CLEVELAND, OHIO—Vantage Hospitality Group announced that all of its nearly 900 Americas Best Value Inn and Canadas Best Value Inn properties throughout North America will carry shampoo, body lotion and bath soap with biodegradable packaging in their guestrooms. “This isn’t just a commitment to the environment, it’s a commitment to our hotel owners and guests,” said Roger Bloss, CEO, president and founder of Vantage Hospitality. “Americas Best Value Inn has grown tremendously since we began 10 years ago and we plan to be around for a very long time. Therefore, we need to make sure we maintain the cities and...

SEDONA, ARIZ.—Sedona’s Kings Ransom Inn recently launched Green Suites International’s “EcoRoom Accommodation Program,” converting each of its 53 guestrooms into healthier, more environmental “EcoRooms.” They are the first property in the area to do so. The guestrooms will now feature more than a dozen environmental products. The products include compact fluorescent light bulbs, water-efficient showerheads and sink faucets; LED nightlights (according to a study at Livermore Laboratories, 40 percent of all travelers leave bathroom lights on as nightlights), nontoxic cleaning chemicals; a linen reuse program, and Natura brand liquid soaps, lotions and shampoo products offered in shower and vanity dispensers....

The economic situation in 2009 led to a dire year for the lodging industry. Room occupancy is estimated to have fallen to around 55 percent, a drop that has only been matched twice since the 1920s. Revenue per available room, one of the main measurements for profitability in the hospitality industry, was off by 17 percent when compared to the previous year, with an even bigger drop for the luxury segment. Although 2010 is expected to bring the green shoots of recovery, hotels are currently struggling. Despite these hardships, customers expect hotels to continue to maintain high standards. This includes...

ALPHARETTA, GA.—The Refinishing Touch, a specialist in environmentally safe and sustainable on-site furniture refinishing, upholstery and armoire modifications, has launched a government-approved television recycling program that will reduce the amount of electronic waste created by its customer organizations during furniture remodeling projects. The Refinishing Touch has experience gained from working with some of the largest organizations in the country, from hotel chains such as Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, Wyndham and Starwood to government organizations such as The White House, U.S. Congress, Department of Defense, U.S. military forces, and the U.S. Coastguard. In recent years, several hotel chains have commissioned The...

VANCOUVER, B.C.—Waste-Not-Basket Inc. has just released a new recycling basket. The plastic baskets are a natural follow-up to a wicker recycling basket first introduced more than 10 years ago by Susan Memory, company president and founder. “We continue to provide a way for hotel guests to divert waste from landfills, pump up employee morale and save properties money,” she says. “And the baskets look nice and are easy to handle.” The baskets are made from a minimum of 80 percent recycled content. Their unique stacking capability makes them streamlined for shipping and transport, so they are low emission delivery...

RALEIGH, N.C.—In October, the Raleigh Convention Center joined an elite group of convention centers—those that have earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. In Raleigh’s case, it earned LEED Silver, joining the Phoenix Convention Center, Spokane (Wash.) Convention Center Expansion, and the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., as LEED Silver recipients. The Raleigh facility earned the LEED designation a little more than a year after the center opened in September 2008. The Raleigh Convention Center is owned and managed by the City of Raleigh. According to Laurie Okun, director of...

BETHESDA, MD.—Now that’s a lot of cooking oil. According to Brad Nelson, corporate chef and vice president of culinary for Marriott International, the company’s hotels in North America generate about 5.5 million pounds of used cooking oil each year. Add in the properties outside North America and that number just about doubles. With so much spent cooking oil to deal with, what’s a company the size of Marriott to do? This past summer the company started a test program at just a few properties in the Washington, D.C. area that resulted in the cooking oil being converted to biodiesel....

HONOLULU, HAWAII—Outrigger Enterprises Group received the inaugural “Green Leader Award” recently from Reynolds Recycling for being top recycling and sustainability leaders in Hawaii’s tourism industry. Outrigger’s owned and operated hotels in Waikiki have prevented more than 48,000 pounds of recyclable material from entering Honolulu’s landfill by recovering more than one million beverage containers from their guestrooms since 2006. “With over 4,000 guest rooms in Waikiki, we realized that our combined efforts could make a significant impact in keeping Hawaii green,” said David Carey, president and CEO of Outrigger Enterprises Group. “Hawaii’s beauty rests heavily on our pristine environment and as...

PATTERSON, N.Y.—Golden Group International, Ltd. (GGI) recently introduced Sani SAC to the hospitality industry. It is a sanitary, sealable, degradable plastic bag, and is the company’s environmentally friendly solution for the disposal of tampons/napkins, diapers and other similar items in public restrooms. GGI has created a 50-bag box, a 125-bag roll and a 5-bag handi-pack that can be used as a courtesy item in a hotel room. Jackie Transue, president of GGI, said she had the idea for founding GGI in 2007 while traveling on business as the president of her own mortgage company. She said practically every restroom in...

BROOMFIELD, COLO.—The government’s recent Cash for Clunkers program helped the environment by getting thousands of gas-guzzling cars off the roads. Now, PhoneSuite is bringing that concept to the hospitality industry in an effort to rid hotels of older, energy-guzzling telephone systems. PhoneSuite, a leading provider of telecom solutions designed exclusively for the hospitality industry, and participating Authorized PhoneSuite Resellers have set up a $1 million fund to reward hoteliers for replacing their aging, environmentally unfriendly phone systems. From now until March 31, 2010, or when the fund is gone, hotel owners who purchase an energy-efficient PhoneSuite hotel/motel PBX will...