Announcements from The Conference Board in recent months, while not geared toward hospitality, should be of great interest to company executives in our industry—especially those impacting sustainability/ESG initiatives. The findings do not come as a surprise but are worth noting, nevertheless. According to a Conference Board survey of the 3,000 largest U.S. companies, just 432 large U.S. companies filed sustainability reports during the first half of 2025, a sharp drop from the 831 that did so during the same period last year. Andrew Jones, Principal Researcher at The Conference Board Governance & Sustainability Center, says the low number of reports likely...

My family and I just spent two weeks of vacation in Spain—Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastian, Toledo, and Segovia. I had read about recent overtourism protests in Spain—with some squirt gun-wielding residents targeting tourists. We did not witness that but did come across some “tourists go home” graffiti in numerous locations. Overtourism has become a major problem in places like Barcelona where overcrowding, rising rents and displacement of residents have alarmed locals. Under pressure from citizens, Barcelona authorities announced a complete ban on short-term tourist rentals starting in 2028. This measure will cancel 10,000 tourist apartment licenses. It is one of...

My appreciation for the environment all began when I was a child growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Metroparks were just down the street from where I lived. It was the playground for me and my friends. We spent a lot of time there. It was my mother who first introduced us to the parks. In 1969, when I was seven years old, the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland caught fire. I could not believe the river had become so toxic. Cleveland’s reputation was bruised for a long time. The Cuyahoga River has since recovered nicely—a great example of...

As reported on Green Lodging News, Caesars Entertainment just released its 2024 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, aka the PEOPLE PLANET PLAY report. Click here for the full report, written in accordance with GRI Standards. In this column I will touch on highlights from the PLANET portion of the report. Caesars Entertainment is maintaining its path to deliver carbon neutrality for its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050 through a combination of incremental efficiencies, accelerating use of renewable energy and nature-based offset solutions. Against a baseline year of 2019, the company reduced its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 20 percent in 2024....

It was 33 years ago that the International Hotels Environment Initiative (IHEI) was launched by a consortium of chief executives from 10 global hotel companies, as a result of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. In 2013, IHEI closed down its organization and joined Business in the Community (BITC), part of the Prince’s Charities group, with HRH The Prince of Wales as president (now King Charles III). In 2020, the organization became an independent charity under the name of Sustainable Hospitality Alliance. Last year, the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance was rebranded as the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance. If...

I have reported many times over the years—especially during the height of COVID-19—about the impact of indoor air quality (IAQ) on the guest experience. (See the IAQ section of Green Lodging News.) According to EPA, there are a lot of elements of a hotel space that can negatively impact IAQ—everything from carbon monoxide to pesticides to cleaning products to what is off-gassed by pressed wood products. Hoteliers often fail to provide the level of IAQ that guests deserve. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 8 percent of the U.S. population has asthma. An estimated...

If LD 1928 is passed, Maine will join at least four other states—New York, California, Illinois and Washington—that have phased out or are in the process of phasing out single-use plastic amenity bottles. A big tip of the hat to Rep. Lori Gramlich for sponsoring this legislation. I posted an article this past week about the initiative. Support of the bill has been by no means across the board. The Maine House of Representatives voted just 72 to 70 and the Maine Senate voted 17 to 15 to advance the bill. There will be additional votes in each chamber before LD...

This past week’s Green Supplier Spotlight featured something new from Pineapple Hospitality: paper-based single-use packaging for amenities. The product is one example of an attempt to provide an alternative to single-use plastic amenity bottles. Velas Resorts also made news this past week with its Water Bottle Painting Workshop—an invitation to guests to customize their own reusable water bottles using premium paints, fine brushes, and a protective lacquer spray. Also this past week, The Good Plastic Company, a leading sustainable materials manufacturer, announced new and notable developments across its signature Polygood line. Composed of 100 percent recycled and recyclable plastic, including post-consumer and...

In last week’s column I highlighted carbon positive Populus hotels in Denver and Seattle. Carbon positive means they sequester more carbon than they emit over their lifetime. This week I highlight the Radisson Hotel Manchester City Centre (U.K.), now open, and the Radisson RED Oslo City Centre (Norway), which has a planned July opening. Radisson Hotel Group just announced that both hotels have achieved Verified Net Zero status, already meeting the 2040 requirements of the Net Zero Methodology for Hotels. The alignment with the Net Zero Methodology for Hotels is verified by a third party, TÜV Rheinland. The Verified Net Zero...

Populus Hotels is distinguishing itself from other hotel groups in the U.S. with its collection of carbon positive hotels in Denver and Seattle. Carbon positive means the two hotels, through various efforts, are going beyond carbon neutrality by removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than is emitted. Kudos to Urban Villages, a leading developer and environmental steward, for creating the brand. It has done so in collaboration with Aparium Hotel Group, an operator of independent, luxury lifestyle hotels. Each property is a great story of green design, innovation and respect for the local and global environment. “Urban Villages’ mission is to...