BETHESDA, MD.—From the panhandle of sunny Florida on the east coast of the United States, to Berlin, Germany, five properties of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company house honeybees as extensions of their Community Footprints programs and continued commitment to environmental sustainability efforts. The first hotel of The Ritz-Carlton portfolio to act on the growing environmental concern over the honeybee shortage was The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte in North Carolina. The LEED certified luxury hotel welcomed beehives on their rooftop in early 2010. The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte now produces 60 to 100 pounds of honey each season, and in turn has used the honey...

AMSTERDAM—GRI launched the world’s first global standards for sustainability reporting, giving companies a common language for disclosing non-financial information. The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards will enable companies around the world to be more transparent about their impacts on the economy, the environment and society. They will also help organizations make better decisions and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The GRI Standards are the latest evolution of GRI’s reporting disclosures, which have been developed through more than 15 years of a robust multi-stakeholder process. The Standards are based on the GRI G4 Guidelines, the world’s most widely...

KIGALI, RWANDA—Marriott International officially opened the doors of its first Marriott Hotel in Rwanda. “Rwanda is going through an economic transformation and we are proud to be a part of it,” said Marriott International President and CEO Arne Sorenson, who attended the Kigali Marriott’s opening ceremony with political dignitaries and executives including Alex Kyriakidis, Marriott’s President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa region. “Coupled with that transformation is a mutual promise for opportunity—both for Marriott as a hospitality company and for the associates and partners who will help us succeed in this market.” Highlighting the importance of hospitality’s role...

MCLEAN, VA.—Hilton announced that all 750 properties across its All Suites brands will recycle discarded soap and amenity bottles and donate them to reduce hygiene-related illnesses for communities in need. Marking the first time in the industry this is required as a brand standard, it is a major expansion of what is already the industry’s largest soap recycling program that will now include 1,370 hotels participating across Hilton’s portfolio. Hilton’s All Suites brands include Embassy Suites by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton. They comprise nearly 15 percent of Hilton’s portfolio and 29 percent of its pipeline, and...

HONG KONG—Burba Hotel Network (BHN), Horwath HTL, and Stiles Capital Events, co-hosts and organizers of the annual Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP), have announced the winners for the HICAP 2016 Sustainable Hotel Awards. The 27th annual HICAP will be held October 19 to 21, 2016 at the InterContinental Hong Kong. In the category of Sustainable Project Design, the winner is The Temple House in Chengdu, China. The Temple House is the result of the potent combination when a creative architectural firm and an enlightened client combine sensitivity, social responsibility and an understanding of place making in the urban context,...

NEEDHAM, MASS.—TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, today announced its commitment to launch a set of industry-leading actions, including changes to its policy on selling tickets to animal attractions, and the launch of a new education portal to help inform travelers about the standards of care for wild, captive, and endangered species in tourism and their interactions with tourists, and their impact on wildlife conservation. TripAdvisor and its Viator brand will discontinue selling tickets for specific tourism experiences where travelers come into physical contact with captive wild animals or endangered species, including but not limited to elephant rides, petting tigers,...

HONOLULU, HAWAII—Among the landmark decisions emerging earlier this month from the 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress is a bold decision to improve standards for ecotourism worldwide. Motion 65, “Improving standards in ecotourism”, proposed by the Yale Tropical Resources Institute in collaboration with The International Ecotourism Society, Nature Seychelles, the African Wildlife Foundation, the WILD Foundation, The Wilderness Society Australia, National Parks Australia Council, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and the Moroccan Association for Ecotourism and Nature Protection, urges IUCN to renew their definition of ecotourism and address the barriers to its effectiveness as...

PORTLAND, MAINE—For the eighth year in a row, Designtex’s Surface Imaging facility in Portland, Maine, has achieved recertification to the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership’s recognized program for sustainability in the print industry. The SGP program was established to provide third party verification of sustainability efforts and reduced environmental impact in the printing industry. The recertification was awarded after Designtex’s Portland, Maine Imaging facility was audited for its compliance to the SGP Criteria, which includes illustrating how Designtex achieved continuous improvements in energy and transportation efficiency, indoor air quality, waste reduction, and the selection of more sustainable materials. The stated goal...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND—MCI, a key driver of innovation in global meetings, events, association and congress industries has launched its 2015 Sustainability Report: Harnessing the Power of Community. The seventh sustainability report to date, Harnessing the Power of Community reports on MCI’s annual progress according to the U.N. Global Compact principles and follows the Global Reporting Initiative’s G4 Framework to improve the structure, completeness and comparability of its reports. “Looking to 2016—and beyond—it is clear that corporations have a responsibility to deliver the most responsible products, and we play a key role in changing behaviors and enabling more sustainable commerce,” said Sebastien...

PARSIPPANY, N.J.—Wyndham Worldwide commemorated five years of sustainability leadership with a milestone tree planting ceremony through its partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, the largest environmental nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. In an outdoor ceremony including Wyndham Worldwide executives and partners from the Arbor Day Foundation, the company celebrated the fulfillment of its goal to plant one million trees and reinforced the commitment to reducing its environmental footprint by 25 percent by the year 2025. “At Wyndham Worldwide, we work every day to minimize the environmental impact of doing business,” said Faith Taylor, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social...