How do you honor your employees for their achievements in corporate social responsibility? Years ago, I worked for a publication called IndustryWeek and led a project that honored the world’s 100 Best Managed Companies. These companies, which tended to be manufacturing in nature, did not necessarily have a sustainability champion but they had figured out that it was in their best interest to honor their employee achievements with awards and celebrations of their successes. I guarantee you employees working for these companies tended to stay longer and were better compensated for their time. Similar surveys by publications such as...

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have launched a major new report addressing the complex issue of single-use plastic products (SUPP) within Travel & Tourism. The report is entitled, “Rethinking Single-Use Plastic Products in Travel & Tourism.” (To read the report in full, click here.) It is intended to help stakeholders take collective steps towards coordinated actions and policies that drive a shift towards reduce and reuse models. The report’s recommendations include redefining unnecessary single-use plastic products in the context of one’s own business; giving contractual preference to suppliers of reusable products;...

I recently sent an e-mail to all my contacts who sell amenities—soaps, conditioner, shampoo, toothbrushes, dispensers, etc. I heard back from nine companies. I asked the companies to feature one of their latest products. Be sure to check out the article. What is clear is that makers of dispensers especially have spent a lot of time improving their product offering in recent years. What is also clear is that amenities are taking on different forms. Hotel Emporium, for example, sells ECO PODs that include powder in containers made from 60 percent bamboo fiber, 30 percent sugarcane fiber, and 10...

It was 16 years ago, after I had been downsized by a well-known industry publication, that I noticed that other industries had a green publication, but the hospitality industry did not. With enough experience under my belt and some good contacts to help me along the way, I decided to create Green Lodging News. It took me a year to launch it, so this month Green Lodging News turns 15 years old. Happy birthday GLN. Each year that I mark another year behind me I write about it here because there are no guarantees in this life and to be...

It was more than three years ago that MGM Resorts International and Chicago-based Invenergy, North America’s largest independent renewable energy company, partnered on a new solar photovoltaic array that would generate 100 megawatts of clean, renewable energy. The MGM-Invenergy Solar Project was to be located 25 miles north of Las Vegas and MGM Resorts would purchase all the energy generated by the project to help power its 13 properties on the Las Vegas Strip. This past week, MGM Resorts launched its 100-megawatt solar array, the hospitality industry’s largest directly sourced renewable electricity project worldwide. The array’s clean energy now produces...

A few random thoughts as we wrap up the month of June and head into July. It is good to see the industry continue to rebound from a terrible 2020/early 2021. According to STR, the last four weeks ending Saturday, June 12, twenty-six states showed demand totals within a 10 percent margin of the corresponding period of 2019. Collectively, eight of those states sold more rooms for the four-week period than they did 2019. Demand gains are widespread and, so far in 2021, most states (28) have had at least one week that surpassed a comparable week from 2019. We are...

Like many of you I am finalizing my summer vacation plans. My family chose a visit to New Mexico this year. I was there before as a single guy and loved the state and am looking forward to experiencing it with my family. Today it will hit 98 degrees in Albuquerque. We are hoping for more temperate weather for our visit. Just over one state, in Phoenix, it will hit 117 degrees today. Yesterday it hit a record 118, breaking previous records by four degrees. Years ago, I was in Phoenix, and it was 102 and it was like being...

Booking.com just released its sixth annual Sustainable Travel Report (see related article). It is based on one of the travel industry’s largest surveys and worth paying attention to. A total of 29,000 travelers from 30 countries were surveyed. (Click here to access a page where the Report can be downloaded.) “Our research uncovers how the travel hiatus has opened travelers’ eyes to the impact, both positive and negative, that their trips can have on local ecosystems and communities around the world,” said Marianne Gybels, Director of Sustainability at Booking.com. As the world of travel starts to open again, Booking.com’s 2021 Sustainable Travel...

The pandemic has certainly brought greater attention to indoor air quality (IAQ). A recent survey by Carbon Lighthouse has proven that one group of the work force—Millennials—are demanding greater transparency and data when it comes to IAQ. You should care because Millennials are expected to account for 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. Carbon Lighthouse’s survey included 1,000 U.S. consumers. Due to the overweighted economic influence of the millennial demographic as both employees and consumers, Carbon Lighthouse chose to focus its analysis on the 332 millennial respondents who took the survey. Here are some of the key findings of the...

Ford Motor Co. made a lot of noise in recent weeks with its F-15 Lightning announcement. The introduction of this electric vehicle (EV) is significant. Ford’s F-Series truck has been America’s best-selling truck for 44 years. The first lightning will roll off the assembly line next year at a new high-tech factory using sustainable manufacturing practices. Ford is starting with zero-emissions versions of its most popular and best-loved franchises—Mustang, Transit and F-150—with much more to come in the years ahead. Ford is one of just many companies accelerating their production of electric vehicles. I have yet to buy one because...