Increasingly, companies large and small are moving toward more sustainable practices and incorporating "green" initiatives. Ranging from environmentally conscious building materials and sustainable energy systems, all the way down to composting and recycling efforts, green thinking is becoming a way of life.
When school budget cutbacks began affecting kids" health in Spokane WA, a group of top physical therapists including Gonzaga Bulldogs trainers took matters into their own hands. Founded in 2004, the U-District Foundation has already attracted worldwide attention and has helped over 8000 kids ever since to stay healthy and dream great dreams.
If you want to shrink your carbon footprint when you check into a hotel, you may be better off staying at a mid-range or budget chain hotel. That's the conclusion from a report released last week by Vermont-based Brighter Planet, the eco-minded tech firm that creates digital apps and other technology to measure environmental impacts. The report said the nation’s hotels use 4% of all commercial building energy per year and generate 34.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
As Hilton New York prepares to play host during Earth Week to sustainability experts and advocates from across the corporate world for the Sustainable Operations Summit (www.sustainableoperationssummit.com) being held from April 17 to 19, Manhattan's largest hotel is pleased to announce the completion of a new green roof system and the installation of a Cogeneration (Combined Heat & Power) System, both designed to reduce the hotel's overall carbon footprint.
The Rapid City skyline has changed forever offering a sustainable glow with the official crowning of the newly branded downtown Adoba Eco Hotel exterior signage package. Teaming up with Lauretano Sign Group, a national provider of eco-savvy signage products, Atmosphere Hospitality Management Services owner of the Adoba Eco Hotel brand continues to forge their way down a path of sustainability.
Investments in energy efficiency initiatives in four- and five-star U.S. hotels are impacted by concerns from hoteliers about building automation and control systems around initial costs and the perception that energy management systems will result in a negative guest experience, according to a recent survey by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Harrah Hotel College and Cannon Survey Center. The study was commissioned by Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management.
The hospitality industry has become increasingly aware that environmentally responsible management and sustainable operating practices have a direct and positive impact on a property's bottom line. With energy representing the single fastest-growing operating cost in the hospitality industry – some 3-6% of total facility costs – hotel operators can no longer ignore the need to implement strategic energy-efficient management systems. Guests, corporate clients, employees, and investors have demonstrated increasing interest in understanding a business's approach to key environmental, social, and governance topics that widen the scope of performance. The Cornell School of Hotel Administration is addressing these needs with a new Certification in Hotel Properties Management and Sustainability. This certification focuses on sustainability in hospitality management by interweaving the key topics such as financial management and facilities operations to create a comprehensive knowledge base for the hotel manager.
The fall 2011 Roundtable season at the Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration was capped by the third Sustainability Roundtable and the inaugural Roundtable on Healthcare and Hospitality. Both sessions aimed at breaking down barriers to progress and putting emphasis on the key elements that will advance the industry. Sustainability: A Topic of Increasing Customer Interest Co-Chaired by Eric Ricaurte (Research Associate, CHR) and Rohit Verma (Professor, Executive Director, CHR), the Sustainability Roundtable addressed several complicated issues as proposed by hospitality industry practitioners. One goal of the roundtable was to address topics that could become the subject of further research.
The forum, entitled "Sustainable Hospitality: Green Innovation in Practice", took place at the NYU Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for University Life. This topic represents an important challenge for the hospitality industry today, and has also been designated a key issue at EHL during its current academic year. The NYU-SCPS faculty panel was represented by Constantine Kontokosta, Clinical Assistant Professor at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate and Director of the NYU Schack Center for the Sustainable Built Environment, and Sharr Prohaska, Clinical Associate Professor in hospitality and tourism management at the NYU-SCPS Tisch Center. Speakers were Claude Béglé, Ph.D., CEO of Symbioswiss, as well as Professor Frédéric Delley, head of Innovation and Creativity at Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (INTEHL). The panel was presided over by Hervé Houdré, regional director and general manager of InterContinental New York Barclay.
