Within the next month there will be a number of significant announcements—two of which involve Green Lodging News. First, I have been working hard on a redesign of the Green Lodging News website. I compare it to moving from one country to another as almost 9,000 files have been moved to a new software platform. The website will look significantly different and certainly more updated from a design standpoint compared to the current site. The new site should be ready to for launch in the next few weeks. Watch for it! Speaking of my current site and the new site,...

Hilton’s decision this past week to make discarded soap and amenity recycling a brand standard among its All Suites brands is a “game changer” for Clean the World, the organization doing the repurposing/recycling, according to Shawn Seipler, Founder and CEO of the Orlando, Fla. based nonprofit. Hilton’s decision is significant in several ways. It is the first major hotel company to make soap and amenity recycling a brand standard. Second, the commitment that includes Embassy Suites by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton will elevate Hilton’s participation to 1,370 hotels. According to Maxime Verstraete, Vice President,...

Just one month remains before this November’s annual HX: The Hotel Experience (formerly International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show) and Boutique Design New York (BDNY). I posted an article about the shows this past week. HX will take place from November 13 to 15 and BDNY from November 13 to 14 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York. I strongly encourage you to attend. Together, the trade shows will feature approximately 1,000 companies. Many of those suppliers will feature products and technologies to help you dramatically reduce waste, improve profitability, and conserve water and energy. I have been...

I recently wrote an article about the Olas Verdes Hotel in Playa Guiones, Costa Rica. One of the things that impressed me most about the property—aside from the fact that it had earned LEED Platinum—was how its trees and plants were purposely not cut down during construction. The property is an easy walk to the beach and could have had a great view of the ocean but the trees and plants were intentionally left in place to block that view. How attentive were you to tree and plant preservation when you built your property? Mankind has done a terrible job...

Typically, the rooftop of an urban hotel is a missed opportunity when it comes to potential power generation or the lessening of the urban heat island effect. San Francisco wants to change that. Earlier this year the city made adding solar—for electricity or heating—a requirement for new buildings 10 stories or less. Hotels are included. The ordinance states that the solar zone shall be located on the roof or overhang of the building, or on the roof or overhang of another structure located within 250 feet of the building or on covered parking installed with the building project. San...

Last month saw the official powering up and blessing of one of our industry’s largest single-property solar photovoltaic installations—a 500 kilowatt, 1,528 panel system at the Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui in Hawaii. The panels will generate 845,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough electricity to power 139 homes on Maui. The project is expected to reduce the resort’s current energy demand by more than 10 percent and reduce CO2e emissions by 462 metric tons of CO2e annually. This reduction in CO2e emissions is the equivalent of removing 97 passenger cars from local roads per year. I spoke with...

As I have learned over the years I have been publishing Green Lodging News, the kitchen can be a hub for inefficiency. Leaky freezers, fans that don’t stop running, and wasted food are just a few examples. Of course the kitchen is also a place with plenty of potential for significant water waste. Where there is a faucet, there is waste just waiting to happen. This past week I posted an article about a study that was conducted by Pacific Gas and Electric Company Food Service Technology Center (FSTC). The study, entitled “Conveyor Dishwasher Performance Field Evaluation Report,” documents...

Last week was an important one for the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) and our industry. ITP, a membership organization with the mission of facilitating collaboration between some of the world’s leading hotel companies, unveiled the Hotel Water Measurement Initiative (HWMI). The result of 18 months of work by 18 global hotel groups, ITP and others, HWMI is the industry’s first jointly developed and consistent water measurement tool. It will enable hotel companies and individual properties to measure and report on water consumption in a consistent way. The tool is free for you to use. The problem with water measurement in...

August 31, 2016 marks the deadline for the first annual Green Lodging Survey. Have you completed it? You certainly still have time. Just click here to access it. The survey is a production of Green Lodging News and Greenview and is being conducted with the support of Travelife, Green Key Global, Mekong Tourism Office, Horwath HTL Asia Pacific and Clean the World. The Green Lodging Survey is sponsored by The Arbor Day Foundation at the Silver level and Pineapple Hospitality, Aquawing Ozone Laundry Systems, PragmaTech Ltd. and reCollect2 Co. at the Bronze level. Once the survey closes, the analysis of...

“Is there science to back it all up?” That was a question posed by one of the company spokespersons interviewed for the article I recently posted on guestrooms sold at a premium for being healthier, “green” or allergy-friendly in one way or another. Many of you are probably at least somewhat familiar with Stay Well rooms, PURE Rooms, and maybe even EcoRooms. I explore these as well as a new room package called the Elite Room in my article. I trust that there was indeed a good amount of scientific research done in preparation for the rollout of these...