SONOMA VALLEY, CALIF.—The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa is forging the path in creating green, environmentally friendly weddings. Celebrated romanticist Kelly McLeskey has recently added unparalleled “green wedding” options to her repertoire of distinctly unique nuptial packages. With a reputation for designing inimitable personalized affairs for her discerning clientele, she unveiled this week an “a la carte” menu of environmentally responsible options. Any (or all) of the following green alternatives can be incorporated into her distinct galas: • Recycled paper invitations complete with soy ink printing; • Personalized menus highlighting local organic produce, wines, coffees, and house-made...

CAPE ELIZABETH, MAINE—Carbonfund.org and The Inn By The Sea have joined forces to launch a new carbon offset program designed specifically to provide guests with a simple way to green meetings and vacations. The announcement was made by Craig Coulter, Partnerships Director at Carbonfund.org. The all new Carbofree Meetings and Carbonfree Vacations programs make it easy for guests to neutralize their travel-generated carbon emissions with support for Carbonfund.org’s domestic tree planting projects, which help reduce greenhouse gases. The new program is straightforward enough, but educating guests as to why they want to neutralize their carbon footprint can be...

PORTLAND, ORE.—A little more than 100 meeting planners, hoteliers, vendors, convention and visitors bureau representatives and others gathered here last week for the 2007 Greening the Hospitality Industry Conference. The event was held at the Green Seal-certified Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center and organized by the Portland, Ore.-based Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC). The purpose of this event, according to GMIC, was to “encourage the meeting industry as a whole to embrace environmental responsibility in order to reduce the impacts of our activities as well as capitalize on the opportunities and benefits reduced waste presents.” Sustainable...

Accommodation providers around the globe are adopting environmental marketing and management strategies to not only improve efficiency, but also increase competitiveness and gain access to niche markets. The cost savings and public relations benefits associated with hotel greening are well known, but the question remains: do meeting and conference planners care about green accommodations? Also, does the presence of environmental practices influence which vendors meeting planners select? Available research, association case studies and public policy suggest that it does. According to IMEX, the Worldwide Exhibition for Incentive Travel, Meetings and Events, 67 percent of meeting and incentive planners have taken...

PORTLAND, ORE.—The Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) announces the launch of the GMIC Green Meetings Discussion Forum. The discussion board for green meeting professionals can be found at: www.greenmeetings.info/forum/. The GMIC is providing these moderated forums as a means for meeting professionals to network with each other to share information and expertise in support of a greener meeting industry. Meeting professionals are invited and encouraged to seek help and provide assistance to each other through these forums. To view the forums, click on the “Register” link in the top toolbar, left-hand side and fill in your information....

With green certification programs still being fairly new and most consumers not understanding what they mean, it can become increasingly difficult to know how to market a green hotel. Choosing to just focus on certification can leave leisure travelers and meeting planners alike confused by the myriad of green-certified symbols. It’s a much better idea to choose to focus on your hotel’s green offerings, mission and values—what sets it apart. It’s easy to assume that the eco-conscious travelers will naturally find your green hotel and choose it because it is green, but that is not always the case. It reminds...

CALIFORNIA—Guests of the Fairmont San Jose, Fairmont San Francisco, Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, Fairmont Miramar Santa Monica and the Fairmont Newport Beach can breathe easier thanks to the region’s comprehensive “Clean Air” initiative. Hybrid-driving overnight hotel guests now get free parking at all California Fairmont properties. “As one of many green programs our brand has embraced, we are pleased to offer our like-minded ‘green guests’ complimentary hybrid vehicle parking at all the California Fairmont hotels and resorts,” says Francisco Gomez, regional vice president of operations and general manager of the Fairmont San Francisco. “As leading environmental...

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.— As part of a promotion between Doubletree Hotels and the World Wildlife Fund, the hotel brand has developed an online travel promotion that benefits the protection and survival of threatened and endangered animals. For every reservation made on www.doubletree.com at any of more than 180 hotels and resorts between the dates of November 15 and December 15, 2006, Doubletree will donate $1.00 to the World Wildlife Fund to help protect threatened and endangered animals and support the organization’s conservation efforts around the globe. “At Doubletree, our communities and the world we live in are...

PORTLAND, ORE.—The Greening the Hospitality Industry Conference will take place February 6-8 at the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center—Lloyd Center, Portland, Ore. The event is being organized by the Green Meeting Industry Council, which is based in Portland. The event is geared toward meeting planners who have been implementing green practices or those interested in starting such programs. The conference will include exhibits, educational sessions and networking opportunities. Industry leaders will be on hand to share their insights on industry issues and environmentally responsible approaches to processes such as registration, site location, marketing, and exhibiting. The...

SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco’s Orchard and new Orchard Garden Hotel are offering holiday revelers a way to make the world a little greener this holiday season with their “Plant A Tree” package. The package includes a one-night stay in either of the boutique hotels and the choice of taking home a boxed Colorado Spruce tree seedling or joining the hotels’ partnership with Friends of the Urban Forest to plant a tree. The recently opened Orchard Garden Hotel is California’s only hotel to be ecologically sustainable from the inside-out and is registered to become the state’s first hotel to earn...