BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA—Australia and New Zealand’s largest hotel operator, Accor, has entered into a strategic partnership with Ecotourism Australia to certify all Accor hotels, apartments and resorts across Australia and the Pacific as Sustainable Tourism certified businesses. Ecotourism Australia’s Sustainable Tourism Certification program was introduced in 2022 and the standard is recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). Sustainable Tourism Certification is designed for all tourism operators and businesses in the tourism supply chain to meet and gain recognition for best practice sustainability initiatives. Ecotourism Australia assesses businesses across the four pillars of sustainability: sustainable management, environmental impacts, cultural impacts, and...

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—A major UN “report of reports” from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), outlines the many options that can be taken now, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change. The study, “Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report”, released yesterday following a week-long IPCC session in Interlaken, brings into sharp focus the losses and damages experienced now, and expected to continue into the future, which are hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems especially hard. Temperatures have already risen to 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a consequence of more than a century of burning fossil fuels, as...

CHANNEL ISLANDS HARBOR, CALIF.—While it has received minimal attention in the United States, a new law proposed by the European Union (EU) will require manufacturers and other organizations to prove their product’s green claims. The goal is to eliminate greenwashing, which studies find is more prevalent in Europe—and many other places worldwide—than we may realize. For instance, in January 2021, the European Commission, a politically independent arm of the EU, published the results of a study involving 344 claims on European company websites. According to the researchers, 42 percent of those green claims were “exaggerated, false, or misleading.” Defining Greenwashing The Commission went on...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As nearly 80 percent of hotels experience staffing shortages, hoteliers are offering potential hires a host of incentives to fill vacancies, according to a recent survey of hoteliers conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Assn. (AHLA). Seventy-one percent of respondents are increasing wages, 64 percent are offering greater flexibility with hours, and 33 percent are expanding benefits—but 81 percent say they are still unable to fill open positions. Seventy-nine percent of survey respondents indicate they are experiencing a staffing shortage, 22 percent severely so. The most critical staffing need is housekeeping, with 43 percent ranking it as their top...

LAGUNA BEACH, CALIF.—On the heels of welcoming the first international property to the SCP Hotels family, Soul Community Planet has announced a partnership with Innoceana, a global nonprofit marine conservation organization that works to preserve the ocean for future generations. The new partnership will bring marine conservation adventures and the new Innoceana Corcovado Research Center (ICRC) to the SCP Corcovado Wilderness Lodge. The ICRC will be a full-service expedition and research facility located just off the beach at the SCP Corcovado Wilderness Lodge and within easy walking distance to the Corcovado National Park’s San Pedrillo entrance. The new facility will include a dive...

KIRKLAND, WASH.—Noble House Hotels & Resorts—the family-owned boutique hotel brand with a carefully curated collection of 25 hotels, resorts, and experiences across North America—has partnered with Green Seal and applied for certification for 13 of its properties, continuing its sustainability efforts. Noble House Hotels & Resorts is deeply committed to protecting and sustaining the environment and all the communities connected to its hotels and resorts year-round. Working with Green Seal provides the hotel brand access to sustainable purchasing experts with a global reputation for excellence and the tools and guidance needed to adopt safer and more sustainable practices and products. Each...

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS—Barbados has copped the Green Destinations Story Award for Environment and Climate at one of the world’s largest travel trade shows, ITB Berlin. The nomination came from Barbados’ ambition to be the first island in the Caribbean to achieve a 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2030 and a 70 percent carbon neutrality goal by 2050. The strides taken thus far have landed Barbados its first milestone in this prestigious category, namely having the largest fleet of electric buses in the Caribbean. Minister of Tourism and International Transport, the Honorable Ian Gooding-Edghill proudly accepted the award in Germany March 7, 2023, expressing gratitude to...

RIVERA MAYA, MEXICO—St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, announced the opening of The St. Regis Kanai Resort, Riviera Maya. Descending from the Mayan stars, The St. Regis Kanai Resort, Riviera Maya is a destination-defining oasis that captures the undiscovered glamour of the Mayan Riviera. Inspired by the neighboring 620-acre nature reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site—the Sian Ka’an Reserve, the resort breathes life and magic into the Kanai region with its avant-garde architecture, inviting interiors, and bespoke service. Owned by Grupo Alhel, the resort is a short drive from both Cancun and Playa Del Carmen and...

UTICA, N.Y.—Over the past two years, 36 alumni from the Cornell University Nolan School of Hotel Administration have come together to develop and fund a program designed to attract more disadvantaged and underrepresented Black students to study hospitality and tourism. This Cornell alumni group calls itself DREAM (Dedicated Recruitment for Hospitality Educational Equity, and Mentorship), and has initially raised $130,000 to seed AHED, led by the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University (FIU). Based on extensive interviews conducted by the DREAM group with academic leaders of 23 North American universities, there was a unified belief...

ATLANTA—ASHRAE announced its unwavering commitment to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with the launch of its redesigned building decarbonization webpage and the release of a new Building Performance Standards Technical Resource Guide. The ASHRAE Task Force for Building Decarbonization (TFBD) webpage includes technical resources, information, videos and publications to expedite the adoption of climate change mitigation policies and reaffirms the Society’s goals stated in the ASHRAE Vision 2022 Report, approved by ASHRAE’s board of directors, as well as the ASHRAE Position Document on Building Decarbonization, to achieve net zero GHG emissions in operation for all new buildings by 2030. “Over the years, ASHRAE has demonstrated its...