NATIONAL REPORT—It is a hotel owner’s nightmare—a call from an attorney representing a guest who has been bitten by bedbugs. If accounts found all over the Internet, on blogs and from vendors are true, it happens often. In fact, the news media recently reported that a woman is suing a Catskills resort for $20 million due to the approximately 500 bedbug bites she received while staying at the property in summer 2005. Traditionally, hotels have resorted to chemical treatments from some of the pest control industry’s leading companies to fight the problem. This medicine can be as bad as the...

LAS VEGAS—Cala Corp. has completed its plans to build a $400 million destination casino three miles off the Miami coast. The UnderSea Resort will feature 600 luxurious suites, a 50,000-square-foot casino, a 50,000-square-foot spa, six food and beverage outlets, an on-site golf driving range, approximately 100,000 square feet of meeting space, on-site helicopter service and approximately 50,000 square feet of undersea aquarium observatory space. The company intends to become both the largest offshore casino operator as well as the largest offshore timeshare developer. For more information, visit www.UnderSeaResort.com.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO—In May 2005, the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) Governing Council convened in Puerto Rico with the purpose of planning the strategies to advance the development of sustainable tourism in the Caribbean. During the meeting, Sir Royston Hopkin KCMG, Chairman of the Council, made the announcement of a new regional award for Green Globe-certified properties based on their benchmarking data submitted for the past two years to Green Globe and reviewed by EarthCheck. The Best Overall Performer Award was granted to Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort in Aruba, a property that achieved best practice status...

DENVER—The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) recently honored the winners of the AH&LA Achievement Awards, part of the Stars of the Industry Awards breakfast, held during the AH&LA Summer Summit at The Brown Palace Hotel and sponsored by U.S. Foodservice. The awards, created in 1966, recognize individual hotel properties that have developed outstanding public relations campaigns. Among the categories is Good Earthkeeping. The Onyx Hotel in Boston won the Good Earthkeeping award, small property category, for its integrated approach to sustainable lodging practices. The hotel demonstrates a strong commitment to purchasing eco-friendly products and amenities, as well as innovative...

THE WOODLANDS (HOUSTON) TEXAS—Well over 100 executives of Benchmark Hospitality International converged recently at The Hermitage Foundation Museum of Norfolk, Virginia, to put the company’s Hometown Hospitality Caring for Our Communities initiative into practice. The executives were attending a management forum at The Founders Inn, which is operated by Benchmark and located in nearby Virginia Beach. The executives participated in Norfolk’s “Living Shoreline Wetlands Restoration Project” at the Hermitage. The Benchmark team spent the day clearing debris that had washed up on the banks of the Lafayette River flowing near the circa 1908 Tudor-style historic house museum, formerly...

SAN ANTONIO—WaterSense, a new water efficiency program launched by EPA, will educate American consumers on making smart water choices that save money and maintain high environmental standards without compromising performance. “Efficient products and informed consumers lead to smart water use,” says EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “EPA’s WaterSense program will provide water solutions that are a win-win for our wallets and our environment. WaterSense just makes sense. WaterSense advances President Bush’s cooperative conservation goals through education, not regulation—spreading the ethic of water efficiency and promoting the tools to make wise water choices.” The WaterSense program aims to...

TURNER, AUSTRALIA—Green Globe, the worldwide benchmarking and certification program that facilitates sustainable travel and tourism for consumers, companies and communities, has launched a new Web site. The site comprises three main pages. The Program page provides an overview of the Green Globe program for the tourism industry and for those wanting to know more about the organization’s background, credentials, networks and resources. There is a Travellers’ page to assist environmentally conscious travellers to find Green Globe Benchmarked and Certified businesses and destinations. The third page is a Participants’ page to permit customers to log in and find all...

MINNEAPOLIS—At the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference here last month, numerous companies were on hand pushing green products—whether on the trade show floor or in the futuristic Guestroom 2010 pavilion. The following is a summary of the featured products. Energy Eye—This Rochester Hills, Mich.-based company demonstrated its Wireless Radio Frequency Energy Management System. It is capable of detecting whether or not a guestroom is occupied through information transmitted to the Energy Eye Brain by the company’s Passive Infrared Detector and Micro Door Sensor. When a guestroom is occupied, the Energy Eye allows the guest to have full control over...

HOUSTON—An increasing number of hoteliers are choosing to set their properties apart by becoming nonsmoking facilities. There are many advantages to making the change: • Providing a healthier atmosphere for guests and staff; • Protecting bathroom counters from burns, carpet from holes, etc.; • Extending the life of soft goods, carpet and interior paint of the property; • Shortening the time it takes housekeepers to clean a room; and • Creating a special marketing niche for your property. The Groveland Hotel near Yosemite National Park has been smoke free for the last 12 years since Peggy Mosley became general manager there. Peggy’s experiences provide boundless...

NEW YORK—The Premier became a fully nonsmoking facility on June 1. The hotel’s smoking rooms (24 rooms in total) underwent a deep cleaning process prior to their conversion to nonsmoking rooms. One hundred and one of The Premier’s rooms are currently nonsmoking. This conversion marks The Premier as one of the first New York City deluxe hotel rooms to become nonsmoking. The Premier is owned and managed by Millennium Hotels and Resorts, North America. The Premier is located at 133 West 44th Street in the heart of Times Square adjacent to the Millennium Broadway. The Premier features a...