MindClick SGM released the results of its ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives) Sustainability Research Study this past week (see article). The purpose of the study was to better understand travel executives’ interest in green hospitality and what role sustainability plays in their procurement decisions. The online survey was conducted in July 2010 using U.S. and Canada based ACTE members. Survey respondents represented many different industries and managed travel budgets less than $10 million (31 percent of respondents), $10 million to $50 million (38 percent of respondents) and more than $50 million (31 percent of respondents). According to JoAnna...

The name may sometimes prompt a few giggles but Virgin Group’s Virgin Hotels is positioning itself to be a serious hotel developer in the United States—first in urban markets such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Miami. I had an opportunity to see a presentation by Raul Leal, president and COO of the company, at this past week’s NEWH Leadership Conference in Orlando. Leal impressed the crowd not only with what he said but how he said it—sprinkling in humor and insightful industry analysis—and received a standing ovation in the process. This guy was...

How long would you be willing to work toward green lodging certification? Six months? One year? Two years? Two years is how long the process was for the 379-room Portola Hotel & Spa in Monterey, Calif. The property just earned LEED Silver certification as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance certification program, falling just three points shy of LEED Gold. (See related article.) The Portola is among just a handful of hotel properties in the United States that have achieved LEED accreditation in the Existing Buildings category. I first met Janine Chicourrat,...

As the New Year begins, I have Boston on my mind. Why? This past week I spoke with Jeff Hanulec, director of engineering at the Westin Copley Place in Boston and learned about the outstanding work he and his green team are doing to reduce energy and water consumption. Considering the size of the hotel they are working in—38 stories and 803 rooms—their accomplishments over the last four years have been impressive. Total utility costs in November 2006 were $337,883. In November of this year they were just $178,235. It is a pretty safe bet that rates for water...

As we wind down 2010, we here at Green Lodging News have to thank all of you—loyal readers and advertisers—for your ongoing support. Of course we also wish you a very happy holiday season and a very happy new year as well! This past year was an important one for Green Lodging News, as it celebrated its fourth year in business with a new website packed with just as much news as ever, in addition to two new video sections, a Twitter feed, new blog site, and much more. This summer Green Lodging News asked its newsletter subscribers to renew...

While at the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show last month, I had one of those “wow” moments—an eye opener when it comes to just how far guestroom energy management technology has come. The vendor representative I was speaking with took out his handheld device—I am sure it was his phone/TV/garage door opener, etc.—and showed me how quickly he could access data summarizing the heating and cooling activity in the guestrooms of a particular hotel. Nothing too earthshaking about that but then he showed me how he could turn out the lights in a room hundreds of miles away...

If I were running a marathon, which I have twice, I would not run 26 miles and 384 yards of the 26 miles and 385 yards and then stop. Similarly, if I were a hotelier pursuing some form of green lodging certification—Green Globe, Green Key, Green Seal, Green Leaf, EcoRooms & EcoSuites, LEED, Energy Star, you name the program—I would not go through the entire application process and then put on the brakes just before getting the award. When I began investigating the current state of the EPA’s Energy Star for Hospitality and Entertainment program, I was struck by the...

Thousands of years ago, in ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Egypt, pillows were made from materials such as wood, jade, bronze, or porcelain. Hard pillows were preferred because people thought soft substances robbed the body of vitality and were bad for everything from blood circulation to keeping demons away. Later on, the rich and powerful in Greece and Rome used softer substances including straw, reeds and feathered down. Thank goodness for the Greeks and Romans. Given the population and the way people lived thousands of years ago, there was no need to worry about the environmental impact of the pillow. Today,...

This past August I wrote a column highlighting what I consider to be the best book yet about green hotels. The name of that book: “World’s LEED Hotels: Innovation, Renovation & Development.” (Click here for that column.) I highly recommend getting that book. Another book has come along that I also strongly encourage anyone with an interest in green lodging to read. “Authentic Ecolodges,” released earlier this month by Collins Design, features what ecolodge pioneer, architect and author Hitesh Mehta considers to be the 36 most authentic ecolodges in the world. In his quest to write about the world’s most...

This past week was quite a newsworthy week with significant green hotel development announcements from four companies. First, former AH&LA chairman John Russell said he has partnered with India-based Auromatrix Group and a team of lodging veterans to launch Advaya Hospitality. The new global company will aim to bring lifestyle hotels and related products to major cities worldwide. Advaya will develop, acquire, franchise and operate full-service and select-service hotels. The brands will launch simultaneously in the United States and India, starting in the second quarter of 2011. Advaya also will assist in the management and growth of hospitality-related businesses,...