Just as there is much more to the whole travel process than the booking, there is also more to business travel than the expense, in any Managed Travel programme, corporate and social responsibility and optimisation of spend remain at the forefront of corporations' minds.
The BCD Travel Foundation, the giving arm of BCD Travel, will provide $750,000 in operating expenses over the next five years to help fund L'Ecole de Choix—"The School of Choice"— a private, non-profit elementary school in Mirebalais, Haiti. The funds will be raised by employee-led fundraising efforts and matching contributions from BCD Travel and its private owner.
Energy cost is the second-largest operating expense for most hotels. In Hawaii, where energy costs are the highest in the nation, energy efficiency and hotel energy management is absolutely essential to sustain profitability.
The Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, a 1,400+ room property in Orlando, Florida, announced its energy reduction program that is creating a 5.8 percent utility savings a year. The Resort offers the best of Florida all in one place. It is located less than ten minutes from the main gates of Disney® and features a 4.5 acre glass-enclosed atrium with over 400,000 square feet of meeting space that makes it a must see Florida destination. With warm Florida temperatures year round, The Gaylord Palms established sustainability goals to conserve energy and keep guests comfortable. Honeywell's INNCOM network and energy management solutions were incorporated in the goals to fully monitor and optimize the property.
INTEREL, the world's fastest-growing manufacturer of integrated room technologies in the luxury, upper scale and cruise line hospitality industry, has officially entered its new TCP/IP-based Water Management System into the HTNG North American Conference 2016 TechOvation Award competition taking place on Tuesday March 1 at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort.
Whether it is done as a way to cut utility bills and use resources more efficiently, minimize your hotel's environmental impact or differentiate your product, taking a sustainable approach simply makes good business sense. HotelREZ Hotels & Resorts expands on the business case for sustainability in hospitality, looking more specifically at hotel operations and what they can gain from going green.
Leading interior design firms from across the US teamed with INNCOM by Honeywell to showcase their best creations for guest rooms and public spaces at the HI Connect design event in Nashville held March 25-27, 2015. Award winners, designONE studio, VOA Associates, and Chipman Design Architecture featured INNCOM's Integrated Room Automation Systems (IRAS) with Evora and Modeva switches for hotel lighting and comfort controls in their displays. INNCOM partnered with several interior design companies with vignettes at HI Connect to provide solutions and suggest lighting controls and other guest room automation. "INNCOM worked closely with the design community to develop 'designed-in' integrated room automation systems for possible new brands," said John Tavares, director business development for INNCOM by Honeywell. "Three out of four of our design partners earned awards at HI Connect, including Most Creative Use of Technology by designOne studio. For us, enabling our clients to win is the best prize INNCOM can be awarded." Most Creative Use of Technology Award designONE studio won the People's Choice award for Most Creative Use of Technology. "INNCOM's capacitive touch Modeva is aesthetically pleasing and perfectly complemented our award-winning vignette," said Katrina Kostik, senior designer for designONE studio. "INNCOM's team was easy to work with and highly professional. Our award-winning outcome was well received and INNCOM was a large part of that." All winners were chosen by event attendees. Most Inventive Vignette Chipman Design Architecture worked with INNCOM to earn the People's Choice award for Most Inventive Vignette. Chipman Design Architecture Principal Patricia Rotondo said, "INNCOM was such an amazing contributor to our award-winning space. We valued their suggestions for lighting controls and other systems. Their products are as innovative as they are attractive. It was truly a pleasure working with INNCOM's team." Most Likely to Make Guests Want to Move In VOA Associates Incorporated utilized INNCOM's Evora guest user interfaces to integrated room automation in its advanced guest room design vignette honored as 'Most Likely to Make Guests Want to Move In.' VOA Principal, Global Hospitality Leader, Mark Pratt, said, "It was a pleasure working with INNCOM on our award-winning vignette at Hi Connect 2015. We find their products innovative and inspiring and we look forward to continued collaborations." The awards were presented during The HI Connect Awards and NEWH Sponsorship Gala that took place on the evening of March 26 at the Gaylord Opryland. The Award Show and Gala recognizes the hotel industry's best, brightest and most creative solutions presented during HI Connect.
