in commercial lighting, the High-Intensity Discharge (HID) and conventional fluorescent varieties, which are also likely to rapidly disappear soon. Part of this change has been underway in the hospitality industry for some time now, of course, thanks to the screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) that now seem to be the rule rather...

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Buffalo Lodging Associates, LLC, a hotel development and management company, announced that four of their eight Florida hotels have been designated as “green” through the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Florida Green Lodging Program. Earning the designation demonstrates a responsibility to protect Florida’s environment while providing the comforts of home. The following Buffalo Lodging hotels have demonstrated their commitment to succeed in protecting Florida’s resources: Homewood Suites UCF Area-Orlando (the first Green Lodging hotel in the UCF Area); Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Nearest Universal Orlando; Comfort Suites Universal Studios Area-Orlando; and Comfort Suites University Park/Sarasota. The...