NASHVILLE, TENN.—John Q. Hammons’ Embassy Suites Nashville South/Cool Springs announces the availability of the hotel’s green guest services shuttle with zero emissions. The hotel’s 7-foot-9-inch Nissan Leaf limousine is the world’s first all-electric stretch limo and replaces a traditional limo service. In addition, the hotel launched on-site guest electric-car charging stations as a part of its latest eco-friendly amenities. The 250-suite, nine-story hotel is operated by Springfield, Mo.-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, the largest private, independent owner and manager of hotels in the United States. According to Bob Horner, general manager of Embassy Suites Nashville South/Cool Springs,...

OTTAWA, ON.—The Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) is now accepting entries for the 2012 Hall of Fame Awards of Excellence. In its ninth year the Hall of Fame Awards program continues the Association’s tradition of acknowledging the strong standards and values of those involved in and with the lodging industry. Each year the Hall of Fame Awards attracts more and more entries from members across the country. The awards program recognizes those individuals, companies or properties that have demonstrated significant accomplishments, exemplary leadership and tireless commitment to the industry in the following divisions:The Energy & Environment Award—Recognizes lodging properties...

NEW YORK—Barclay the Bee has landed in the InterContinental New York Barclay’s guestrooms with a question—“to wash, or not to wash”? The hotel’s friendly messaging mascot is highlighting an important aspect of the InterContinental New York Barclay’s sustainable initiatives—water savings—with a new “Don’t Wash” symbol and fun in-room message delivery. A Bee-shaped cut-out sign designed to sit in a holder on nightstands features Barclay the Bee holding a message advising guests of the hotel’s commitment to every-other-day sheet and towel washing. Guests who desire every day service simply remove the bee card from its holder and place it on...

NEWTON, MASS.—TripAdvisor announced the results of its latest TripAdvisor Industry Index. With more than 25,000 responses from hoteliers around the globe, and more than 5,000 from the United States alone, the biannual survey touched on green topics ranging from top five eco-friendly practices to the reason for implementing eco-friendly practices. A portion of the survey results were provided as an exclusive to Green Lodging News. The top five global eco-friendly practices include: energy efficient light bulbs, 79 percent; towel/linen reuse, 62 percent; energy efficiency plan, 56 percent; have green cleaning programs, 52 percent; and use water-efficient toilets and showerheads, 52...

STAMFORD, CONN.—Promoting balanced living at home and away, Element Hotels is challenging its Facebook friends to put pedal to the pavement this summer and replace one car trip per week with a bike ride. The trailblazing eco-wise brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. has teamed with trend-setting, ultra colorful STRADA track bikes to launch an “I Pledge to Pedal” Facebook sweepstakes, which will run from July 9 through September 17, 2012. Throughout the contest period, prize drawings will award one participant each week with a sleek, built-to-order bike, which they can customize online. There will be a...

NATIONAL REPORT—It’s a meeting at an inn in Vermont designated as a “Green Hotel in the Green Mountain State” that, among other benchmarks, composts leaf and yard waste. It’s a corporate event by a firm that checks for needed products in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing database. It’s a meeting arranged by a planner who considers a destination’s public transportation system and a venue’s recycling program. A green meeting may be any one of these things, and more. Increasingly, greener—or more sustainable—meetings are occurring across the landscape. Today, more sustainable meetings, encouraged by EPA guidance on the...

NATIONAL REPORT—There has been a lot of attention lately on green meetings—from green meeting standards to industry agreement on the measurement of the carbon footprint of a meeting. What has been little talked about is the role a simple meeting table can play in the greening of meetings over many years. Increasingly, suppliers are offering tables that are not only recyclable but that can also be used without linens. In the manufacturing of these tables vendors are also taking steps to be environmentally responsible—recycling scrap, recapturing and reusing paint, purchasing supplies locally, incorporating highly unique materials, and making quality...

CHICAGO—Travelers are an eco-conscious group according to a joint survey conducted by The GO Group, LLC, an international ground transportation provider, and GO Airport Express, a GO Group member company based in Chicago. Seventy-one percent of the survey respondents say it is either important or very important to try and reduce their carbon footprint while traveling.The companies, which provide door-to-door airport shuttle services, asked travelers: “How important is it to you to reduce your carbon footprint while traveling?” More than 2,000 people responded.Just 13 percent of participants responded that it was not important, while 15 percent said they hadn’t...

VANCOUVER, B.C.—Tourism Vancouver’s recent appointment of a tourism energy specialist is believed to be a worldwide first among destination marketing and management organizations. The role was made possible through sponsorship from BC Hydro with the mandate to guide member hotels, restaurants and attractions in energy efficiency and conservation initiatives.The new tourism energy specialist role will enable Tourism Vancouver to more actively support the City of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan and goal to be the world’s “greenest” city by 2020. The services of the tourism energy specialist will build on the BC Hydro partnership and further assist Tourism Vancouver’s...

STAMFORD, CONN.—In celebration of the brand’s sixth anniversary of Breathe Westin, Westin Hotels & Resorts announced that The Westin Paris—Vendôme is the latest addition to its growing global portfolio of smoke-free hotels. In January 2006, Westin became the first major hotel chain to introduce a brand-wide smoke-free policy across all its North America properties. The Westin Paris—Vendôme, which boasts impressive views of the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum, joins a host of international properties that have gone smoke free since the brand first introduced Breathe Westin six years ago. Westin continues to explore opportunities to introduce Breathe into new...