The Westin Buckhead Atlanta implemented an INNCOM Energy Management System as part of a comprehensive strategy to support its Starwood Hotels & Resorts' "30/20 by 20" environmental initiatives. The 358-room property installed e4 Smart Digital Thermostats with the patented ecoMODE® feature, INNcontrol 3 Central Room Management software, and a full INNCOM property management system interface. Westin Buckhead taps advanced system to achieve energy conservation standards "The goal of Starwood's "30/20 by 20" program is to reduce energy use by 30 percent and cut water consumption by 20 percent by 2020 at every property," said Robert Attaway, director of engineering for The Westin Buckhead Atlanta. "We implemented INNCOM's guest room energy management system technology throughout our hotel to meet these aggressive standards." "Thanks to INNCOM, we are well on our way to reach our goal," said Attaway. "Our results with INNCOM are so good that I feel bad for hotels that don't have the system." Attaway said his property also retrofitted LED lighting throughout the property to further reduce energy consumption. The property's INNCOM E528 Smart Digital Thermostats with room occupancy sensors enable precise temperature management. Room controls are linked to INNcontrol 3 software via a Deep Mesh Network that monitors guestroom condition and status and reports in real-time to INNCOM's System. INNCOM is a Honeywell brand and a leading global provider of integrated room automation systems for the hotel industry. Westin's goal is guest comfort "Our ultimate goal at the Westin Buckhead is guest comfort," Attaway said. "INNCOM's thermostats have sensors that show when a room is occupied. This informs the system's configurable temperature setbacks to keep empty room temperatures within comfortable limits. We know INNCOM delivers energy savings because the system automatically checks its own processes daily. It takes a small number of guestroom thermostats off the setback control, then compares energy usage against when the room is controlled by INNCOM. We see savings of 35 percent in cooling in shoulder months, and between 50 to 60 percent energy savings in winter. INNCOM detects rooms with incorrect setback temperatures INNCOM also identifies rooms that show an incorrect setback temperature to maintain energy efficiency and guest comfort. "I review the setback report daily and dispatch my team to listed rooms to verify if repairs are needed," Attaway said. "Guests appreciate it when we proactively come to their room to check the system. It shows our attention to their comfort. "We hosted an NFL team that required its rooms continuously be at 68 degrees," Attaway said. "For special guests like this, we override the setback to provide the desired temperature." About Westin Buckhead Atlanta The Westin Buckhead Atlanta hotel is located in the heart of Buckhead surrounded by the finest shopping and dining and just a short drive away from popular city attractions. The 22-story hotel features 358 guest rooms including recently renovated 11 meeting spaces and ballrooms that can accommodate both intimate receptions and large events. The Westin Buckhead Atlanta is located at 3391 Peachtree Road NE in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, please visit Westin Buckhead Atlanta and follow the hotel on Facebook.
INTEREL, the world's fastest growing manufacturer of integrated room technologies in the luxury hospitality industry, has announced the release of a series of new global products as well as the establishment of a local presence in Asia and the Americas.
It's no secret that eco-friendly initiatives and sustainability efforts are the core of adoba ecotel's existence. The brand aims to not only continue internal efforts to reduce their carbon footprint but also continue to expand on these initiatives and grow their campaigns and eco-friendly programs even further. This desire to continue to grow and evolve has led the adoba® ecotel team to a new and exciting partnership with Refresh Glass, a unique company that creates glassware and art pieces from recycled wine bottles.
Hospitality software provider Guestline has raised over £1000 for local Shropshire charity, Severn Hospice, by participating in a number of fundraising events, including a Dragon Boat Race.
As sales of electric vehicles (EVs) skyrocket (up 440% between 2011-2013), more and more hotels are providing EV charging stations to their guests and employees. EV Connect, a commercial electric vehicle charging station software and services provider, has created a new and visually engaging EV charging station infographic that hotel managers may find useful when considering offering EV charging as an amenity. The infographic is entitled "6 Questions to Ask Before Buying EV Charging Stations", and it is a helpful resource for workplaces and organizations looking to provide EV charging for their employees, customers, and/or constituents.
More travelers and meeting planners are including a hotel's sustainability efforts in its selection criteria; Mobile key expert, OpenWays, offers five tips on how mobile key implementation can offer an environmentally friendly program that improves the bottom line, enhances sustainability programs and appeals to millennial travelers
SiteMinder, a leading online hotel technology provider, has teamed with White Linen Boutique Hotel, a not-for-profit hotel that raises funds for victims of sex trafficking through The Daughters of Cambodia campaign.
In less than one year, installation of Verve wireless guestroom controls, ZENO gateway products and InnPoint software delivered Salvatore's Grand Hotel a sizeable return on investment; NYSEG presents owner Russell Salvatore with a $48,988 rebate check in less than 11 months
Systems Associates Inc. is taking the process of monitoring building equipment away from the four walls of the hotel and placing it in the cloud to give engineers and managers more real time control over energy consumption and associated costs. Combining the power of the Internet with the mastery of industry standard protocols, SAI's CONTROLIQ solution is giving hoteliers true freedom in controlling the building environment from virtually anywhere. Since CONTROLIQ runs on a web browser, staff can react to a situation in seconds, even though the issue may be in a completely different building or on a different continent.
Onity, one of the world's leading providers of electronic locks and energy management solutions, helps manage humidity in guest rooms at the CoCo Key Hotel and Water Resort-Orlando with the Onity SensorStat® DDC Energy Management System (EMS) and the web-based InnGENIUS® monitoring system, by EcoLodgix®. Onity is part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp.
Onity, one of the world's leading providers of electronic locks and energy management solutions, has been selected by Larson Companies to provide the Onity™ SensorStat™ DDC Energy Management System (EMS) to a new full-service Holiday Inn in Eau Claire, Wisc. Onity is part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).
What do you get when you combine the SynergyMMS mobile maintenance management system from Systems Associates Inc. with the INNcontrol™ 3 system from INNCOM? A connection between guestroom automation and operational efficiency that results in a hotel's ability to use energy wisely, not wastefully. An environment that enables guests to rest comfortably while hotels run at their highest levels of customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. And, a way to anticipate guest issues before they escalate, performing preventive maintenance and distributing work orders throughout the property. This collaborative effort between SAI and INNCOM is proving to enhance each other's functionality to the benefit of each hotel.
Bartech, the leader in automatic minibar solutions for the global hospitality industry, today announced the introduction of Neobar, the most environmentally friendly automatic minibar on the market. The Neobar line is a new generation of automatic minibars, designed to help hotels and resorts in their "eco-friendly" initiatives, while providing additional benefits through the creation of additional revenue and reduced expenditures.