There has always been a kind of quiet conflict in the hospitality industry when it comes to going green. On the one hand, reducing consumption of energy and resources makes good sense from an economic standpoint, to say nothing of the social and environmental responsibility. On the other hand, hotels are in the business of pampering guests first and foremost, and while many of those guests may be happy to do their part to stem global warming, hoteliers are understandably reticent about doing anything that might diminish guests’ overall comfort.

That conflict has been a conscious concern for Troy Strand, general manager of the luxury Talbott Hotel in Chicago, ever since the boutique property began seriously exploring green options several years ago. The Talbott purchases carbon offsets from Renewable Choice Energy, it has installed compact fluorescent lighting throughout the property and it has been using Inncom International’s e4 Smart Digital Thermostat for energy management for a couple years. Those steps were helpful in reducing The Talbott’s carbon footprint, but it is the hotel’s newest eco-friendly initiative that really sets it apart.

In March, the hotel modified its e4 thermostats with Inncom’s ecoMode upgrade, which won best-in-show honors at November’s International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show. The ecoMode add-on is (literally) a green button on the thermostat that invites guests to opt in to a hotel’s conservation program, signaling to housekeeping, for instance, that the guest does not expect daily linen changes. It also triggers a wider range of temperature setbacks to the e4 system, meaning the guestroom heating or air conditioning will go longer than normal without being activated.

Strand was drawn to ecoMode for its convenience of giving guests a simple way to make their stay environmentally friendly while simultaneously giving the hotel an efficient way to track which guests participate. That information can be used by the hotel to market eco-friendly promotions down the road, but more immediately, The Talbott is giving back to participating guests—gift cards worth one month of carbon offset credits for their homes.

“We feel the program is unique to us,” Strand says. “The guest is getting something back; they’re not losing something by not getting their sheets and their towels changed, and they also feel like they’re doing something useful for the environment.”

Adding incentive for participation will likely get more people involved. A 2007 survey by global marketing information firm J.D. Power and Associates found that while 73% of guests would be willing to actively participate in a hotel’s green program, the number grows to 86% if there is a reward for doing so.

By getting guests actively involved in the conservation process, ecoMode keeps them consciously aware of their resource consumption throughout their hotel stays. And because it is completely optional, participating guests are not put off if they return to their rooms and the temperature is not exactly as they left it.

“This seemed to fit what we wanted to do,” Strand says. “Many hotels have that process where guests can flip a card over and indicate they don’t want their sheets changed and things like that. This goes beyond that.”

The 100-key Habitat Suites Hotel in Austin, Texas, strives to be among the greenest hotels around. Until 2005, Habitat had been using energy management technology from Honeywell, but overzealous guests were tampering with the in-room thermostats and unknowingly undoing the temperature setbacks—needlessly increasing the hotel’s electricity costs and carbon footprint, says General Manager Natalie Marquis.

The hotel has since installed Telkonet’s SmartEnergy system, which has reduced its kilowatt consumption by about 12% annually. The Telkonet system is “dummy-proof,” Marquis says. “What Telkonet is doing is far beyond anything else anyone is doing,” she says. “It’s very cutting-edge.”

The big differentiator for SmartEnergy is its recovery time technology, which takes into consideration external factors affecting room temperature, like outside weather or even the location of the particular room within the hotel. The thermostat frequently samples temperature changes in the room and dynamically calculates the optimal setback temperature to use when the room is unoccupied—thus reducing the length of time it takes to bring the temperature back to a guest’s preference. Rather than programming arbitrary setback temperatures, hoteliers instead give the system an ideal recovery time, and the system figures out the optimal vacant-room temperature.

Similar to its competitor ecoMode, SmartEnergy offers real-time data-logging capabilities, tracking energy usage statistics and overall system performance. Habitat uses the data to identify energy inefficiencies throughout the property, as well as related maintenance needs. Additionally, the hotel has a partnership with Austin Energy, whereby the electric company monitors the hotel’s energy use and thus knows exactly how much electricity capacity can be reduced at peak-demand times without adversely impacting guests. In exchange, Habitat gets a discount on its energy bill.

Broomfield, Colorado-based RockResorts recently made a public recommitment to being environmentally friendly, and given that most of its properties are located in natural settings, the company believes going green is a sort of guest amenity in and of itself.

RockResorts is cutting back on minor conveniences like turndown service while guests are away, with the hope that customers appreciate and even desire energy conservation. “It’s a little thing, but it sends a message about what you are trying to do to green your hotel,” says Julie Klein, RockResorts’ director of environmental affairs. Motion detectors also are being installed in public areas throughout the group’s properties for the automatic turning off of lights and temperature control systems.

The InterContinental Chicago, meanwhile, has a laundry list of little things designed to go unnoticed by guests but which go a long way toward LEED certification. For starters, the hotel uses an Inncom energy management system integrated with Saflok infrared door sensors, but on the other end of the technology spectrum, it also has implemented a guestroom water conservation measure.

Director of Engineering Raymond Kemph bought a bunch of Toilet Tummies—simple rubber pouches filled with air—and placed them in toilet tanks throughout the property. The pouches reduce water use by about 25% and cost just US$3 each. Also in the bathrooms, the InterContinental uses coreless toilet paper rolls, which have 22% more paper and cost roughly the same amount as regular rolls. And lastly, the hotel has a partnership with the city to donate leftover liquid bath amenities to the needy, rather than disposing of them. “It’s low-hanging fruit,” Kemph says, “but it makes such a huge difference.”

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