Last month I had the opportunity to visit the Orlando, Fla. headquarters of Clean the World. It was great to meet with founder and CEO Shawn Seipler and his team again. My first article about Clean the World appeared on Green Lodging News on June 12, 2009. In that article, entitled, “Unused Soap & Shampoo Problem Hits Salesman ‘Like a Hurricane,’ I explain the origin of the nonprofit that repurposes partially used soap bars and amenities, and that does so much more to help those in need. If you are one of the few unfamiliar with the work of Clean...

Happy new year! With 2025 upon us, I thought I would share what others are saying about trends in this new year. The Points Guy (TPG), the media platform focused on maximizing travel experiences while minimizing spending, released its 2025 Travel Trends Report, highlighting the global conditions that will shape why and where Americans will travel this year. The Impact of Overtourism According to TPG, the post-lockdown travel surge has brought renewed attention to overtourism, with local governments stepping in to protect their communities. In 2025, popular vacation spots will seek a better balance between the economic benefits and negative community impact, which...

With 2024 nearing an end, it is time to reveal the 10 most viewed articles on the Green Lodging News website for the year. This list includes only articles posted in 2024. With such a robust archive of articles, Green Lodging News articles from previous years often make the actual top 10. 1. This article leads the top 10: Transgender Discrimination in Hotels: A Wake-Up Call for Hoteliers. The article includes mention of an EEOC lawsuit against Boxwood Hotels, LLC and its associated franchises. Not only did an operational manager break the law by discriminating against a transgender employee, but...

As reported here last week, Greenview has released its 2024 Green Lodging Trends Report. The report is based on data from 20,000 hotels across 50 countries. One part of the report that caught my attention was “Management System.” That section of the report addresses topics ranging from sustainability champions to third-party sustainability certifications. “A successful sustainability program requires leadership commitment to initiate and effective collaboration to thrive,” Greenview states in the beginning of that section. Greenview found that overall, 61.3 percent of hotels have a sustainability team. The top three countries whose hotels have sustainability teams are the Maldives (100 percent),...

A can’t-miss report this week is the 2024 Green Lodging Trends Report (GLTR). Produced by Greenview, the report is the leading global benchmarking study on sustainability practices in hotels. Be sure to download and read this report. Our industry’s leading companies contributed data. In fact, the report is based on data from 20,000 hotels across 50 countries. A total of 80 best practices are assessed in the report. Of the 80 best practices, 17 align with the WTTC’s The Basics. Nine trend areas are covered in the report. They include: Management System, Staff and Guest Engagement, Social Impact, Pollution and...

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) just published the Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2024. GWI defines wellness as: the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health. Green Lodging News has frequently reported on the impact of wellness on the global economy in the past. The global wellness economy has grown rapidly in the aftermath of the pandemic and reached a new peak of $6.3 trillion in 2023 (representing 6.03 percent of global GDP). The wellness economy is expected to reach nearly $6.8 trillion in 2024, and march toward nearly $9.0 trillion in...

Arlo Hotels, the independent lifestyle hotel brand with properties in New York, Chicago and Miami, announced that its Arlo Washington DC officially opened this past week. The 445-room hotel is expected to achieve LEED certification in spring 2025. The property is demonstrating over 25 percent reduction in energy cost and will have a 6,000-square-foot green roof, including a 12,000-gallon cistern to capture rainwater that will be treated and reused on-site. The Arlo Washington DC will join hundreds of other hotels that have earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED certification. USGBC recently announced the release of its USGBC Impact Report—a comprehensive review...

NEW YORK—The annual Boutique Design New York (BDNY), held this past week at the Javits Center in New York, featured a long list of companies with sustainability initiatives. The following is just a partial list of those companies and their product introductions. Solar powered since last year, Moore & Giles featured its carbon neutral leathers—Mont Blanc and Tribeca. “When you choose Moore & Giles carbon neutral leather, you are helping to offset the cradle to gate embodied carbon impact through third-party verified carbon offsets,” the company says, adding that it partners with UPS and FedEx to offset CO2 emissions from...

A leading national nonprofit, Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to act every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Keep America Beautiful envisions a country in which every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people End Littering, Improve Recycling, Beautify America’s public spaces, and Restore & Support resilient communities. The organization is driven by the work and passion of millions of individual volunteers, nearly 700 community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, and the support of municipalities, elected officials, and corporate partners. Hilton Sponsors Greatest American Cleanup Hilton recently announced sponsorship of Keep...

Nuveen Green Capital made the news twice recently, and for good reason. First, the leader in sustainable commercial real estate financing solutions announced that it has closed on the financing of $190 million in C-PACE capital for the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The project marks the first C-PACE financed deal in Clark County, as well as the largest in Nevada, and second largest C-PACE financed deal in the country to date. Second, it announced that it has closed on a $76.2 million financing package for Bishop’s Lodge Auberge Resort in Santa Fe, N.M. The closing marks the first-ever C-PACE...