When Hotel Terra opens later this year in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the linens on the beds of the 72-room, six-story eco-boutique property will be made from organic cotton. Even though the sheets and pillow cases will cost about 25 percent more than standard cotton linens, the Terra Resort Group, developer of the new hotel, will gladly pay the premium. Ashley Morgan, corporate director of sustainability for the company, says using organic cotton linens just makes sense. Morgan believes the extra investment will quickly come back to the company, as travelers reward them for their commitment to health and the environment....

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Janine Benyus. For those of you not familiar with Janine, she is the author of “Biomicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.” She is also president of the Biomimicry Institute, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to naturalize biomimicry in our culture by promoting the transfer of ideas, designs and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design. Simply put, she advocates using nature’s designs—ones that have developed over billions of years—in the design of buildings and products. Picture a sunflower. Moen, the company well-known for products such as kitchen...

There is a pretty good chance you are drinking coffee while reading this column. I am one of those rare individuals who has never had a cup of coffee. Never. That’s probably a good thing with the price of java rising faster than petroleum. Speaking of which, did you know that coffee is the world’s second most valuable traded commodity? It is just behind petroleum. According to San Francisco-based Global Exchange, coffee is the United States’ largest food import. The United States primarily purchases coffee from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, and Vietnam. It also buys coffee from Indonesia, Costa...

I am excited to announce that Green Lodging News has added a new department to its website—Vendor Case Studies. The link to the page can be found on the left side of the site just below the second display ad and Sales & Marketing link. In this new department, industry suppliers will have the opportunity to publish success stories that explain how their products or services work and in what ways they can help a property operate more efficiently, reduce costs, increase profits and lower environmental impact. In a marketplace that is becomingly increasingly green, it can get confusing when...

I highly recommend reading a recent report released by the Missoula, Mont.-based Women’s Voices for the Earth (downloadable at the end of this column). The study, entitled “Household Hazards: Potential Hazards of Home Cleaning Products,” documents the hidden dangers in many of the cleaning products typically used in our homes and lodging facilities. The report should be a wake-up call to any property that has not yet transitioned to green cleaning products. The report links chemicals found in commonly used cleaning fluids and sprays to asthma and reproductive harm. It identifies the specific chemicals to avoid and explains where they...

Whether you are in a leadership position in your organization or not, I highly recommend reading one of the best business books to come along in quite some time—Green to Gold—authored by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston. Esty is Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University and Winston is Director of Corporate Environmental Strategy at Yale. The two provide many examples of companies they call Wave Riders that have capitalized on the Green Wave rippling throughout the economy. Even though they do not include hotel company examples, their stories about manufacturing and retail provide lessons...

When first launching Green Lodging News a little more than a year ago, there were just two lodging properties in the United States that had received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)—the Marriott-managed University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center, Adelphi, Md., and the Len Foote Hike Inn in Dawsonville, Ga. Since then, three other U.S. properties have obtained LEED certification. Given that there are many hundreds of commercial buildings outside of lodging that have been LEED certified, it would appear that our industry has been late to...

It would not be fair to all of the good manufacturers in China to go into panic mode—compact fluorescents, as well as many other good products, are produced there—but the “Made in China” label is causing a lot of concern here in the United States. Almost every day there is a report about a new product recall. That’s what happens when there are insufficient safety regulations. Last week, Gilchrist & Soames, which supplies high-end toiletries to hotels, recalled its brand of toothpaste made in China. Why? Independent tests showed some samples of the toothpaste contained diethylene glycol (DEG). DEG...

One of the strongest indicators that interest in green lodging is picking up is the number of hospitality industry events that are emerging with green building, design and operations as a focus. In the next six months alone, there are three new conferences and/or trade shows. In a span of 25 days from February 19 through March 14, 2008, there are four green events planned. It will be a challenge, if not impossible, to attend them all. Several events will even overlap. Will the lodging industry support so much green activity? I believe it will but attendance may be...

You may have missed it but last week Green Lodging News ran a press release from element Hotels—a new Westin-inspired extended-stay brand from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide—that concluded that most travelers (59 percent) are less environmentally conscious while on the road. Starwood’s element surveyed more than 1,000 travelers. This may come as no surprise to anyone who runs a lodging establishment but your guests are taking advantage of you. According to the survey (click here to read the article), travelers are more apt to leave the light on in a hotel as compared to at home (60 percent),...