It is certainly not a ground swell, but it is further evidence of the increased interest in wellness throughout our industry: the announcement that the five-suite Inn at Moonlight Beach has become the first lodging establishment in the world to obtain Well Certification. It was awarded the certification by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) in collaboration with Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). For those of you not familiar with IWBI, it is a public benefit corporation whose mission is to improve human health and well-being in buildings and communities across the world through its WELL Building Standard. WELL Certification...

A big kudos this week to IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) for its commitment to switch to bulk-size bathroom amenities (dispensers) throughout its entire hotel estate of almost 843,000 guestrooms. The transition away from the bathroom miniatures will be completed during 2021. The pledge makes IHG the first global hotel company to commit all brands to removing bathroom miniatures in favor of bulk-size amenities. Last year, Marriott announced that Marriott-managed Courtyard, Fairfield, Residence Inn, Springhill Suites and TownePlace Suites brands would transition to shower dispensers. IHG’s voco Hotels, EVEN Hotels and avid hotels brands have all offered bulk-size amenities since...

It was 13 years and 677 e-newsletters ago that I launched Green Lodging News. I consider myself fortunate to have reported on the green side of our industry for so long. A very big thank you to all of those who have made those 13 years possible. My family is No. 1 on the list but Green Lodging News certainly would not be possible without all the vendor support I have received from day one. When you do business with a company that advertises on Green Lodging News, be sure to tell them where you found them. Vendors can...

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) just released a report entitled, “Sustainability in Hotels: Opportunities and Trends Shaping the Future of Hospitality.” If you are not familiar with the Urban Land Institute, the nonprofit’s mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. The Global CEO of ULI is W. Edward Walter, former CEO of Host Hotels and Resorts. The report, published by ULI’s Greenprint Center for Building Performance, contains case studies and is informed by insights from 25 leading hotel owners, developers, and investors, including members of ULI’s Hotel Development...

In the green lodging world it is huge news when a new 1 Hotels property opens and that was certainly the case this past week with the official opening of the 1 West Hollywood. It is the first West Coast 1 Hotel for Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group and joins three other 1 Hotels in New York City and Miami. As with the other 1 Hotels, 1 West Hollywood will be operated by SH Hotels & Resorts, a subsidiary of Starwood Capital Group. Sternlicht and his team are experts at weaving together luxurious green design, highly efficient operations, unique and...

One of the most important words to look for when considering energy-efficient equipment for your hotel is “variable.” I come across it often. In some cases, the technology has been available for years; in other cases, not. The main idea with “variable” is to not be running on 100 percent all the time. This past week in my feature on the very green Revisn aparthotel in Raleigh, N.C. you will see mention of a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) heating and air-conditioning system. By operating at varying speeds, heat recovery VRF units work only at the needed rate allowing for...

It is 26 years now since the initial development of the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) rating system for commercial buildings. It has since expanded to include homes, schools and other categories. The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) points-based certification system is undoubtedly the most successful green building rating system on the planet with 90,000 projects using LEED. In the hotel industry, based on information supplied to me in the past two weeks by USGBC, there are 767 projects listed as “lodging” in the USGBC database. Seventy-one of those projects are not publicly available because the project...

Experts say the domesticated dog has been around for about 12,000 years. The domesticated cat? About 10,000 years. (Why did it take dogs longer? Insert your own joke here.) For as long as guest lodging has been around there have been cats and dogs accompanying travelers. In recent history, dogs and cats have not always been welcome in hotels and resorts and for good reasons—of course the extra cleaning and maintenance being high on the list. In fact, according to the 2018 Lodging Survey, only 56 percent of participants said they allow pets. A good portion of those that do...

It was in my April 26 column that I discussed a Nature Geoscience article about the volume of microplastics falling in the air—yet another reason for all of us to eliminate as much plastic as possible from our lives. If that article was not scary enough for you, review the results of a June 5, 2019 article appearing in Environmental Science & Technology. According to the “Human Consumption of Microplastics” article, we are all ingesting thousands of microplastic particles each year. The research focused on commonly consumed foods in relation to their recommended daily intake. The potential for microplastic inhalation...

It was on October 22, 2006 when I first wrote about Barry Sternlicht’s 1 Hotels venture. Then, it was called “1” Hotel and Residences. For various reasons—primarily a recession—the first 1 Hotel did not open until March 2015. That one is in South Beach in Miami Beach and now owned by Host Hotels & Resorts. Since that time other 1 Hotels have opened in Brooklyn, N.Y. and by New York’s Central Park. Another is coming soon in West Hollywood, Calif. With his award-winning 1 Hotels, Sternlicht has created one of the most successful green brands in the world. The...