This past week I had an opportunity to attend the Big Green Think Workshop in Vail, Colo. The event was organized by the Vail Valley Partnership, the Eagle Valley Alliance for Sustainability, and the Environmental Protection Agency Region 8. To see the aspen trees in their fall glory, there is no better time than late September/early October (see photo at end of this column) to be in Vail. It is too bad the scenery seemed to be a secret; I am pretty sure I was the only person staying at my hotel during the week and there were few...

You can invest heavily in greening up your lodging establishment but without ongoing staff training I guarantee that your green property will never reach its potential or meet staff and guest expectations. Even hotels with reputations as leaders in lodging’s environmental movement can struggle with staff training. I spoke with Katrina D’Argenis this past week and she described what it has been like managing the Saunders Hotel Group’s Comfort Inn & Suites Logan International Airport over the past few years. The hotel is arguably one of the greenest in the country with its more than 90 initiatives (click here to...

When you offer travelers something they like over and over, or just about anything repeatedly, they will come to expect it. That has certainly been the case with towel and linen reuse programs. According to the recently released American Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2010 Lodging Survey, approximately 90 percent of lodging establishments in the United States now offer this type of program—up from 52 percent of properties in 2004. What I am wondering is whether the day will come when guests also expect to have the option to opt out of housekeeping entirely—and be rewarded for it. What evidence do...

Two states down and just 48 more to go. As reported here at Green Lodging News this past week, over the past five months two states—Michigan and Wisconsin—have totally banned smoking in lodging establishments. Yes, even in all guestrooms guests are not permitted to smoke. As editor of a green publication, I can only applaud the action of legislators in those two states to finally eliminate smoking in guestrooms. I spoke with the president and CEO of the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association and the president and CEO of the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association this past week and they...

I am fortunate to be the first media person to have access to the results of the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2010 Lodging Survey, our industry’s most comprehensive survey and the one including the most participants. The survey is conducted every two years and is funded by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation and prepared by Smith Travel Research. A total of 48,954 hotels were polled. The response rate was 18 percent (more than 8,500 participants). Only properties with more than 15 rooms were surveyed. The survey touched on many green topics. My article on the survey...

This past week I had an opportunity to attend the inaugural West Coast Green Lodging Conference. It was held at the Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe—Hotel & Ski Resort. While attendance could have been greater—it was about 80 (not too bad for a first time event)—the quality of the speaker lineup was impressive. Kudos to the organizers at the Embassy Suites—David Hansen, chief engineer, and Bill Cottrill, director of sales and marketing, as well as yourmeetingpro.com’s Laura Bohannon and Diana Bolton, for planning such a successful event. David Hansen told me his team will be meeting this week to plan...

Let’s assume you have done everything possible to implement a comprehensive green program at your property. You are recycling, using green cleaning products, you have a guestroom energy management system in place, low-flow fixtures in your bathrooms, and are using compact fluorescents wherever possible. What do you do next? Do you do, as the TV pitch man says, “Set it and forget it?” Over the long term, a green hotel program will only work if there are processes in place to ensure employees are carrying out the program properly and to ensure other events do not disrupt the program—guests leaving...

This week I had an opportunity to chat with the CEO of a company who is about to target our industry with a new green lodging certification program. My advice to him was that he had better hurry up; a few of his competitors are really starting to pull away in the race to gain the attention of owners and operators here in the United States. The most recent evidence is this week’s announcement that Carlson Hotels has selected Green Key Global’s Green Key Eco-Rating Program as its preferred green lodging certification program. Just two months ago, Hyatt Hotels...

If you count yourself among those who believe that good design and green design cannot co-exist, there is a new book that will change your mind in a heart beat. “World’s LEED Hotels: Innovation, Renovation & Development” profiles 23 green hotel projects that all incorporate stunning design. (See related article.) Created by Ling Ling Chang, project manager for Atman Hospitality Group, the book was published by Wen-I Chang, founder and president of Atman Hospitality Group. The book includes essays written by owners, developers, managers and others who have had a role in creating some of the greenest hotels and resorts...

Our weekly e-newsletter is back after one week off. During the past week I have been asking all Green Lodging News subscribers to renew their free subscriptions to this newsletter and the weekly Green Supplier Spotlight. Thank you for signing up again and please be sure to tell your colleagues to do the same! It is important because those who do not renew their subscriptions will no longer receive the weekly publications. Periodically, trade publications go through this process; it helps to eliminate the addresses of those who move, change jobs, etc.  A lot of exciting things have been happening...