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...

The National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) annual survey of American Culinary Federation members shows interest in sustainable food and beverage offerings remains strong. According to the NRA’s annual “What’s Hot” list, the top 10 current concept trends include the following: 1. Hyper-local sourcing (e.g. restaurant gardens, on-site beer brewing, house-made items); 2. Chef-driven fast-casual concepts; 3. Natural ingredients/clean menus; 4. Environmental sustainability; 5. Locally sourced produce; 6. Locally sourced meat and seafood; 7. Food waste reduction; 8. Meal kits (e.g. pre-measured/prepped raw ingredients for home preparation); 9. Simplicity/back to basics; and 10. Nutrition. Among the top 20 food trends this...

Many of you will be reading this column in the midst of the holiday season. I do wish all of you a very healthy and safe time visiting with family and friends. At this time of the year I have to thank all of you for your ongoing support of Green Lodging News—whether as a reader, advertiser, supporter or sponsor. I am looking forward to an even better 2017. Looking back on 2016, there were a number of highlights for Green Lodging News—record readership, the launch of the Green Lodging Survey with Greenview in April, our 10-year anniversary in July,...

December 8 was an important day for MGM Resorts International. It was then that it officially opened the LEED Gold MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. The 308-room property is located minutes from Washington, D.C. The MGM National Harbor is MGM Resorts International’s ninth LEED certification. Cindy Ortega, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer for MGM Resorts International, said in a press release that the hotel exemplifies MGM’s long-standing effort to implement sustainable and responsible practices across its resorts. I spoke with Todd Megrath, Executive Director of Sustainable Development, MGM Resorts International, about the new property and he...

One of the trends I am seeing in our industry is the increasing importance of amenity companies as agents of positive change. I will be writing about this in a feature article in the next few weeks. At last month’s HX: The Hotel Experience show in New York I spoke with a representative of LATHER about the company’s new baobab & shea collection—amenities that include extracts from Africa’s baobab and shea trees. The harvesting of both of these crops promotes the well-being of women and their communities in Africa. I recently interviewed the founder of Health 2 Humanity about...

This past week was an exciting one for Green Lodging News with the release of the Green Lodging Trends Report 2016. (If you have not yet seen the report, click here to download it.) The report is the culmination of more than a year of work on the first annual Green Lodging Survey and includes summaries of the results of the survey. Green Lodging News teamed up with Greenview to produce the survey and report. I owe a big thank you to Greenview’s Eric Ricaurte and Grace Kang for their work on the project. The project could not have...