CHICAGO—Luminii, a leader in the germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) LED lighting space, announced that it is helping businesses including gyms, restaurants, medical offices and daycares around the country. With more than a decade of architectural LED product innovation, Luminii’s germicidal upper air system called Purifii is a contact-free, low-profile GUV product that kills the COVID-19 virus as well as other airborne viruses and bacteria that may be circulating in high-traffic indoor spaces. Since February 28, when Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot rescinded the city’s indoor mask mandate, some Chicago businesses welcomed customers back to restaurants, gyms, and retail establishments with extra risk mitigation layers designed to protect air quality and kill...

NEW YORK—The Peninsula Hotels, whose properties around the world have epitomized luxurious elegance for almost a century, will debut an extensive collection of new wellness resources for its guests in early 2022, inviting them to experience “Life Lived Best.” The brand-wide initiative will provide guests at all Peninsula properties with unprecedented opportunities to pursue their fitness, mindfulness, and nutritional goals—and to access those opportunities whenever they wish through a dedicated Wellness Portal and 24-hour Wellness Concierge service. “With this new Wellness program, we are breaking new ground in helping our guests to maximize their health and well-being,” said Gareth Roberts, Group...

BETHESDA, MD.—JW Marriott, part of Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of 30 hotel brands, recently announced the debut of three herb gardens envisioned and planted by renowned landscape designer Lily Kwong as part of the brand’s JW Garden program. Kwong, whose reverence for nature comes to life through her breathtaking botanical installations, is the founder of Studio Lily Kwong, a next-generation landscape design studio with a mission to reconnect people to nature. JW Marriott is guided by similar principles, with a commitment to mindfulness that allows guests to be present in mind, nourished in body and revitalized in spirit—pillars that directly...

UNITED KINGDOM—Global hotel group YOTEL and beauty brand Urban Jungle have announced a world exclusive partnership. YOTELs around the globe will become the first hotels in the world to stock Urban Jungle’s innovative amenities. Australian-born Urban Jungle is already disrupting the beauty industry with attainable and easy-to-use products and will now be available for all hotel guests staying in YOTELs from Miami to Manchester, Singapore to San Francisco and many more. Urban Jungle is set to be stocked in every YOTEL, YOTELAIR and YOTELPAD by the end of the year. Cleverly created to be cruelty-free and vegan, Urban Jungle is a...

ORLANDO, FLA.—The pandemic did many bad things to the hospitality industry and its related organizations. One of the organizations that suffered the most was Clean the World, the Orlando, Fla. based nonprofit that is dependent on donations of soap, amenity bottles, financial support, and volunteers to keep its mission rolling. “The donation drop off was more than 75 percent during the pandemic,” says Robert Montgomery, Clean the World’s VP Product Development. “Clean the World laid off 80 percent of staff. We almost had to close our doors.” Corporate events, at which groups assemble hygiene kits, came to a complete...

ODESSA, FLA.—Green Lodging News has added Healthway to the “Air Filtration/Purification” section of its Green Product & Service Directory. Located in Upstate New York, Healthway designs and engineers scalable, efficient air cleaning solutions for any environment. For hospitality, Healthway has innovated to protect customers and staff from the spread of airborne viruses. The company’s complete line of air purification solutions is built to solve indoor air quality challenges specific to hosting guests in a hotel space. From plug and play portable units to HVAC retrofit systems, Healthway applies its expertise to outfit a hotel’s environment, wherever that may be. Call (315) 298-2904 or e-mail ccobb@healthway.com for...

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—It would hardly be an exaggeration to consider the cannabis plant as one of the most eco-friendly species on the planet. Let’s start with the fact that among all plants in the moderate climate zone, cannabis holds a record for producing the most biomass per season. This means that it is the fastest in extracting CO2 from the atmosphere. Cannabis, or rather its non-psychoactive version, hemp, is also a completely versatile material that can be turned into biofuel and hempcrete (a much more environmentally friendly alternative to concrete), fabric, plastics, paper, and paints while cannabis seeds have a deserved...

NATIONAL REPORT—Whether it’s in the context of commercial or home cleaning, going green is an important consideration. The damage of the cleaning industry as it currently exists extends to individual health and impacts the larger climate. The chemicals in cleaning products can damage your health. These chemicals can also enter the environment through the water system. For example, if you flush a toilet or empty a mop bucket down a drain, then that means the ammonia, acids, and other chemicals are going into the environment. Thousands of chemicals just from cleaning products are washed into rivers, streams, and oceans every day. Below...

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.—The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) announced the launch of the WELL Performance Rating, a new rating that recognizes building owners and operators for achieving excellence in healthy building performance aimed to enhance the well-being and experience of the people inside. The announcement was made during the opening session of the WELL Summit, with IWBI leading partner organizations driving a movement for people-first places forward through application of WELL at scale. Developed in collaboration with a host of industry leaders in smart building technologies and with input from IWBI Performance Advisory, WELL Performance Testing Organizations (PTOs) and WELL Enterprise Providers (EPs), the...

In case you missed it, earlier this month, the Biden-Harris Administration released the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, a roadmap to move the country forward safely and continue to fight COVID-19 as Americans get back to their more normal routines. Of course, a big part of getting back to normal is improving air quality in whatever dwelling we happen to be in—hotels included. As part of its Preparedness Plan, on March 17, the Administration launched the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge. It calls on all building owners and operators to assess their indoor air quality and make ventilation and air filtration...