WASHINGTON, D.C.—In honor of National Women’s Month, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) has launched a Women in Lodging (WIL) Connect national competition that serves the dual purpose of highlighting women in the industry and urging industry professionals to join the WIL initiative. Beginning in March and continuing each month through the end of the year, three to five women in a variety of operational areas, including general managers, human resources, sales/marketing, and sustainability, will be highlighted. As an added incentive to increase membership, two new WIL members will have the opportunity to have lunch or dinner with...

MONROE, WIS.—Arthur Bartsch, owner of Wisconsin’s Super 8 of Monroe, has spent the last 15 years trying to figure out how to remove inefficiencies from his 54-room property in Monroe, Wis. He is way past the “low hanging fruit” and well on his way to running one of the greenest lodging establishments in Wisconsin and possibly even the entire United States. The Energy Star rating for the Super 8 of Monroe in 2012, the first year he ran his numbers in the Energy Star Portfolio manager? A 95. That means the hotel, from an energy efficiency standpoint, has been...

MIAMI—The InterContinental Miami announced that it has once again renewed its commitment to sustainability efforts by partnering with renewable energy company, Greenlight Energy, and purchasing 16,064,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of wind power for 2013. This kilowatt-hour purchase equals 100 percent of the hotel’s estimated energy usage in 2013. The hotel ranks as the largest green power purchaser in the state of Florida and maintains its place on the 100 percent Purchaser’s List maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership for a second year in a row. The EPA estimates that the InterContinental Miami’s 2013 purchase avoids an estimated...

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS—The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has added a new category to its sustainable tourism awards program which it organizes in collaboration with TravelMole, the online community for the travel and tourism industry.This year, CTO member destinations can submit their projects and programs for consideration for the Destination Stewardship Award. It is one of six to be presented at the 14th annual CTO Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC-14) being held in Trinidad and Tobago from April 15 to 18.The Destination Stewardship Award is presented to a member destination that is making solid strides towards sustainable tourism management at the destination...

BETHESDA, MD.—Marriott International, Inc. has become an official hotel partner of Clean the World, a nonprofit that collects, recycles and distributes discarded soaps and other hygiene amenities to communities in need. With nearly 47,000 rooms (more than 200 hotels) already participating, Marriott is the number one hotel chain in the Clean the World portfolio, having collected nearly 1 million soap bars and amenity bottles and diverting more than 120 tons of waste from landfills since 2009. “We are guests on this planet, and conservation ensures our resources are sustained for generations to come,” said Denise Naguib, Marriott International’s vice...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The seventh annual Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC), organized by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), co-hosted by Kenya Tourist Board and Ecotourism Kenya and in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 24 to 27, 2013. A leading platform for industry stakeholders engaged in ecotourism and sustainable tourism, the ESTC aims to strengthen commitment to the recent UN resolution, “Promotion of ecotourism for poverty eradication and environment protection,” which recognizes tourism’s role in sustainable community development efforts. “In a significant acknowledgment of tourism as a tool for promoting sustainable...

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS—How to develop partnerships that result in an innovative, profitable and sustainable product will be the main topic for discussion when tourism planners, policymakers and stakeholders in the tourism sector meet in Trinidad & Tobago in April for the Caribbean’s premier sustainable tourism gathering.The 14th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, otherwise known as the Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC-14)—to be held from April 15 to 18—will explore ways the Caribbean can enhance destination sustainability and competitiveness in the current global environment by examining a number of critical issues. These include enriching visitor experiences beyond stereotypical urban and...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Education will be a key factor in forwarding the message of sustainability to restaurateurs, other business operators and lawmakers, Scott DeFife, the National Restaurant Association’s executive vice president of policy and government affairs said at the U.S. Composting Council’s annual conference in Orlando, Fla.DeFife, who spoke at the conference’s plenary panel January 29, said the NRA is invested in educating the industry on the importance of sustainability as well as making the business case that underscores its profitability environmentally and economically.“With the help and support of some key leaders in the industry, we created the Conserve Sustainability Education...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Greenview as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Greenview works with meeting and event planners to develop, implement, measure, and report out sustainable event programs. Greenview helps events set overall strategies for their sustainability programs and then carry them out credibly through applying frameworks such as ISO 20121, the APEX/ASTM Green Meetings Standards, and the Global Reporting Initiative Event Organizers Sector Supplement. Call Cara Unterkofler, Director, Sustainable Event Programs, Greenview, at (571) 210-2272, or e-mail cara@gviewadvisors.com.Greenview also specializes in guiding hospitality and tourism companies through the...

STOWE, VERMONT—Trapp Family Lodge has joined with Stowe Land Trust (SLT) to establish a legacy that protects the future of the working landscape in the Stowe region. A one-dollar nightly donation to SLT will help ensure that Stowe’s essential beauty is preserved for the future. Contributions from this partnership will enable SLT to continue its important work of conserving and stewarding Stowe’s farmland, trails, waterfalls and scenic vistas.“The legacy created by this partnership is a natural extension of the von Trapp family’s commitment to conservation and protection of the working landscape,” said Heather Furman, Stowe Land Trust’s executive director.Three...