It was almost exactly a year ago that the Cumberland River’s waters knocked on the doors of the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville and “Tennessee Waltzed” right in. That flooding closed down the almost 2,900-room hotel until this past November. A total of $270 million was spent on the landmark property’s renovation. Just a few weeks before the flood, Andy Mims was hired as Gaylord Entertainment’s vice president of sustainability. Mims was charged with formalizing Gaylord’s sustainability initiatives—a long list of green steps now known officially as GET Green (GET is Gaylord Entertainment’s ticker symbol on...

I spoke with one of my clients this past week about social networking—Facebook, Twitter, etc. We, like everyone else in business, are still experimenting with social networking sites, trying to find the best way to use them to not only communicate but also drive traffic to our own websites and generate new revenue. Green Lodging News was recently asked to be part of a new social networking website for travel and other topics. I spent quite a bit of time setting up my community. I backed off however, when after numerous attempts, the organization would not return e-mails or...

Four is one helluva skinny number—the number of U.S organizations that have signed the tourism Code of Conduct (The Code), according to the code.org website. Four if you count Hilton Worldwide (see article), which recently signed The Code to demonstrate their commitment against the commercial sexual exploitation of children. For those of you not familiar with The Code, it is a travel industry driven responsible tourism initiative funded by UNICEF, run by ECPAT International (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) and supported by the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The Code is aimed...

In my travels I have stayed at many hotels that use disposable tableware in their breakfast areas. I have never felt comfortable tossing bowls, cups, plates and utensils in the trash. I am sure there are those who believe it is good business to use disposables. If you use them, what is your reasoning? To save on labor? Water? Energy? I spoke with Steve Mogck, executive vice president and COO, Country Inns & Suites by Carlson, this past week about his company’s decision to replace environment-unfriendly disposables with their washable counterparts in all 500 Country Inns & Suites by...

I spoke with Ryan Trainer, president of the International Sleep Products Assn. (ISPA) this past week about mattress recycling. It is a huge issue in our industry and throughout the world but one Trainer said his organization does not want to “take an ownership interest in.” I really don’t blame ISPA at all; getting a glove on mattress recycling is a gargantuan task. I contacted several of the leading mattress manufacturers also, wondering if they provide mattress recycling services for their customers. They all said no. One company spokesman said his company conducted a trial recycling program with one...

Standing tall behind the Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa in New Hampshire’s White Mountains is a 121-foot wind turbine that meets about 15 percent of the resort’s electricity needs. Up on the roof of the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville, N.C., is a 12-panel solar thermal system that helps heat the water used by guests and staff. The new Hilton Garden Inn Springfield in Missouri has a geothermal HVAC system. The Algonquin Eco-Lodge in Markham, Ont., has a micro-hydro system that generates all of the electricity the lodge needs. Why am I mentioning these properties and...

It may not happen in the next few months but in the next year or two it is going to be much more likely to happen. It will not come as a flood but more of a trickle at first. What I am referring to is the inevitable guest requests for a place to plug in their hybrid or electric vehicles (EVs). When those requests come, will you be prepared? Or, will those travelers choose a competitor of yours that already has an electric vehicle charging station? I can see it now: guests being critical of your property on...

This past week I spoke with Kit Cassingham, owner of the Environmentally Friendly Hotels website (see article), about her decision to strengthen the criteria for inclusion on her seven-year-old site. At one time, a property needed to take just one green step to be included on Kit’s site. Given that low bar, the number of properties on Kit’s list had ballooned to 5,600 properties. Kit just decided to strengthen the requirements for inclusion. Now, properties must take 10 of the green action steps listed on her site in order to be included. This step could reduce the number of...

If you had just three or four minutes to tell your property or company’s green story on video, what would you include? Who would you interview? What background music would you choose? Who would you hire to produce it? I thought about this after writing an article about the new Hotel Skyler in Syracuse, N.Y. (see article), and its owner’s quest for LEED Platinum certification. (The hotel will have its soft opening on April 1.) Turns out there was a video made about the project that includes comments from the hotel’s owner, the LEED AP on the project, the...

This past week I attended the Green Meeting Industry Council’s (GMIC) Sustainable Meetings Conference at the Doubletree Hotel Portland (Ore.). For the second year running, it was a well attended event with 250 in-person attendees and another 60 following along via webcast (see article). There were many highlights, including a keynote presentation by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, founder of The Natural Step, a nonprofit dedicated to education, advisory work and research in sustainable development. From a news standpoint, however, the most important development pertained to the upcoming Green Meeting and Events Voluntary Standards (see article). Following last year’s Sustainable Meeting Conference...