I attended The Clean Show in Orlando, Fla. this past week. Held every two years, it is the premier event for the textile care and laundry industry. It was a great opportunity to learn how the industry is working to add energy and water efficiencies, reduce waste and pollution, and demonstrate its commitment to wellness. A number of companies found in our Green Product & Service Directory exhibited at the show. Click here to access the complete show exhibitor list. Two industry initiatives caught my attention at the show: the Clean Green, and Hygienically Clean certification programs. Both are managed...

“Wellness-Washing.” Have you heard of it? A cousin of greenwashing, whose origin is in hospitality, wellness-washing suggests an attempt at dishonesty or exaggeration of the steps a hotel is taking to provide a healthy environment and wellness options for guests and employees. According to WITT (Wellness in Travel & Tourism) and the Wellness Tourism Association (WTA), wellness-washing is common. That is one reason why the two organizations have partnered to launch the Core Wellness Standards for Hotels. And yes, it is another certification for hotel owners/operators to consider. See wittcertified.com. The article posted on Green Lodging News this past week provides more details, but...

With summer nearly behind us—my son has already been in school a week—it’s time to preview the next few months of the busy trade show/conference season. The season kicks off on August 23 with The Clean Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. (August 23 to 26). This event is a great opportunity to connect with companies ranging from laundry equipment suppliers to floor cleaning equipment suppliers. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how you can reduce energy and water consumption in your cleaning processes. Educational sessions will cover topics such as “Hygienically Clean, Clean Green and...

Almost three years ago I posted an article highlighting the many upsides to using biodigesters to break food waste down. In that article, I featured two companies whose machines reduce food waste to a liquid that can be disposed of safely in the sewage system. There are certain technologies for hospitality that are no brainers because of their fast ROI and effectiveness—LED lighting, guestroom energy management systems, ozone in the laundry, for example. Biodigesters certainly belong in that group. In my article posted this past week, I take another look at biodigesters. I found a dozen companies currently selling the machines...

It is getting toasty here in Tampa, Fla. On July 27, the temperature hit a record 100 degrees. The following day the heat index hit 119—another record. It was extremely uncomfortable just to be outside. I am sure the many thousands of tourists in the area felt the same. In June, in Boston, it hit 102 degrees. In Augusta, Maine: 100 degrees. Around the planet, the list of cities experiencing record temperatures this year is long. In Khvormuj, Iran on June 16 it hit a sizzling 126.9 degrees. As I am writing this column, it is a “cool” 109...

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...