The year was 1989 and it was my first experience visiting the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show (now called HX: The Hotel Experience (HX) and paired with Boutique Design New York (BDNY) at the Javits Center in New York City.) I was a much younger editor with Hotel & Motel Management magazine then and did journalism the old-fashioned way—taking photos using Polaroid Instant Cameras and standing there with the suppliers waiting for the photos to develop, writing articles on ancient, slow computers in the press room, and physically taking the pages for the daily show edition to the printer....

With approximately 8,000 properties under its wings, Marriott International, Inc. is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to influencing the direction of our industry—at all levels, including ESG— Environmental, Social, and Governance. Marriott just released its 2022 Serve 360 Report presenting data from 2021 and demonstrating its ESG efforts toward the company’s 2025 Sustainability and Social Impact Goals. Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction is the name of Marriott’s sustainability and social impact platform. It was launched in 2017. When a company oversees so many properties, it also oversees a lot of employees. At year-end 2021,...

Here in late October, the trade show/conference season is heating up quickly with the Global Wellness Summit in Tel Aviv from October 31 to November 3, Greenbuild in San Francisco from November 1 to 3, and the HX: The Hotel Experience and Boutique Design New York (BDNY) trade shows from November 13 to 14. I will be attending HX and BDNY. The Global Wellness Summit will have a packed agenda and deservedly so. Globally, the business of wellness is worth $4.4 trillion. There will be 30+ keynotes and panels including one panel focused on the “Future of Travel, Hospitality &...

When I was younger, I did not have a car, so I bicycled just about everywhere I needed to go. One summer, to take a college exam, I rode my bicycle from my home in Cleveland to Bluffton College (now Bluffton University) in western Ohio. It took me from sunrise to sunset to do it, but I made the almost 140-mile trip in one day. I was naïve back then and don’t remember riding with a helmet or toe clips. Oh, to have that energy again but I still ride some today. I thought about that trip while writing...

Since moving to Florida almost nine years ago, I have been through two hurricanes—Irma and Ian. For my neighborhood, Irma was more potent, but it was nothing compared to what the folks in Southwest Florida are going through now thanks to Ian. It is likely that the economic damage of Hurricane Ian will end up in the $75 billion range. More than 100 people lost their lives. (For the latest information on Florida’s recovery from Hurricane Ian, visit floridadisaster.org/info and fema.gov/disaster/4673.) Just a day ago, the Florida Division of Emergency Management announced that the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program has been...

With its late 1970s vibe, Marriott’s previous headquarters was “like a cave,” Rado Ivanov told me this past week. Ivanov is Vice President, Global Design, U.S. & Canada for Marriott International. Marriott’s associates were located on just six floors. I spoke with Ivanov about Marriott’s all new headquarters in downtown Bethesda, Md. The 21-story, 785,000-square-foot building, which just had its official opening, is light years from a cave and probably one of the most advanced headquarters buildings in the country. It is LEEDv4 Gold-certified (for Core & Shell), is aiming for LEEDv4 Gold for Commercial Interiors, and has earned a...

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has just released an extensive research document entitled, “Nature Positive Travel & Tourism.” I highly recommend reading this report. Says WTTC President & CEO Julia Simpson in the introduction, “Nature Positive Travel & Tourism explores how our sector can protect nature while preventing further damage to nature and promoting a regenerative approach to tourism. It also highlights the challenges we must overcome to fulfil our role as a key sector in addressing biodiversity loss and, with it, climate change. We created this report to serve as a resource for Travel & Tourism...

An article published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management caught my attention this past week. Its title: “Narrowing the intention-behavior gap: The impact of hotel green certification.” I highly recommend reading it. The research, which included three studies, was well-researched by the authors: Christina G. Chi, Oscar Hengxuan Chi, Xun Xu, and Ian Kennedy. Data for the article was pulled from a survey conducted at a major U.S. university and from STR. It would be impossible to highlight all the findings in this article, and the article is indeed worth numerous columns by yours truly, but here is a...

My family has always composted our yard variety compostables such as leaves, plants and flowers that have seen better days. It was not until this past week—I am somewhat ashamed to say as the editor of Green Lodging News—that we started to compost our food waste. My wife purchased a barrel composter that is reducing our food “waste” to a very usable soil addition. I must add that taking this waste to the composter is a very good reminder not to waste so much food the next time. Maybe you can relate. It was good timing for the home-based composter...

What role does hemp play in the hospitality industry? A lot more than you can imagine, it turns out. According to Brittanica, hemp, also called industrial hemp, is grown for its soft woody fiber or edible seeds. Hemp is grown in temperate zones as an annual cultivated from seed and can reach a height of up to 16 feet. Hemp cultivation for fiber was recorded in China as early as 2800 BC. Hemp is strong and durable and fast growing like bamboo. About two months after planting, hemp is ready for harvest. Hemp grows without the need of harmful herbicides and pesticides; hemp is...