CHICAGO—The 2009 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show will deliver a year’s worth of business solutions in one place, including professional development opportunities focused on helping restaurant and foodservice operators increase profitability and productivity. Held May 16 to 19 at McCormick Place in Chicago, NRA Show 2009 will feature more than 65 free education sessions led by recognized industry experts on a range of topics including menu trends, environmental sustainability, workforce development and profit building. “In today’s challenging economic climate, businesses are looking to maximize value for expenses and return on investment for everything they do,” said Lorna Donatone, Convention...

ATLANTA—To help drive the building industry toward market-viable net-zero-energy buildings, ASHRAE is hosting a specialty conference on the topic in March in San Francisco. “We have a reached a time when the building industry is being called to shift to a new level of performance that will reduce our energy and carbon footprint,” Bill Harrison, ASHRAE president, said. “It is time to advance net-zero-energy building knowledge.” ASHRAE’s Countdown to a Sustainable Energy Future...Net-Zero and Beyond conference will take place March 29 to 31 at Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The conference will provide a forum to discuss the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Even as the dire financial news continues to dominate headlines, a cascade of newly released studies and reports points to green building as one of the growing bright spots for the U.S. economy. In fact, as economic experts call for a recovery plan focused on green jobs and infrastructure, as consumers look to live in more economically sustainable homes, as businesses strive to cut operating costs, and as the United States’ national security needs depend on an end to reliance on foreign energy sources, green buildings’ ability to deliver solutions to these pressing challenges promises to change the...

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN—Stockholm is a world-leading city when it comes to environmental thinking. This is particularly noticeable among the city’s hotels, which are now focusing on their green credentials more than ever. Scandic Hotels started its environmental thinking back in the early 1990s. In 2004, it became the first hotel chain to receive an eco-label, the prestigious Nordic ‘Swan’ eco-labeling, for all its 74 Swedish hotels. Scandic Hotels’ environmental program is now fully implemented across both operations and hotel construction. The newly opened Scandic Anglais in Stockholm features a number of innovative environmental solutions. All organic waste from the hotel’s restaurants...

NATIONAL REPORT—They are certainly not all uniform and some are managed better than others but the number of state level green lodging programs is growing. Participation in the programs is also increasing. There are now at least 16 states that have some type of green lodging program. The Missouri Hotel and Lodging Assn. just launched a program in that state (see article) and in New York more than 10 state organizations are currently working together as part of the New York State Governor’s Initiative: Green Hospitality Partnership to put together a program (see article). Through online research and interviews with...

WISCONSIN DELLS, WISC.—Several hundred waterpark resort owners, managers and developers from across the United States, Mexico and Canada are expected to meet in Wisconsin Dells, Wisc. from March 10 to 13, 2009 at the Hotel Waterpark Resort Workshop—How to Survive & Prosper in Turbulent Times. Due to the economy, the topics this year have shifted from new construction to the sharing of survival techniques by existing property owners and operators. The theme of the workshop is focused on Getting Back to Fundamentals—building consumer confidence, promoting travel close to home, marketing value-added packages, job sharing, customer service, revenue...

FAIRFAX, VA.—Crestline Hotels & Resorts, the fifth largest independent hotel management company in the United States, announced an expansive sustainability initiative that is scalable and inclusive across all of the branded and non-branded hotels in the company’s portfolio. Crestline manages 70 full and select service hotels, resorts and conference centers throughout the United States. “EarthPact is a comprehensive green initiative that uniquely addresses sustainability across multiple disciplines including administration, food and beverage, facility management, conferences and meetings, owner relations, public relations and rooms operations,” says Dave Durbin, president and CEO of Crestline Hotels & Resorts. “In designing EarthPact we...

ATLANTA—The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), along with nine other leading organizations, is forming a consortium in response to the U.S. Department of Energy request for consortia to advise the department on high-performance building issues. The High-Performance Commercial Green Building Partnership (HPCGBP) brings together leading organizations from all aspects of the building community to provide guidance and technical leadership on key sustainability issues to the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Program. “This partnership will ensure that the voices of the building industry are being heard,” says Bill Harrison, ASHRAE president. “At a time when reducing energy...

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) and the GUESTROOM 20X Task Force, a group of hospitality technology leaders and experts, are searching for the latest and near-future technologies for the newest version of GUESTROOM 20X. The 2009 version of GUESTROOM 20X, a special exhibit showcasing the most innovative technologies for the guestroom, debuts at the 2009 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) June 23 to 25 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. “Over the past three years, GUESTROOM 20X has garnered a reputation as providing the first glimpse into the possibilities of future guestroom technologies,” said...

LAS VEGAS—More than two years after Nevada voters passed legislation banning smoking in a majority of the state’s indoor public places and all of its restaurants, researchers from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the University of Kentucky have found that restaurants in some Southern Nevada casinos still contain unsafe levels of secondhand smoke. With the close proximity of nonsmoking restaurants to smoking-allowed gaming areas, UNLV assistant professor of nursing Nancy York and Kiyoung Lee, associate professor of public health at the University of Kentucky, measured air quality samples from 16 casinos in Southern Nevada to gauge...