A new report from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) analyzes the wide diversity of sustainability factors, and explains how those measurements can be compiled to report on sustainability performance. The report, "Developing a Sustainability Measurement Framework for Hotels: Toward an Industry-wide Reporting Structure," by Eric Ricaurte, is available at no charge from CHR at http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/2011.html.
Harvesting crops in Manhattan is tough. So Element New York Times Square West is doing the next best thing. Giving guests and neighbors easy access to fresh, seasonal produce and artisanal farm products, the earth-friendly hotel will launch a pioneering partnership with Holton Farms, an eighth-generation Vermont-based farm and Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) program.
As the leading organization involved in industry sustainability, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) continues a year-long association with Clean the Worldthis year, focusing on impacting the communities in which planners organize meetings and events.
In its continued commitment to advancing the development of global sustainability standards and responding to the increased demands of eco‐conscious industry professionals, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) openly encourages all members globally to leverage their unique opportunity to directly contribute to the comment period for the international standard in event sustainability management (ISO 20121) which closes Sept. 2011.
Joie de Vivre also signed a partnership with Clean the World Foundation, an Orlando, Fla.-based non-profit, 501 (c) (3) organization that collects and recycles leftover guest room soaps and bottled amenities (shampoos, conditioners, lotions and gels) and distributes them to homeless and women's shelters in the United States and more than 40 countries. Distribution of the recycled amenities helps prevent millions of children's deaths caused each year by respiratory and gastrointestinal disease. "These two programs underscore our commitment to expanding our Green Dreams sustainability program," said Karlene Holloman, Joie de Vivre's senior vice president of operations, who spearheads the company's environmental preservation initiative, which formally launched in 2008.
As explained in the proceedings, "The Challenge of Hotel and Restaurant Sustainability: Finding Profit in 'Being Green'," the contradictions involve finances, operations, and marketing. Hotels and restaurants would save money from many sustainable practices, but often lack the capital to invest; operators that wish to improve practices lack measurement and benchmark standards; and guests expect hotels and restaurants to operate sustainably but don't use that as a decision factor in choosing a property.
The InterContinental San Francisco hotel is reaping the financial and environmental benefits of implementing the e4 Smart Digital Thermostat developed by Niantic-based INNCOM, the international hospitality-industry leader in advanced guestroom automation systems for hotels and resorts. According to the INNCOM tracking system, the property saved $75,491 on energy costs from January to September 2010.
The global leader in hospitality security and part of the ASSA ABLOY Group, received the prestigious Editor's Choice Award during the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS) in New York, winning for its innovative Energy Management Solution: Orion by VingCard Elsafe.
While guests and other stakeholders make it clear that they expect hotels and restaurants to improve the sustainability of their operations, hospitality managers are grappling with the many aspects of sustainability, including customer demand, cost effectiveness, supplier and stakeholder engagement, global trends, and system-wide implementation. The latest Sustainability Roundtable, held at Proskauer in New York City in November 2010 and produced by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research, brought together corporate management, owners, operators, and suppliers to discuss those issues and myriad other aspects of sustainability.
Hotel and restaurant operators are making large steps toward sustainable operations and the industry discussions have evolved significantly over the past few years. But the industry faces numerous issues in determining what strategies work best, especially since sustainability involves so many diverse aspects and stakeholders of hospitality operations. Participants in the Cornell Hospitality Sustainability Roundtable, held November 16 in New York City, examined the key issues in sustainability—including customer demand, cost effectiveness, supplier and stakeholder engagement, global trends, and system-wide implementation. The roundtable was opened by Professor Rohit Verma, executive director of the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research, and chaired by Associate Professor Alex Susskind.
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts leaders across the Golden State swapped their business suits for toques, aprons, and uniforms earlier this month. Executive level hoteliers from five California Fairmont properties (Fairmont Newport Beach, Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, Fairmont San Jose, Fairmont San Francisco and the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa) left their desks and spent a shift “on the floor.”