NEWTON, MASS.—TripAdvisor announced the results of its environmentally-friendly travel survey of more than 1,200 U.S. respondents. Seventy-six percent of travelers sometimes incorporate green choices in their travel plans and 27 percent of respondents intentionally made environmentally-friendly travel choices in the past year. Fifty-two percent regularly find it challenging to incorporate green choices into their travel plans and 44 percent of travelers find that environmentally-friendly options are not readily available when traveling. Forty-five percent of travelers won’t go green if it means spending more green. However, 27 percent are willing to spend $50 or more to be environmentally-friendly when traveling. Thirty-three...

PALO ALTO, CALIF.—Vipe Inc., a leading provider of B2B video messaging sales solutions, announced the release of Vipe Hospitality 1.0, the second in a series of Software as a Service (SaaS) business applications providing personalized, active and targeted video marketing communications that result in increased sales and lower costs of marketing collateral. “We are extremely pleased to introduce this new product following so quickly on the heels of our wildly successful Vipe Recruiting product,” said Adam Peterson, president and CEO of Vipe Inc. “Vipe has proven that video messaging definitely enhances sales and marketing efforts and produces measureable increases in...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Green Key Global as a Founding Sponsor. Green Key Global is a graduated rating system designed to recognize hotels, motels and resorts that are committed to improving their environmental performance. Based on the results of a comprehensive online environmental audit, facilities are awarded a one to five Green Key rating and given guidance on how to “unlock” opportunities to reduce operating costs and environmental impacts through reduced utility consumption, employee training, and supply chain management. Green Key Global is unique in that it is administered entirely online. Once registered,...

MCLEAN, VA.—Travel industry professionals understand that green initiatives are good for the environment, but may find themselves wondering, especially in the current economic climate, is green good for business? The recently released study, “Going Green: The Business Impact of Environmental Awareness on Travel,” from PhoCusWright, with industry partners The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Foundation and Sustainable Travel International, evaluates U.S. consumer values and attitudes surrounding green travel to help companies understand how best to design their initiatives and communications to match consumer expectations. “This report was designed to give companies insight into what consumers expect of...

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.—On Earth Day, April 22, The Charles Hotel will introduce several new green initiatives: The Charles Hotel “Juice Bar” for electric cars, the nanoMAX small car detection system, and a Hotel Bike Program. As a recipient of the Good Earthkeeping Award by the American Hotel and Lodging Assn., The Charles Hotel has long been dedicated to being “green.” The Juice Bar, which is located in the ProPark America managed hotel garage, will allow customers to charge their hybrid and electric cars for free. Two separate parking stalls will be equipped with dual charging outlets, featuring a GFI protected outlet...

CHICAGO—Environmentally-conscious visitors to Illinois can now StayGreen at hotels throughout the Land of Lincoln. Launched by the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Assn. (IHLA), the StayGreen program recognizes hotels that proactively use eco-friendly products and services to help protect the environment. With 16,175 StayGreen rooms available across the state, IHLA is confident the StayGreen designation will help visitors better understand their choices in green lodging in Illinois. For the first year of the program, IHLA is focusing on two areas in which hotels must meet specific criteria in order to be awarded StayGreen designations: saving energy and recycling. IHLA will re-evaluate...

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—In recognition of the need to take action on climate change, hotels around the world will turn their lights off for one hour on March 28 at 8:30 p.m. Earth Hour, as the event is called, is a global initiative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world’s leading conservation organizations with almost 5 million members worldwide. Companies ranging from Accor to the InterContinental Hotels Group will participate in the event and will ask their guests to participate as well. Even the sky above the Las Vegas Strip will be a little darker for an hour...

BROOMFIELD, COLO.—RockResorts, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vail Resorts with nine locations, is rolling out a formal green meetings program. From e-brochures and paperless check-in procedures to organic cuisine, RockResorts has made it easier than ever for planners to support or host environmentally-friendly meetings. To assist meeting planners and attendees in reducing the environmental footprint of their meetings, RockResorts has launched a carbon calculator on its website that allows planners to determine the impact their meeting attendees will have on the environment, including the transportation, lodging and details of the event itself. The luxury resort company has in place “green” service...

HARTFORD, CONN.—Yet another state will soon have its own green lodging program. Thanks to the efforts of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, Connecticut Green Lodging will launch in May. The program is being put together with the assistance of Peter Cooke, program manager for Maine’s Green Lodging Certification Program. The Connecticut program will mirror the one run in Maine but will be modified to meet Connecticut state government requirements. According to Kim Trella, supervising environmental analyst for Connecticut’s DEP, planning started two years ago when hoteliers in the state lobbied...

ANNAPOLIS, MD.—Thayer Lodging Group, an Annapolis, Maryland-based private equity real estate investment firm with a portfolio of 14 hotels, announced they will double their inventory of PURE Allergy Friendly rooms from 280 to 560 this year. Thayer has Pure Allergy Rooms in each of its hotels. Based on Thayer’s 2008 financial report, the group reported 171 percent cash on cash return for the PURE room investment. “These are remarkable figures, especially during tough economic times,” says Frederic V. Malek, co-chairman, Thayer Lodging Group. “In 2008, we generated incremental cash flow of $438,000, which increased the value of our hotels...