PHOENIX—The day one general session at The Lodging Conference here at The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa featured frank talk about the state of the economy and occasional banter about green hotels. The conference also included a well-attended session focused on “Eco-friendly Design Concepts and Product Trends.” More than 1,400 people attended the conference, a sellout for the seventh consecutive year.
“The hotel industry remains fundamentally sound,” said Harry Javer, president, The Conference Bureau, who opened the conference. “Balance sheets are in a much better shape when compared to the last down cycle. We have a much smarter industry with a much better product. On a per room basis, owners are more profitable this year, and last year was a record year. Next year will be a very challenging year but our industry is up to the task.”
Don Landry, owner, Top Ten Marketing and Hospitality Consulting, and Alan L. Tallis, executive vice president, Ashford Hospitality Trust, moderated a session that included four industry leaders.
“This is the first time we have had a downturn led by a credit crisis in the residential market,” said panelist Arthur Adler, managing director & CEO-Americas, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. Adler said hotel transaction volume has declined from $37 billion last year to $7.3 billion dollars so far this year.
Energy Costs Push Green Trend
Peter Strebel, president, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, said the next major trend to hit the lodging industry will be green hotels. That trend is being driven to a great extent by increasing energy prices.
“In some islands of the Caribbean, energy prices have doubled since last year,” Strebel said. “As brands, we need to start requiring green changes.”
“In many future developments, you will see more solar and wind technologies,” added Gamal Aziz, president and CEO, MGM Mirage Hospitality.
In the “Eco-friendly Design Concepts and Product Trends” session, five industry leaders answered questions posed by Julia Monk, partner, BBG-BBGM. When asked about sustainability programs they have established in their own companies, the panelists mentioned initiatives ranging from in-house recycling to getting as many employees as possible to earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation.
“We try to take a two-pronged approach,” said Nicholas Lakas, director of global operations and guest experience for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.’s green element brand. “The first is to use element as an incubator for Starwood’s sustainability efforts. Starwood has also established a Sustainability Council.”
“We decided more than a year ago to establish a sustainability strategy,” said Walter Isenberg, president and CEO of SAGE Hospitality Resources LLC. “We rank our hotels by what they do to be sustainable.”
RFPs Increasingly Ask About Sustainability
Starwood’s Lakas said that 20 to 25 percent of the requests for proposal (RFPs) Starwood received in 2007 for meetings business asked about sustainability. This year, 95 percent of the RFPs are doing so.
As has been usual in any discussion about LEED, its cost was addressed. According to SAGE’s Isenberg, his company’s new hotel in Portland, Ore.—The Nines—cost just $150,000 more than a comparable hotel not pursuing LEED. This additional amount will be recovered in just 16 months thanks to rebates and energy-conserving initiatives.
“If you look at LEED from the absolute beginning of the development process, there should not be a premium [for basic LEED certification],” Lakas said.
“Basic LEED certification will be a given in five years,” Isenberg said, adding, however, that pursuing LEED for Existing Buildings can be a cost-prohibitive process.
Bob Neal, principal, director, hospitality practice for Cooper Carry, Inc., said green building is “shifting from an economical movement to a social responsibility issue.”
At the end of the day, however, making money matters a lot.
“We are not going to be green just for the sake of being green, and we are not going to negatively impact the guest experience,” Lakas said.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
