Meeting News - July 21, 2008 - (Page 19)

Edited by Terri Hardin terri.hardin@nielsen.com Green Beat person event was dubbed “Green Day” in order to focus on environmental initiatives at hotels, resorts, and public venues. The magazine partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council and Clevel hoteliers to develop a series of guidelines for a new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification specifically for hospitality. Environmental benefit, from reducing waste, to energy use, to water consumption, was the focus of the criteria; Michelle Finn, vice president of Nielsen’s Hospitality Design Group, added that “the possibility of rate savings for groups based on reduced energy consumption” could become a negotiating factor in the near future. Bolstering this idea is a recent study by the University of Chicago that shows that door-hanger signs and table placards encouraging hotel guests to reuse their bedsheets and towels get better results when worded a certain way. The researchers recorded results from several different cards asking guests to take part in linen reuse programs. Some cards urged guests to “help save the environment”; others prompted guests to join their fellow “citizens” or “men and women” in helping preserve the environment. Lastly, some cited the specific room number and a percentage of the guests “who stayed in this room reused their towels.” The standard signs elicited a response rate of 37.2 percent, while the roomand rate-specific signs got 49.3 percent of guests to participate. For planners with high rates of participation among attendees, the cost savings could be so significant as to induce lower room rates. The report estimated that a 100-room hotel with high participation can reduce its water use by 72,000 gallons and detergent use by 480 gallons, saving up to $20,000 per year— and this doesn’t take into account savings gained in reduced housekeeping, laundry labor, and linen and towel purchases. Other industry estimates point to savings of up to $6.50 per day per occupied room. r —Robert Carey July 21, 2008 MeetingNews 19 Conference, Survey Highlight Cost-Saving Green Measures At May’s HD Expo, held in Las Vegas by Hospitality Design magazine (owned by Nielsen Business Media, the parent company of MeetingNews), the first day of the 11,000- WA’s Hilton Vancouver Now Greenest Hotel in U.S. Hotel is LEED- and Green Seal-certified; two other properties gain green benchmarks In May, the 226-room Hilton Vancouver Washington, in Washington state, with 30,000 sf of meeting space, became the first hotel to have both Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Green Seal certifications. The hotel, which had earned its LEED certification in 2005, was one of only six such designated hotels in the U.S. “Because the hotel had a head start with LEED certification, adopting the Green Seal seemed like the next logical step,” said Gerry Link, GM.“Our team takes great pride [as] a leader in the hospitality industry in implementing environmental practices.” The property earned its Green Seal by eliminating hazardous substances and biodegradable cleaning products; adopting waste-water management, energy-efficient, and conservation measures; minimizing and recycling waste; and implementing an environmentally and socially sensitive purchasing policy. Further, the green hotel scene has two more adopters: the St. Julien Hotel & Spa in Boulder, CO, and the Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, UT. The 201-room St. Julien, which has more than 15,000 sf of meeting space, was recently honored by Eco-Cycle’s 2008 Zero Waste Community & Business Awards. The hotel has adopted several propertywide environmental initiatives to create an a la carte menu of environmentally www.meetingnews.com Hilton Vancouver Washington’s grand ballroom friendly event and catering options. The property’s “green event planning menu” offers meeting planners options like locally grown and organic food and offsetting carbon emissions through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs or “green tags”).“We can help groups make simple changes, such as arranging paperless check-in and check-out and using refillable water jugs instead of individual water bottles,” noted Rick Hodges of UHG Consulting, St. Julien’s environmental consultant. Park City’s 56-unit Treasure Mountain Inn, with 3,350 sf of meeting space, followed “reuse and recycle” rules in its recent and extensive remodeling; it reused and preserved many of the original building materials through refurbished wood cabinetry, doors, and metal fixtures. The Inn has an extensive recycling program for paper, glass, plastic, aluminum, tin cans, newspaper, and cardboard. It provides biodegradable shampoos, and lotions and soaps made with natural ingredients and packaged in recyclable tubes. And it uses low-energy fluorescent lights and water-saving showerheads. The Inn is also heavily vested in the Utah Blue Sky Program, purchasing 30 percent of its electricity as wind power, which has resulted in a 190-ton reduction in CO2 emissions. Treasure Mountain Inn is a member of “1% for the Planet,” giving at least 1 percent of revenues from every sale to green causes. —Terri Hardin http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - July 21, 2008

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