SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.—Mission Linen Supply, a leading provider of linens, uniforms, laundry services and select supplies, received a silver 2017 Best in Biz Award in the Most Environmentally Responsible Company of the Year category. Judged by an objective panel of prominent editors and reporters from some of North America’s most respected media outlets, this year’s Best in Biz Awards drew more than 650 entries across various categories. Mission was recognized for its efforts to put environmental sustainability at the forefront of its daily operations and long-term business initiatives. As early as 1973, Mission installed one of the industry’s first wastewater...

DALTON, GA.—Shaw Industries Group, Inc. (Shaw), a leading floorcovering provider, has signed the United Nations Global Compact, a widely recognized set of principles focused on upholding and protecting human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption standards. Further, Shaw will implement the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact throughout its supply chain with updates to its sustainable sourcing policy and related terms and conditions for all suppliers. “The UN Global Compact and its principles align with our culture and operations,” noted Vance D. Bell, Chairman and CEO at Shaw. “Becoming a signatory and enhancing our sourcing policies is a natural extension...

Palau is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. It contains approximately 340 islands and has an area of just 180 square miles. The population is about 21,000. As with other Pacific island nations, rising sea level presents a major environmental threat. Illegal dynamite fishing, inadequate solid waste disposal facilities and extensive sand and coral dredging also threaten the health of the environment. I bring up Palau in this column because the country is doing something very unique—something worth replicating around the world. Palau is the first nation on earth to change its immigration laws for the cause...

LAS VEGAS—Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the world’s biggest news and information provider, selected MGM MACAU as a top 15 global finalist for the “Stop Slavery Award” this month. The esteemed award recognizes companies that have taken concrete steps to eradicate forced labor from their supply chains. MGM MACAU was identified for its best practices and continued leadership in combating human trafficking across the globe. “We are very proud of the selection of our MGM MACAU Affiliate as a global finalist in the movement to combat human trafficking and modern-day slavery,” said Phyllis A. James, Chief Diversity and Corporate...

I recently came across a group of hotels that are a perfect fit for Green Lodging News: Conscious Hotels. In case you are not familiar with the properties, there are three located in Amsterdam and one more in The Netherlands slated to open in 2018. Details can be found on the company’s website but here is how the hotels are described: “Conscious Hotels strive to be as green, sustainable and eco-friendly as possible. But they’re more hip than hippy. And by hip we don’t mean our staff are too cool to answer the phone. You might not even notice...

HONG KONG—Eaton Workshop is a new global brand merging hospitality with progressive social change. Launching in early 2018, it will bring to the international market a hybrid model of a hotel and co-working members club, with an extensive content and programming agenda underscoring its core advocacy values at the intersection of arts and social impact. As the first brand of its kind to serve as a gathering place for an inclusive tribe of changemakers and creatives, Eaton Workshop consists of distinct parts—Hotel, House, Media, and Wellness—that together form an ecosystem based on a pro-social, proactive ethos. A digital content platform...

LAS VEGAS—Caesars Entertainment, in collaboration with Clean the World, the largest global recycler of hotel amenities, and The Service Companies, the premier one-stop-shop for services to the gaming and hospitality industry, announced the successful distribution of soap to hundreds of families in Guadalajara, Mexico, which took place last month. “Our relationship with Clean the World is an example of our People Planet Play corporate social responsibility platform brought to life,” said Jan Jones Blackhurst, Executive Vice President, Public Policy & Corporate Responsibility. “Not only are we engaging our team members to help to reduce the spread of bacterial diseases by...

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND—Many of the world’s corporations engage in charitable projects. Some do so because they sincerely want to improve the world, but others create programs due to the expectations of customers, owners, and other stakeholders. A pair of studies from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne point to a key group that pays careful attention to corporate social responsibility: employees. The studies, by EHL Professor Steffen Raub—together with Stephan Blunschi of the Swiss retailer MIGROS in one case—investigate the mechanism by which CSR increases employees’ loyalty and effectiveness. In recent years CSR has become a focus of many businesses’ corporate strategy. For example, a...

NATIONAL REPORT—The demand for sustainable businesses is stronger than ever; over one-quarter of consumers prefer to buy sustainable brands, and the majority of businesses have embraced an environmentally friendly attitude. With every year the world moves closer to the reality of a green economy, so if you are thinking about starting a lodging business, then sustainability should be one of your main priorities. Thankfully it is easy to run a sustainable lodging business—you just need to follow the right tips. Here are four tips to help you from the launch onwards. Register Your Business Before you can start to think about creating a green...

PARIS—As part of its program Plant For the Planet, AccorHotels is launching an online platform—accorhotels.purprojet.shop—enabling participants to fund agroforestry projects in countries in which the Group operates. Jointly developed with long-term partner Pur Projet, the purpose of this site is to raise as much awareness and involve as many people as possible—in addition to guests staying in its hotels—with regard to the transition towards agroecology. For the launch of the platform, five planting projects have been selected in five different countries: France, Romania, Senegal, Indonesia and Peru. Participants can choose to plant one or more trees (ash, avocado, eucalyptus, mango,...