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,...

We are in the midst of the busiest time of the year from a trade show standpoint. The International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS) will run from November 13 to 16 at the Javits Center in New York and the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo will be held November 17-19 at McCormick Place West in Chicago. The IHMRS has 825 companies exhibiting and Greenbuild will have approximately 900. Both events are expected to attract a similar crowd—25,000 to 30,000 people. I will be attending the IHMRS and will be reporting about the event on the Green Lodging News website...

Per Executive Order 13514 signed by President Obama a little more than a year ago, all federal agencies—approximately 2 million employees—have been directed to find ways to reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. (See related article.) Activities covered include transit, travel, training, and conferencing. GSA Bulletin FTR 10-06, issued on September 30, 2010, spells out ways federal agencies can reduce the environmental impact of their travel. Anyone running a lodging establishment in the United States needs to pay attention to GSA Bulletin FTR 10-06. When planning travel, those 2 million federal employees are now being asked to seek...

I spoke with Tom Rand for an article on his new Toronto-based Planet Traveler hostel this past week and am convinced our industry needs more outspoken entrepreneurs like him. Rand and his co-developer on the three-story, 114-bed project, Anthony Aarts, have incorporated geothermal, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, and heat capture technologies in their project. (See article.) Planet Traveler was previously an abandoned building in downtown Toronto before it was converted into a low-carbon hostel. The developers’ goal was to reduce Planet Traveler’s carbon emissions—when compared to a similar “non green” building its size—by 75 percent. This is substantially beyond...

Something very exciting is happening at the Cleveland (Ohio) Airport Marriott—something that should interest any hotel owner or manager looking to build their restaurant business. The Marriott owned and managed hotel, which completed a $20 million renovation in July 2009, has a restaurant—AMP 150—that has been getting steady local publicity since it opened in September 2009. “AMP” stands for “America’s Modern Palate.” According to a recent article in Crain’s Cleveland Business, sales at AMP 150 have been three times greater than what was expected for the first year. Why the success? Here is my take: Hotel management hired an...

I will never forget a conversation I had with a wood flooring vendor at Hospitality Design Expo a couple of years ago. The gentleman went on and on about the environmental evils of carpeting. To be honest, the guy made some good points. Carpeting manufacturing is a resource-intensive process, the carpeting itself creates a waste dilemma, and it requires a lot of energy to clean over its lifetime. Maybe that is why companies like Accor North America are choosing to reduce the amount of carpeting they use. (Their Motel 6 Phoenix prototype replaces carpeting in the guestroom with wood-effect...

It was more than a year ago that I first wrote about the Greenstay Hotel & Suites brand. (Click here for that column.) I was interested in the property because it was the first time that I was aware of that a developer had actually used the word “green” in a new green hotel brand—one that had the potential to be franchised or expanded. At the time I wrote the column, the general manager (now no longer at the property) told me that Elliott Lodging, LLC, the hotel’s management company and developer, had already received queries from others interested...