In this column I have purposely dodged politics over the years but reports this week about the elimination of the ENERGY STAR program require comment here. In case you missed it, according to The Washington Post and other sources, a new White House proposal would kill the highly successful ENERGY STAR program. Hoteliers of all political parties should be concerned about this possibility. The ENERGY STAR is clearly a program worth fighting for. According to Kateri Callahan, President of the Alliance to Save Energy, “ENERGY STAR is a hugely successful program—the most successful public-private partnership we’ve ever had, with more...

If a green lodging hall of fame existed, Dennis Quaintance would certainly be in it. I first chatted with Dennis almost 10 years ago when his Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels (QW) was building the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, N.C. At that time the goal was LEED Gold for the 147-room property that features a solar hot water heating system on its roof and other energy-saving features. The Proximity later became the first hotel to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum level of certification. Quite an achievement. This past fall, Dennis and the other founders of QW announced that,...

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently released its LEED in Motion: Venues report. Like Greenview’s Green Venue Report, the LEED in Motion: Venues report shines a light on the green best practices of convention centers. Unique to the LEED in Motion: Venues report is its focus on other venues such as sports venues, performing arts centers, community centers and public assembly spaces. Each of the LEED certified convention centers featured in the report are impressive in their own way. Be sure to take a look at this recent report. Convention centers, sports venues and the other types of meeting spaces can...

The launch of the second annual Green Lodging Trends Report, a survey to assess and catalyze green innovation, best practices, and awareness regarding the state of sustainability across hotels worldwide, will launch on May 1. The Trends Report is a joint project of Green Lodging News and Greenview and covers topic areas ranging from air quality to energy management to kitchen and laundry and more. This year’s survey will build on last year’s and will include new questions meant to capture innovative best practices that have emerged in the last year. The survey also will include many of the...

I just returned from The NAFEM Show in Orlando. For those of you not familiar with the show, it is held once every two years and features the latest innovations in foodservice equipment and other items for the kitchen and restaurant. I will be writing a wrap-up article about the show in the next few days. Be sure to watch for it on the Green Lodging News website. While at NAFEM I had an opportunity to attend a press event organized by Electrolux Professional. At the event, representatives of Electrolux Professional explained an experiment they conducted last year that put...

In a conversation with a representative of a leading maker of portable air purifiers, I was told that most portable air purifiers today are very similar when it comes to removing air particles. A better than 99 percent particle reduction rate is common, he told me. It is when you get beyond particle reduction that you find most differences among purifiers, as I learned when researching for the article I posted this past week on Green Lodging News. I suspect very few of you offer guestrooms with portable air purifiers included. Vinny Lobdell Jr., President of HealthWay | PURE Global,...

Seems like everywhere I turned this past week I saw something about the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. First, I posted an article about Concord Hospitality’s commitment to LEED. Fourteen of its hotels are LEED certified and there are 15 more in the pipeline that will also obtain LEED certification. All new Concord Hospitality construction projects are designed, constructed, operated and maintained to meet LEED guidelines. Second, I posted an article about the 1 Hotel South Beach in Miami Beach, Fla. and its announcement that it had obtained LEED Silver....

Wellness has certainly been a hot topic in our industry lately. Just this past week, Hyatt Hotels Corp. announced that Hyatt has acquired Miraval Group, the provider of wellness and mindfulness experiences, from an affiliate of KSL Capital Partners, LLC. Also, Westin Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, Inc., unveiled its first global brand campaign in more than five years, taking on the disruptions, distractions and unpredictability of travel and empowering travelers to embrace well-being as a way to regain control of their routines and be their best while on the road. The $30 million dollar, integrated advertising...

One of the frustrations of an editor is being pitched a story idea but then not being able to actually chat with someone involved in the project. Such was the case recently with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Blackadore Caye project. I did not expect a chat with Leonardo personally, although it would have been nice. The interview I was promised was with one of his colleagues. Even though the interview fell through (it was not the PR person’s fault), I was supplied with a lot of good information and it is such a significant development that I did not want to...

Choice Hotels International made it official this past week. According to the company, its Comfort Inn brand has joined Comfort Suites in offering guests 100 percent smoke-free rooms at its more than 1,800 franchised hotels across the U.S. and Canada. Comfort is now the largest hotel brand to allow travelers to enjoy a smoke-free stay, the company says. That is good news for travelers staying at Comforts and even better news for those workers who previously still had to deal with second-hand and third-hand smoke. It amazes me, given what we know about the ill effects of smoking, that many hotels still allow...