It is highly unusual for books having to do with sustainability to be published in our industry but in the last two weeks there were announcements about two new books. The books include: “Greening Food and Beverage Services: A Green Seal Guide to Transforming the Industry,” and “Hotel Sustainable Development: Principles and Best Practices.” Both books are published by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute. In this column I will address the first book; in a future column I will cover the second book. In Greening Food and Beverage Services: A Green Seal Guide to Transforming the Industry, author...

When it comes to energy and water waste at your property, is your kitchen your worst enemy or your friend? I recently spoke with Richard Young, senior engineer, director of education, Food Service Technology Center (FSTC), San Ramon, Calif., and he told me the average restaurant kitchen uses five to seven times more energy per square foot than the rest of the building. (See related article.) Do you really know how much energy and water is consumed in your kitchen(s)? If you are submetering, you will know. If you are not doing that, you are just guessing each month. If...

It was difficult to think about green lodging this past week so please bear with me as I relate what happened. My wife was almost a week overdue for the birth of our first child on Tuesday when we had an 8:15 a.m. appointment with her OB/GYN. My wife had begun to have contractions earlier that morning at 12:30 a.m. so we both knew she might be admitted to the hospital. That is indeed what happened. The doctor decided to induce labor. About 28 hours after my wife began having contractions (yes, 28 hours), she entered another stage of...

What does the Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, Algonquin Eco-Lodge, Missouri Hilton Garden Inn, and Proximity Hotel have in common? They are all included in Green Lodging News’ inaugural Renewable Energy All Stars section. I am excited to announce that Green Lodging News has added this section to the left hand side of the Green Lodging News website. It is located just below the entry points for the Green Product & Service Directory and Founding Sponsors sections. Renewable Energy All Stars is divided into four lists: Wind Powered, Hydroelectric Powered, Geothermal Powered, and Solar Powered. There are 172 properties included in...

With a hotel system consisting of approximately 7,220 properties and 840 hotels in the development pipeline, Wyndham Worldwide packs one heckuva carbon footprint. This year, for the first time, Wyndham released a sustainability report (see related article) summarizing the different ways it is working to measure its environmental impact and the steps it is taking to reduce water and energy consumption as well as waste. Faith Taylor, vice president of sustainability and innovation at Wyndham Worldwide, told me this past week that the sustainability report took six months to put together. Fortunately, Wyndham has been producing Global Best Practices reports...

Last week I mentioned that Green Lodging News turns five this month. One of the biggest changes I have seen in green lodging in the past five years is the blossoming of green lodging certification programs—at the international, national, region, state and even city level. Get a few green hoteliers or innkeepers together in a room and you can bet the conversation at some point will gravitate toward certification. Overall, green lodging certification has been a big positive for our industry as it has helped formalize the path toward greater sustainability. I recently queried representatives of the various national green...

I am excited to announce that Green Lodging News is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month. When I first began working on Green Lodging News more than six years ago, I had no idea what it might become. I have to say I am very pleased so far. Thank you to all of our readers, writers and sponsors for helping us to get to this point. After a recent renewal campaign, our e-newsletter and Green Supplier Spotlight currently reaches almost 3,000 subscribers and our website attracts 17,000 different people, 90,000 total visits, and generates 450,000 page views each month....

When I was contacted this past week by someone representing the Synthetic Turf Council, I was a little skeptical. Can something mostly made from oil-based material—synthetic turf—be environmentally advantageous? Turns out a strong environmental case can be made for using synthetic turf instead of natural grass—especially in areas of the country where water is scarce (click here for Council’s recent report). In fact, according to Rick Doyle, president of the Atlanta-based Synthetic Turf Council, if one is pursuing LEED certification for a new or existing building, using synthetic turf can help one earn from six to 14 points (Water...

It is, by total number of respondents, one of the largest sustainability-related lodging surveys I have seen. As part of its Earth Guest Research initiative, Accor Hotels conducted a survey of almost 7,000 of its guests in six countries—Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Only guests who had stayed at an Accor hotel in the previous 12 months were eligible to participate. The Web-based survey was conducted last August by French market research institute IFOP. Why did it take almost a year to release the results? According to Sophie Flak, executive vice president, Organization and Sustainable...

I have stayed at many hotels during my travels and am always surprised when the guestroom bathroom lacks proper ventilation. I am sure you can relate to this. You get out of the shower and the mirror is all steamed up. You grab the hair dryer, turn it on, point it at the mirror and stand there for a few minutes until you can see yourself again. Chances are, somewhere in that bathroom there is mold growing—probably black mold. Not good for your guests and housekeepers. Not good for anyone. For those of you with distributed—or spot—ventilation systems (the fan...