PARSIPPANY, N.J.—Health-conscious travelers—especially those suffering from allergies and asthma—may breathe easier at Wyndham hotels thanks to the upscale chain’s new Wyndham ClearAir initiative to offer allergy-friendly guest accommodations. While eight Wyndham hotels offer the rooms today, all will be required to convert 10 percent of their room inventory or a minimum of 25 rooms into allergy-friendly environments by the end of 2009. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts is the first national upscale lodging chain to mandate allergy-friendly rooms systemwide. The chain’s move responds to guest concerns over rising consumer health issues and costs associated with allergic reactions. According to the Asthma...

NEW YORK—As a result of its $65 million renovation, the historic New Yorker Hotel, located in the heart of New York City, will decrease its use of energy for heating and air-conditioning by 30 to 40 percent, effectively reducing the hotel’s carbon footprint. Furthermore, the new air-conditioning system will exceed ASHRAE Standard 90.1, an internationally recognized energy conservation standard related to HVAC systems (ASHRAE is the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers). The $65 million renovation, to be completed in September of this year, is carefully designed to recapture the style and character of the New Yorker...

SEATTLE—A University of Washington study of top-selling laundry products and air fresheners found the products emitted dozens of different chemicals. All six products tested gave off at least one chemical regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws, but none of those chemicals was listed on the product labels. “I first got interested in this topic because people were telling me that the air fresheners in public restrooms and the scent from laundry products vented outdoors were making them sick,” said Anne Steinemann, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs. “And I wanted to know, ‘What’s...

BOSTON—When you host the annual conference of a national environmental organization, there is a good chance you will make some changes to your operations—whether to impress or to meet the demands of the group you are hosting. That is what happened at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel earlier this year when it hosted the Ceres annual conference. Ceres is a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change. According to David Keamy, director of sales and marketing at the 456-room property, Ceres event...

PORTLAND, ORE.— Placing it among exclusive company on an international scale, Portland’s Avalon Hotel & Spa has achieved the Northwest’s first LEED certification of an existing hotel building. The Avalon, a luxury boutique hotel and spa, joins the ranks of only nine other hotels in the world to have achieved LEED certification and is the second existing hotel building in the world to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) coveted Silver rating. The Avalon is located in Portland, Ore., a location that is consistently ranked as the greenest city in America, with 43 buildings certified to the USGBC’s LEED...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC), have jointly announced the launch of a new Element hotel in Abu Dhabi—the first to be introduced in the Europe, Africa and Middle East division. The new Element hotel is scheduled to open in 2011 at the prestigious Capital Centre development in Abu Dhabi—a business and residential micro-city including a state-of-the art exhibition centre, a 2.4-kilometer marina development, and a gravity defying, iconic feature tower known as Capital Gate. Element will showcase 36 studios, 144 one-bedroom guestrooms, and 90 two-bedroom units, a restaurant,...

LAPU-LAPU, PHILIPPINES—An invention that reuses the water used to cool ice machine compressors has allowed Hilton Cebu Resort & Spa in the Philippines to recycle hundreds of thousands of liters of water each year and save on its water bill. The invention, a simple piping system, is attached to three ice machines in the hotel, capturing the water used to cool the compressors and then sending this “grey water” to be reused in the hotel’s flushing tanks, rather than simply washing down the drain. The system was created as part of a water saving project led by Hilton Cebu’s chief...

PARSIPPANY, N.J.—The 370-room Sheraton Parsippany Hotel has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) prestigious Energy Star, the national symbol for superior energy efficiency and environmental protection. Commercial buildings and industrial plants that rate in the top 25 percent of facilities in the nation for energy efficiency may qualify for the Energy Star. The hotel is owned by Host Hotels and Resorts and managed by Starwood Hotels and Resorts. “The Sheraton Parsippany Hotel has worked hard on efficiencies and energy savings and is pleased to accept EPA’s Energy Star in recognition of our efforts,” said Edward Costello, director of operations...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As a part of the broader vision for LEED V3, the certification bodies for the LEED Green Building Rating System were announced. Well-known and respected for their role in certifying organizations, processes and products to ISO and other standards, they are: ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc.; BSI Management Systems America, Inc.; Bureau Veritas North America, Inc.; DNV Certification; Intertek; KEMA-Registered Quality, Inc.; Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Inc.; NSF-International Strategic Registrations; SRI Quality System Registrar, Inc.; and Underwriters Laboratories-DQS Inc. In the spirit of the most successful LEED projects, this evolution in the certification process is being undertaken as an integrated...

PORT CLINTON, OHIO—Approximately 120 feet above the grounds here at the McKenna’s Inn Bed and Breakfast, a 10-kilowatt wind turbine catches the breezes coming off of Lake Erie. For the owners, Joe Jessen and his wife, Becky, the turbine represents more than an alternative source of power for their four-room inn. It is their way of helping to create a better future for their daughter—one where renewable energy is the rule, rather than the exception. The wind turbine at the McKenna’s Inn Bed and Breakfast just went “live” a few weeks ago. It is something Joe says he and his...