HOLLAND, MICH.—CityFlats Hotel is one of three new construction hotels in the world to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification in the Hotel/Resort Category. CityFlats, located on the corner of 7th St. and College Ave. in downtown Holland, is also the first hotel in the Midwest to be awarded this certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). According to USGBC, LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project is environmentally...

LONDON—Mega-resorts are destroying communities and are environmentally unsustainable and lead to widespread alienation and displacement of people from their land, according to a new report from lobby group Tourism Concern. Poor communities in developing countries, which depend heavily upon their natural resources for their livelihoods, are the hardest hit. Huge tracts of public and privately owned land are being “grabbed” and sold off to real estate developers by governments keen to expand tourism in pursuit of economic growth. In reality, little of the profit from internationally managed resorts stays in the local economy, Tourism Concern says. The trickle down of...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announces the opening of Element Houston Vintage Park, the first Element hotel to open in Texas. Inspired by Westin Hotels & Resorts, Element invites guests to check in to a new travel experience with comfortable public spaces, modern style and eco-friendly design. Owned by Condor Hospitality, LLC and managed by InterMountain Management, LLC of Louisiana, the newly constructed, 123-room hotel is a key part of the new Vintage Park lifestyle center located in bustling northwest Houston. The general contractor for the Element is Benchmark Development Corp. of Dallas. This is the...

BROOMFIELD, COLO.—RockResorts, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vail Resorts with nine locations, is rolling out a formal green meetings program. From e-brochures and paperless check-in procedures to organic cuisine, RockResorts has made it easier than ever for planners to support or host environmentally-friendly meetings. To assist meeting planners and attendees in reducing the environmental footprint of their meetings, RockResorts has launched a carbon calculator on its website that allows planners to determine the impact their meeting attendees will have on the environment, including the transportation, lodging and details of the event itself. The luxury resort company has in place “green” service...

LAS VEGAS—Hospitality Design magazine’s 2009 Exposition & Conference will include a Green Day once again. It will be held on May 13, a day before the May 14 to 16 Exposition & Conference, at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. Green Day is one of the hospitality industry’s leading events focused on education, idea exchange, and marketplace trends related to sustainable design and operations. New this year, Green Day will exceed the annual AIA sustainable design mandatory continuing education requirement. Green Day will include sessions focusing on sustainability strategies, third-party product certification and what some of...

BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA—Kimberly DeLape, whose passion is bettering mankind through environmental preservation, children, and the arts, announced that a portion of the proceeds from sales of a new Caribbean sustainable luxury resort community, Emerald Monkey, will be donated to UNICEF. The announcement was made as native workers on the resort’s island, Isla Pastor, Bocas Del Toro, worked in preparation for the new eco-luxe villas, signaling the emergence of an idyllic five-star community that will complement and sustain itself from its environment. “As we strive toward our goal of creating the first-ever ‘carbon neutral footprint’ luxury resort community and to...

HARTFORD, CONN.—Yet another state will soon have its own green lodging program. Thanks to the efforts of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, Connecticut Green Lodging will launch in May. The program is being put together with the assistance of Peter Cooke, program manager for Maine’s Green Lodging Certification Program. The Connecticut program will mirror the one run in Maine but will be modified to meet Connecticut state government requirements. According to Kim Trella, supervising environmental analyst for Connecticut’s DEP, planning started two years ago when hoteliers in the state lobbied...

SAN DIEGO—In an effort to support and enhance its local farming communities, Loews Coronado Bay Resort recently announced the introduction of “Farmers, Foragers and Fishermen,” a seasonal dinner series that allows guests to dine with the folks who produce, harvest and catch the ingredients they enjoy on a regular basis. “We believe today’s dining experience extends far beyond chefs and wineries,” said Ellen Burke Van Slyke, Loews Hotels’ corporate creative director of food and beverage. “It starts with the source—the farmer—and these dinners are designed to showcase them and their similar passion for sustainable practices.” Similar to a winemaker’s dinner, “Farmers,...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Rosen Hotels & Resorts announced that its three Orlando convention properties—Rosen Plaza, Rosen Centre and Rosen Shingle Creek—are the first hotels in Central Florida to achieve Two Palm status in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Lodging Program, and were numbers eight, nine and 10, among only 11 total Two Palm hotels in the state of Florida. The three properties were among the first 50 properties—the top one percent in Florida—to receive One Palm designation in 2007. The newly achieved Two Palm designation certifies that the hotels have increased energy conservation and pollution prevention measures since their...

LOS ANGELES—With the probability increasing for the first mandatory reductions in imported water supplies throughout Southern California in nearly a generation, Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors nearly doubled funding for the agency’s conservation and rebate programs to keep pace with burgeoning demands. Metropolitan’s board authorized an additional $20 million for regional programs offering consumers and businesses rebates for installing water-saving devices and providing financial incentives to public agencies to make conservation investments. “The unprecedented water supply situation facing Southern California and the rest of the state will not be solved with one or two hearty storms,” said Metropolitan board...