BROOME, AUSTRALIA—Wyndham Hotel Group has announced the signing of a franchise agreement for the 55-key Ramada Resort Eco Beach Broome, an eco-friendly property in Australia that adds to the company’s growing Ramada brand portfolio in the South Pacific. The four-and-a-half-star resort, located just over an hour’s drive south of Broome in Australia’s Kimberley region, provides guests with a beachfront location boasting outstanding views of the Indian Ocean.With a strong focus on conservation, Ramada Resort Eco Beach Broome practices sustainable energy and water use throughout the property, including the use of solar power, fluorescent lighting and recycled water to maintain...

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.—Victoria + Albert has introduced two new additions to its modern and traditional faucet collections—Tubo and Staffordshire. The first is a wall mounted faucet in the Tubo collection, ideal for creating a clean, minimalist look and the second is a traditional three hole deck mounted Staffordshire faucet.The Staffordshire 9 is a traditional three hole deck mounted faucet and waste kit, designed for use with Victoria + Albert’s new Lario and Mandello vanity units. The Staffordshire 9 features easy to use handles and a rod-operated pop up plunger waste. It is available in polished Chrome, Polished Nickel and...

ITHACA, N.Y.—The hotel industry will be able to compare ranges of energy and water use, as well as carbon footprint, using a new tool from the Center for Hospitality Research (CHR). Developed by researchers Howard Chong and Eric Ricaurte, the “Hotel Sustainability Tool 2015” is available from the CHR at no charge. Chong is an assistant professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, and Ricaurte is the founder of Greenview and an adjunct instructor at New York University's Tisch Center.Chong and Ricaurte developed the benchmark ranges using aggregate input for 4,725 hotel properties from 11 international hotel...

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.—iTouchFaucets recently introduced the Smart Faucet that uses Smartphone Touch Technology to help residents and commercial business owners reduce water consumption.“iTouchFaucets is an innovative approach that consumers are excited to adopt,” says Joanna Boey, National Vice President of iTouchFaucets. “Our state-of-the-art system uses an electronic touchpad that looks like a smartphone to replace faucet handles. It can be a retrofit and attached to most faucet designs for showers, bathtubs, kitchen and bathroom sinks. This touchpad can be placed anywhere convenient to the end users especially for the physically challenged and handicapped and is therefore ADA compliant. It...

STAMFORD, CONN.—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced it has reduced energy use by 12.08 percent, carbon emissions by 16.07 percent and water use by 17.26 percent across all owned, managed and franchised properties from 2008 through 2014. The reductions stem from Starwood’s 30/20 by 20 environmental goals, launched in 2009, to cut energy use by 30 percent and water use by 20 percent by 2020 globally. In 2013, Starwood added a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent during the same timeframe.“We’re pleased with the progress and are encouraged by the reductions we made while maintaining an...

TAMPA, FLA.—Hasek Communications, the Tampa, Fla.-based publisher of Green Lodging News, has added a ConservCo case study to its website. The case study details how ConservCo was able to help a 196-room Caribbean resort dramatically reduce its water consumption by 27 million gallons annually. ConservCo performed an audit of the resort, its golf course, and landscape irrigation system.Using proprietary protocols and procedures based on standards and benchmarks derived from the US EPA, the US Green Building Council, and the Irrigation Association, work performed by ConservCo technicians included inventorying fixtures and appliances, taking flow rate and static pressure measurements, checking...

NATIONAL REPORT—As you have probably heard in the news lately, California is experiencing its worst drought in recorded history. There was less rainfall in 2013 than in any year since California became a state 165 years ago. Precipitation and snowpack levels remain well below average, and there does not appear to be an end in sight. To mitigate impacts from the drought, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., issued Executive Order B-29-15 on April 1, 2015. This historic act by the Governor signaled the beginning of a new era of stringent water conservation for California. The Executive Order, as well...

VISTA, CALIF.—U.S.-based Waterless Co. Inc. has launched an updated new website, www.waterless.com, focused on the needs of the professional building, facility management, and professional cleaning industries. Waterless Co., which was founded by Klaus Reichardt in 1991, is the oldest manufacturer of no-water urinal systems in North America. The company also offers a variety of products to properly care for waterless urinals—many of which can be used to care for different brands of no-water urinals—which are available through the new site’s online store. “I am especially proud of this new site because it was created in-house by our marketing department,” says Reichardt....

TAMPA, FLA.—Hasek Communications, the Tampa, Fla.-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes ConservCo as a Founding Sponsor. ConservCo has been providing hospitality clients with water conservation consulting since 2008. The company performs comprehensive facilities water audits and landscape irrigation audits for hotel and golf resort operators worldwide. ConservCo’s goal in conducting the audit is to help the facility save money by reducing waste and lowering water, energy, and sewer utility expenses.ConservCo’s approach includes a three part process:1)    Gain an in-depth understanding of the property’s unique water use practices and specific conservation goals;2)    Conduct a thorough water audit to determine...

TAMPA, FLA.—Hasek Communications, the Tampa, Fla.-based publisher of Green Lodging News, has added a Laundrylux case study to its website. The case study focuses on the Super 8 Ukiah and details owner Raakesh Patel’s decision to go with Electrolux washers with no upfront costs. There are no such costs because Patel opted for Laundrylux’s PLUS (Professional Laundry Utility Service) where he simply uses the equipment as needed and pays only for that usage. PLUS laundering becomes a utility service—just like water, gas, and electricity. Like any utility, one only pays for PLUS when it is used. There is no...