SINGAPORE—Alila Hotels and Resorts announced its commitment to go carbon neutral, first through its head office and then throughout all of its properties in Asia. Working with The GreenAsia Group, a specialist in carbon management in Asia, Alila will first achieve carbon neutrality for its head office in Singapore by this December. Further affirming its commitment, Alila intends to achieve carbon neutrality for all of its seven existing hotels and resorts in Asia and to create programs for its guests to enjoy carbon neutral holidays. “Alila’s decision to go carbon neutral is in line with its long-held vision and corporate...

ATLANTA—Spas intent on greening their operations have a new strategic tool to work with as the result of an intensive three-day meeting organized by Green Spa Network (GSN), a trade association devoted to greening the spa industry. The organization’s first Green Spa Congress, held in Atlanta on September 29 to October 1, has developed the GSN Sustainability Assessment Tool—GSN SAT—to assist GSN member spas in their migration to becoming greener businesses. This is the first tool of its kind developed specifically for the spa industry. During three days of intensive meetings, 24 members of Green Spa Network (GSN) from all...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Five Cleveland-based hospitality organizations recently graduated from the E4S (Entrepreneurs for Sustainability) Sustainability Implementation Group. As a result of this process, hotel managers are saving money, reducing their carbon footprint, and finding new ways to attract customers interested in green accommodations and events. Since 2000, E4S has attracted leaders from all sectors who are interested in putting sustainable business practices to work in their operations, products and services. In 2005, the organization added a learning program to meet the needs of a growing network of business leaders and change agents. The program, called Sustainability Implementation (SI) Groups, is an...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Environmental Specialty Products as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Environmental Specialty Products has been manufacturing leisure and park furniture made from the highest grade of recycled plastic lumber for more than 16 years. The leisure furniture has been designed to fit into any backyard setting, yet it has the strength and durability to also meet the needs of the commercial environment. The park series includes sturdy recycling and waste containers, as well as park benches and picnic tables. Other product types available include rockers, gliders, tables,...

NATIONAL REPORT—Carpet cushion, also known as underlayment, has been one of the greenest products available to the lodging industry for years. More than 80 percent of carpet cushion sold today is made from bonded polyurethane foam cushion (“bonded” or “rebond”). It comes from a combination of salvaged, scrapped or recycled polyurethane foam generated during the making of furniture, bedding and other products—cushions for car seats, for example. Polyurethane is ground up into small pieces, bonded under pressure with a binder into blocks, and then cut into thin slices of different thicknesses and widths. Used carpet cushion is also recycled...

NEW YORK—The Carbon Free Meeting Coalition announced two new programs aimed at expanding the use of green meeting technologies within corporations, businesses and organizations of all sizes. Both programs were developed to assist companies interested in rolling out new technologies that serve to reduce their carbon footprint while reducing bottom line costs. Based on feedback obtained from organizations of all sizes across the country, the two new programs—the Kick-Start Clinic and Sustain to Save Program—focus on difficulties organizations are having in successfully launching, and then sustaining, such programs to ensure their full impact, value and potential are recognized across an...

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.—Héctor Ceballos-Lascuráin is to be awarded the International Restaurant and Hotel Awards (IRHA) Lifetime Achievement award. Previously winner of Planeta’s Colibri Ecotourism Lifetime Achievement Award, Hector Ceballos-Lascurain is a Mexican architect, environmentalist and international ecotourism consultant. He is Director General of the Program of International Consultancy on Ecotourism (PICE), based in Mexico City, and also a Special Advisor on Ecotourism to IUCN (The World Conservation Union), The International Ecotourism Society and the World Tourism Organization. The award is to be presented by Mark DeCarlo from Taste of America on the Travel Channel USA at the gala ceremony...

BARCELONA, SPAIN—United Nations Foundation founder and chairman Ted Turner joined the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to announce the first-ever globally relevant sustainable tourism criteria at the IUCN World Conservation Congress. The new criteria—based on thousands of best practices culled from the existing standards currently in use around the world—were developed to offer a common framework to guide the emerging practice of sustainable tourism and to help businesses, consumers, governments, non-governmental organizations and educational institutions to ensure that tourism helps, rather than harms, local communities and the environment. “Sustainability...

MIAMI—El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels, by Karisma, a premier collection of Gourmet Inclusive properties along the Riviera Maya, Mexico, announced the launch of Pasión por el Medio Ambiente (“Passion for the Environment”), a program derived from the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative (MARTI), designed to encourage guest and staff participation in environmentally sustainable practices. With its commencement, El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels sets the standard for environmentally-conscious tourism in Riviera Maya, encouraging other area resorts and hotels to do the same. “As a destination priding itself on beautiful surroundings, El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels is taking the necessary...

DALTON, GA.—Shaw Hospitality Group’s new REmix Collection by Kate Korten comes to life with animated patterns and linear motifs found in advertising and art designs of the 1950s and 1960s. REmix offers coordinated guestrooms and public space carpet in both print and tufted patterns. Korten, whose father was a groundbreaking New York art director in the 1960s, grew up on shape, color and form, which are all reflected in REmix. This background influenced her career and continues to provide inspiration in hospitality flooring designs. “The style of illustrations from that era still strikes a chord in me,” Korten said. “I’ve kept...