Green Around The Globe
Hospitality companies and brands the world over continue to push each other with new ideas on lessening environmental impact and operating less wastefully.
By Derek Gale, Senior Editor -- Hotels, 12/31/2008 11:00:00 PM
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| IHG’s Innovation Hotel, a solar- and wind-powered concept property featuring a roof garden and a rainwater harvesting system, plus furniture made from recycled materials and water-saving fixtures, debuted on the Web in 2008. |
Not every hotel can be as green as IHG’s Innovation Hotel, above, or Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels’ new LEED Platinum-Rated Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina (on this issue’s cover). But that won’t stop the industry from finding new ways to do less environmental harm. Here’s a round-up of who’s doing what, and where.
In Asia: Alila Hotels and Resorts, working with The GreenAsia Group, has committed itself to becoming carbon-neutral, first through its head office in Singapore and then throughout its seven hotels and resorts in Asia. In the longer term, Alila also intends to create programs to help guests enjoy carbonneutral holidays.
Six Senses Resorts & Spas, which aims to create innovative and enriching experiences in a sustainable environment, last summer held an eco-symposium in the Maldives covering everything from solar energy and water management solutions to sustainable architecture and low-carbon technologies.
At the symposium, Lyndall DeMarco, former executive director of the International Tourism Partnership, gave a talk on tools for the industry, including the Sustainable Performance Operation Tool (SPOT), an online offering showing hotels how they perform through the completion of a simple questionnaire. Six Senses has since adopted the tool with great results.
Langham Hotels International also is using SPOT, and The Langham, Auckland, has reached Green Globe Silver status and won the New Zealand Ministry of the Environment green ribbon award for sustainable business practices.
“I think self-audit is greenwashing,” says John Dick, the hotel’s managing director. “As an industry we need to challenge ourselves more and go for third-party accreditation. There are plenty of options.”
The hotel has a full-time environment project supervisor who drives its initiative, and thus staffers constantly challenge themselves to set new standards, such as reducing waste to landfill by 95% by the end of last year.
In Europe: The Rezidor Hotel Group last year had more than 50 additional hotels receive green certification by third parties, including the Green Tourism Business Scheme, the Nordic Swan Eco-label and the Green Key.
“We see strong demands from the markets for eco-certifications, and do believe that these labels are a more and more important part within our overall Responsible Business Program,” says Catherine Rubbens, director responsible business for Rezidor.
The company’s responsible business program, in place since 2001, was featured last fall on CNBC World in a 13-episode television series called, “The Role of Business in Reversing Climate Change.” Two specific properties were highlighted—the Radisson SAS Hotel Edinburgh in Scotland and the Radisson SAS Resort El Quseir in Egypt.
The Scotland hotel is reducing its carbon footprint through electricity savings, stringent waste sorting and recycling, and local purchasing. It also allows guests to fully offset carbon dioxide emissions related to their stays through the goldpoints plus loyalty program. The Egypt hotel, meanwhile, uses solar solutions to combat climate change.
Scandic Hotels—which no longer offers bottled water in its restaurants or during conferences, instead offering guests chilled and filtered water from taps, both still and carbonated—now also has set up a sustainability fund, with money contributed from the sales of new, specially designed water bottles filled at its hotels. On-site filling saves unnecessary shipments of bottled water that negatively impact the environment through carbon dioxide emissions.
The fund will support initiatives large and small contributing to more sustainable development and a more sustainable society, by awarding grants for innovation. The greatest accolade, the Scandic Sustainability Award, will be worth €100,000 and will be announced once a year at a special ceremony.
“Scandic’s decision is the right one and something that will have many winners. Scandic is moving outside its own company to reward other key initiatives, which will hopefully inspire even more to contribute to a better world,” says Swedish Olympic swimmer Therese Alshammar, who designed the bottle.
In the United States: Marriott International continues working to green its US$10 billion supply chain—one of five key points in the company’s strategy that aims to reduce its global environmental footprint. With this in mind, as Marriott hotels deplete their inventory of existing supplies, they will be replaced with new, greener products. Examples include Eco-Smart pillows filled with polyester micro-fiber made from 100% recycled PET bottles and coreless toilet paper made partly from recycled fiber.
Carlson Hotels Worldwide last fall launched a comprehensive “Practical Guide to Greening Your Hotel” that outlines sustainability strategies and practical steps properties can take toward environmental responsibility. The guide is part of the company’s global responsible business program, led by Vice President of Responsible Business Carmen Baker.
Baker says Carlson is focusing on reducing, recycling and reusing solid waste; reducing the use of harmful chemicals; conserving energy and water; and improving indoor air quality.
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| The Hilton Baltimore, like IHG's concept hotel, features a living green roof. |
In addition to the green guide, Carlson is engaged in a pilot program of environmental audits and related research at select hotels and corporate facilities. The audits provide a baseline of a property’s efficiency, energy consumption and carbon footprint; property managers then can review potential improvement strategies, making a determination of return on investment and the projects’ feasibility.
Wyndham Worldwide last fall held a Global Green Day, attended by more than 14,000 associates across six continents, to kick off its WyndhamGreen environmental and sustainability program and launch the WyndhamGreen Web site. The event included educational components on the WyndhamGreen program, plus access to eco-friendly products and vendor booths.
From sustainable uniforms to green cleaning products, Wyndham is now looking at all aspects of its operations to evaluate where changes can be made that will lessen the company’s environmental impact. Throughout the course of the year ahead, Wyndham will begin to implement best practices throughout its portfolio.
These green initiatives are led by Faith Taylor, vice president of sustainability and innovation, and a Green Council with members from across the company.
IHG last year launched on the Web its Innovation Hotel, a solar- and wind-powered concept featuring a roof garden rich in shrubbery (to provide extra insulation) and a rainwater harvesting system, plus furniture made from recycled materials and water-saving fixtures. The idea is to solicit guest feedback, and for the virtual hotel’s features that win guest approval to become standard across IHG’s brands.
Simple Step: Go Green With Room Keys
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Eco-friendly, biodegradable guestroom key cards made of sustainably harvested wood, long available and used in Europe, debuted in August in the United States when hotels in Denver, Colorado, made them available for the Democratic National Convention.
Widespread use of such cards could reduce plastic waste in the United States by 1,300 tons annually (the amount produced by hotels and resorts using traditional key cards), according to Boulder, Colorado-based Sustainable Cards.
“We’ve reached a point where consumers no longer want to frequent hotels and resorts that aren’t embracing green business practices,” says Greg Hartmann, president and CEO of Sustainable Cards. “Our mission is to reduce non-biodegradable card waste to zero.”
Marriott International already has begun replacing the 24 million plastic key cards it purchases annually in the United States with cards made of 50% recycled material—an act the company says will save 66 tons of plastic from being dumped in a landfill.
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