AUSTIN, TEXAS—Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) is conducting a comprehensive global search for the industry’s most innovative technologies to be exhibited in GUESTROOM 2010, a model guestroom featuring some of the latest and near-future technologies for the modern hotel room. The 2007 model of GUESTROOM 2010 will be featured in the exhibit hall at the 2007 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference (HITEC). HITEC 2007 will be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., June 25-28. In order to design the 2007 version, HFTP is seeking new and upcoming technologies for the hotel guestroom....

BERLIN, GERMANY—The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) says that the world must respond in a holistic way to the twin challenges of climate change and poverty and that the tourism sector can effectively contribute to the solutions. UNWTO issued a statement at the opening of the ITB international tourism fair in Berlin. “In recent years world leaders have identified a range of challenges of truly global impact with extreme poverty and climate change as the most trenchant issues,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli in his keynote speech at ITB. “They require innovative and changed behavior to effectively...

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.—The California Hotel & Lodging Assn. (CH&LA) recently announced its Stars of the Industry award winners at the Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort Hotel in Santa Barbara. Among the Stars of the Industry awards, presented by USA Today, were two in the environmental category for Good Earthkeeping. These awards were presented to the Chancellor Hotel on Union Square, San Francisco, and the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, San Diego. Good Earthkeeping awards recognize lodging properties that have developed a culture toward integrating environmental management practices that improve everyday operations and the bottom line, while maintaining quality service and...

GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST, B.C.—King Pacific Lodge, A Rosewood Resort has announced a plan to reduce its carbon footprint by half and offset the carbon emissions of all lodge operations and employee travel. The resort also plans to offset guests’ air travel to and from the lodge—creating a truly carbon-neutral vacation. “We are the first hotel in Canada, and perhaps anywhere, to offset the carbon emissions of guests’ round-trip air travel,” says Michael Uehara, president of King Pacific Lodge. “We believe this is a very important step, but it is only the first step in a multifaceted plan to...

SONOMA VALLEY, CALIF.—The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa is forging the path in creating green, environmentally friendly weddings. Celebrated romanticist Kelly McLeskey has recently added unparalleled “green wedding” options to her repertoire of distinctly unique nuptial packages. With a reputation for designing inimitable personalized affairs for her discerning clientele, she unveiled this week an “a la carte” menu of environmentally responsible options. Any (or all) of the following green alternatives can be incorporated into her distinct galas: • Recycled paper invitations complete with soy ink printing; • Personalized menus highlighting local organic produce, wines, coffees, and house-made...

BROOMFIELD, COLO.—Vail Resorts Inc. announced one of the most ambitious green development projects in the North American resort industry to date, to be called Ever Vail. The $1 billion project will transform the 9.5-acre site, currently known as West Lionshead, into a truly green multi-use resort village consisting of residences, a hotel, offices, retail shops and restaurants, mountain operations facilities, a public parking garage, a new gondola and related skier portal, and a public park. The name, Ever Vail, was thoughtfully chosen to reflect the project’s guiding principle of sustainability—that is, pairing Vail Mountain’s enduring preeminent position in the resort...

Commercial buildings across the United States have a common problem: They seldom perform at design level. Optimum level provides the most comfortable and safe indoor environment for the occupants while balancing operation and maintenance costs for the owners. Retro-commissioning (Rcx) is a systematic process that helps solve this problem by allowing a building’s HVAC system and integrated building controls to operate at peak performance. Retro-commissioning building systems can provide significant benefits such as improving occupant comfort, reducing energy cost, improving indoor air quality, enhancing building operations and extending equipment life. The National Environmental Balancing Bureau defines Rcx as “the systematic process...

PORTLAND, ORE.—The Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center Portland-Lloyd Center announced that the property has created an innovative carbon offset program with The Climate Trust. This carbon offset program is the latest accomplishment in the Doubletree’s systematic efforts to build sustainable practices into its entire operations. The 476-room Doubletree is the first lodging property in Oregon to be certified with a Green Seal “green hotel” designation. “Our entire team at the Doubletree Hotel Portland-Lloyd Center clearly understands how our everyday duties throughout our hotel can ultimately have a measurable impact on the world in which we live,”...

SAINT CHARLES, MO.—About 10 years ago, David Oakey realized he needed to change. As the founder of David Oakey Designs, an independent design and marketing firm specializing in the carpet and textile industries, Oakey was fed up with the waste that went into the design, production and disposal of his firm’s products. “I had a choice: Either I change the way I looked at designing or I leave the industry,” Oakey says. “I accepted the choice to be environmentally responsible in the design process—to bring the concept of sustainability into everything I do. “We will not have...

LA TANTE, ST. DAVID’S, GRENADA—Paradise Bay Resort, base here, is laying the foundation for an 80-kilowatt, 100-foot-high windmill. According to James Post, a representative of the resort, the wind generator is the first utility-size windmill in the Eastern Caribbean and will be able to supply the resort with almost 100 percent of its electricity needs. The foundation for the windmill will hold 6,000 feet of steel rods and 40 tons of concrete. The propellers for the windmill will span 60 feet from tip to tip. In March, the installation will be completed under supervision of Netherlands-based Wind Energy Solutions BV....