How long would you be willing to work toward green lodging certification? Six months? One year? Two years? Two years is how long the process was for the 379-room Portola Hotel & Spa in Monterey, Calif. The property just earned LEED Silver certification as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance certification program, falling just three points shy of LEED Gold. (See related article.) The Portola is among just a handful of hotel properties in the United States that have achieved LEED accreditation in the Existing Buildings category.
I first met Janine Chicourrat, general manager of the hotel, at the West Coast Green Lodging Conference this past summer. I was intrigued by some of the things she told me about her team’s work to achieve LEED certification. I spoke with her again this week to learn more. Turns out Janine began working as general manager of the Portola just after the economy took a dive in late 2008. She was impressed by many of the green initiatives already in place at the property, knew of a local school that had recently earned LEED Platinum, and decided to approach the hotel’s owners about pursuing the LEED designation. Knowing the process was going to cost a good chunk of money (Chicourrat told me they spent about $50,000 on commissioning alone), the owners still gave their strong approval.
Janine hired a LEED Accredited Professional to help with the process and brought an intern on board to help manage the information gathering. That intern later became a paid employee. The consultant helped her decide which LEED points to target and helped her through the lengthy LEED application process. The LEED AP had not previously worked on a LEED for Existing Buildings project. In hindsight, Janine says she wishes she would have chosen someone with Existing Buildings experience—not just LEED for New Construction experience. The two programs are different enough that they each require their own level of expertise.
Sense of Pride in Accomplishment
While getting to LEED certification required a lot of hard work, the process was also a fun one, Janine told me. Everyone learned a lot about what makes a building efficient and healthy and each participant in the process became proud of their accomplishments and their place of work.
During the last two years, the hotel also went through a guestroom renovation—perfect timing for the push toward LEED certification. The renovation created opportunities to use low or no VOC paints, wallpaper with 20 percent post-consumer recycled material, Green Label Plus carpet, eco-friendly mattresses, Energy Star rated flat screen TVs and refrigerators, low-flow water fixtures, and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood products. Lighting upgrades were also made. Already unique to the hotel were two natural gas fired cogeneration micro-turbines that generate 25 percent of the hotel’s electricity while heating all of the hot water needed for domestic use.
With the LEED achievement behind them, Janine says they are concentrating on getting the word out about the accomplishment through press releases, letters to officials in government and academia, and by writing a case study. They may put together a lobby display to highlight their green efforts and are considering offering tours for guests interested in seeing what makes the Portola Hotel & Spa green on the inside and outside.
Every LEED project is different. Two years is certainly not the standard waiting time to achieve certification. For the Portola Hotel & Spa, however, getting LEED right the first time was worth the wait. With an “existing building,” the owners will have to repeat the LEED process again in a few years to re-confirm their accomplishments. Perhaps by then, they will be ready for LEED Gold.
See You in Portland, Oregon or Orlando?
I will be attending and exhibiting at the Green Meeting Industry Council’s 2011 Sustainable Meetings Conference in Portland, Oregon from February 20 to 23, 2011. The event will take place at the Portland Doubletree Hotel. To register for the conference, go to www.sustainablemeetingsconference.com. I will also be moderating a panel discussion on certification programs for carpet and fabric at the NEWH Leadership Conference on January 14 in Orlando, Fla., at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios. Click here for more information on the conference.
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