One of the most difficult things about being an entrepreneur on your own in publishing—and working from home—is the lack of interaction with, and response from, my readers and suppliers. Occasionally I do hear from someone with a “great article” comment, or “I would like to purchase this ad campaign” but for the most part there is silence as each week ticks by. I get it. The hotel business can be “crazy busy”. I typically wait until the birthday of Green Lodging News to pat myself on the back for another successful year gone by but this year, I thought...

Several years ago, my family purchased an air fryer. We have since used it many times—for anything we would typically fry using cooking oil, and even for baking. It is a “set it and forget it” machine until the food is ready. We have significantly reduced our use of cooking oil and are eating healthier as a result. I know life in a commercial kitchen is not as easy and that is why I wrote this past week how one company is helping hoteliers and restaurateurs manage their cooking oil—from purchase to recycling. There are many companies that provide...

For me, one of the must-attend trade shows during the year is the HD Expo + Conference. This year it will be held May 2 to 4 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. I will be attending this year’s show. Hundreds of exhibitors will be there including more than 80 that identify themselves as being in the Sustainability/Sustainable Products category. Some examples include Tangent Sustainable Lumber, a maker of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) plastic lumber; PureWellness, which offers a variety of products to make a guestroom as clean and air-pure as possible; GrassTex, a synthetic turf maker that saves hotels...

Anyone who has traveled a lot over the years has accumulated their own share of toilet stories. Flushing on an airplane while at 35,000 feet is always an adventure. That loud sucking sound is due to the powered vacuum that sucks the contents out of the toilet—very efficient from a water use standpoint. I once stayed in a hotel room that had a pressure-assist toilet. When I flushed the thing, I just about jumped out of my shoes because of the loud noise—a flashback to my most recent airplane experience. Pressure-assist toilets “push” waste out. Like every traveler, most...

If your company has set goals—even ambitious goals—for greenhouse gas emission cuts in the next decade and you are satisfied with those goals, it is time to reevaluate. That is the message from a very important UN report released last week from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In a nutshell, the report said we are all not doing enough to keep temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Temperatures have already risen to 1.1°C above those levels, a consequence of more than a century of burning fossil fuels, as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use. Said the...

Over the years I have talked about numerous conversions of non-hotel buildings to hotels that have been lauded for their green efforts. The Nines Hotel in Portland, Ore. comes to mind. I toured the hotel at one point. It was once the famed Meier & Frank building where Portland residents shopped when they needed to dress “to the nines.” I have also written about the converting of hotels to other uses. In both approaches a huge number of resources is saved. This past week I learned about the future conversion of a former hotel in Seaside, Ore. CareOregon, which offers...

There has been a lot of talk about teeth in the Hasek household recently. My son just got his braces on (for the second time) and he just had his remaining three baby teeth removed in one dentist visit. At age 11, he still believes in the tooth fairy (I think) so he kind of hit the jackpot that night with his tooth fairy trifecta. I had teeth on my mind this past week thanks to the article I wrote about eco-friendlier toothbrushes. Most people, hoteliers included, don’t think much about the environmental impact of their toothbrushes, but it is...

The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) will meet for their annual conference and trade show from April 11 to 14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Already, AAHOA announced it has reached a record number of booth sales. Chances are that total attendance will be significant and even record breaking. For those of you not familiar with AAHOA, it is the largest hotel owners association in the U.S. AAHOA’s 20,000 members own 60 percent of the hotels in the U.S. More than one million employees work at AAHOA member-owned hotels, earning $47 billion annually, and member-owned hotels support 4.2...

Two important occasions and great opportunities for your properties are coming up in March and April—Earth Hour on March 25 at 8:30 p.m. local time and Earth Day on April 22. Please write to me at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com to tell me what you are planning. Since its beginnings in 2007, Earth Hour has been known for the “lights off” moment, with individuals from around the globe switching off their lights to show symbolic support for the planet and to raise awareness of the environmental issues affecting it. Hotels and hotel companies around the world have been participating for years. Last year for...

A big tip of the hat this week to Marriott for the opening of its 100th Element Hotel. Truth be told, Element Hotels was first launched by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide back in 2006. The Element brand was part of the merger of Starwood with Marriott in 2016. The Element Salt Lake City Downtown (hotel No. 100) is part of a dual-branded property. The other part of the development is Le Méridien Salt Lake City Downtown. Like Starwood, over the years, Marriott has consistently incorporated green features into its Element properties. In the press release announcing the 100th Element,...