NATIONAL REPORT—The Third Annual Green Lodging Trends Report Survey will close on August 17, 2018. You can participate in the survey by clicking here. There is no cost to participate. Tens of thousands of green lodging establishments around the planet are being encouraged to benchmark their sustainability practices by completing this survey which last year saw some 2,100 properties participating from 46 countries. The survey encompasses topics ranging from energy management to communication to Health & Wellness. The Green Lodging Trends Report Survey has the support of Green Lodging News, Green Key, Travelife, Green Key Global, Horwath HTL, Green Seal,...

CHICAGO—Hyatt Hotels Corp. recently announced that Hyatt has joined the CEO ACT!ON for Diversity & Inclusion initiative and signed the United Nations LGBTI Standards of Conduct for Business. Hyatt’s commitment underscores its long-standing dedication to creating an inclusive workplace, led by a CEO-chaired Global Inclusion and Diversity Council tasked with driving Hyatt’s culture of inclusion and diversity. “Our purpose is to care for people, so they can be their best, and that includes taking actions to create an inclusive environment for our colleagues around the world,” said Mark Hoplamazian, Hyatt’s CEO. “We’ve laid a strong foundation—from an active network of employee-led...

NEW YORK—With sustainability as a core value from its inception, a new Corporate Social Responsibility Report (CSR) Report from Humanscale underscores the company’s commitment to achieving a net positive impact and lays out a corporate sustainability roadmap raising the bar for the manufacturing industry. The new CSR report reveals several areas of focus, including material transparency, responsible manufacturing and hand printing, and highlights Humanscale’s progress as it works toward its own ambitious goals. Continuing a decade-long trend of reduction, in the past year alone, the company reduced normalized energy by 10 percent and reduced greenhouse gases by 12 percent...

PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN—Oceans make up approximately 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and are a vital resource for sustaining life on the planet. The Iberostar Group, a hotel chain with strong ties to the oceans and seas—more than 80 percent of its hotels boast seafront locations—is determined to make a real and effective contribution to the protection and conservation of this unique asset. To accomplish this, the Iberostar Group has implemented its ‘Wave of Change’ program, an ambitious initiative designed in line with Goal 14 of the SDGs (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), focused on three main areas: the...

ÉVORA, PORTUGAL—Tivoli Hotels & Resorts announced its first property in the Alentejo region of Portugal in the historic city of Évora, joining the brand’s other properties in Portugal, Brazil and Qatar. The Tivoli Évora Ecoresort is a nature retreat boasting gorgeous scenery and unique cultural experiences. The property is located on the plains of Portugal’s south-central Alentejo region, just a five-minute drive from the historic center of Évora, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a one-hour drive from the capital Lisbon. Surrounded by age-old cork oak and olive trees, the property is designed in sustainable contemporary style. Soft architectural lines blend...

The hotel/hospitality industry has long been a leader in the “green” movement. Years ago, when I was better known as the “Father of Green Cleaning,” I applauded the hospitality industry in North America for the many steps they have and were taking to provide healthier indoor environments for their guests. They did this by transferring to green cleaning. However, they were certainly not doing this just for my approval. As more and more of their corporate clients insisted on selecting green hotels for their visiting business guests, being green meant money in the bank. Because the corporate sector is so...

NEW YORK—EcoVadis, a leader in business sustainability ratings for global supply chains, recently announced the results of its study “Sustainability Clauses in Commercial Contracts: The Key to Corporate Responsibility,” finding that, while CSR clauses are widely used and have strong potential for improving supply chain sustainability performance, current practices need improvement to truly impact change. Conducted in partnership with Affectio Mutandi, this landmark study of CSR contractual practices among buyers and suppliers sought to determine the effectiveness and impact of such contracts on sustainability practices. Examining current regulations, contract laws, and various clauses themselves, the report discusses the operational considerations and...

RALEIGH, N.C.—Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company employees—from front desk staff to the executive team—joined together recently for a day of giving known as Share Day. All 100 Concord Hospitality hotels across North America participated in charitable activities during this annual event, donating more than 10,000 volunteer hours on this day alone. This year, Concord Hospitality partnered with Rebuilding Together and Feed the Children to provide shelter, food and other essential items to those in need in the communities where Concord associates live and work. Share Day projects took place throughout the United States and Canada with hotel and corporate office employees...

PHUKET, THAILAND—The Phuket Hotels Association has announced a new annual international forum called PHIST (Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism), which will be held on the island for the first time in September to support the region’s hospitality industry in its fight for a sustainable future. The PHIST Forum 2018 will take place on September 24 at JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa and is co-organized by C9 Hotelworks and Greenview, respected consultants to the regional hospitality industry. The innovative eco-focused event will bring together Southeast Asia’s key tourism and hospitality stakeholders—particularly those operating in island destinations—to explore solutions to...

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA—Early last year, Christian de Boer, Managing Director of Jaya House River Park, a 36-room hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia, launched a campaign to get businesses throughout the region to offer refillable aluminum water bottles instead of disposable plastic ones. The campaign, called Refill Not Landfill, has already avoided the placement of 1.2 million plastic bottles into Cambodia’s waste stream. More than 40 members of Siem Reap’s hospitality and tourism industries and development sector have joined ReFill Not Landfill. Key to the success of the campaign is a sophisticated way to show bottle users where they can fill...