Successful Meetings - November 2008 - (Page 36) Political Meetings > When Red and Blue Make Green in becoming more environmentally friendly. Vermont as well as attendees from the CBS news contingent. Both convention destinations offered 1,000 bicycles to delegates and visitors through a partnership between Boulder, COCHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN based Bikes Belong and Louisville, KY-based health benefits James Kratofil, the Hyatt Regency Denver’s director of food company, Humana. Bikes and helmets were made available for and beverage, gave a rundown of how the convention week free at seven locations in each city and seemed to be well compared to a normal week in which the hotel is fully booked. received. According to Bikes Belong, bike riders from all 50 During the Democratic convention, the hotel used 268,000 kilostates, the District of Columbia, and 37 countries took 7,523 watt-hours of electricity versus 340,000 hours during a normal rides, covered 41,724 miles, and week, and used 700,000 reduced their carbon footprint by gallons of water com14.6 metric tons. Bicycle racks pared to 900,000 normaland 70 bikes were left in each city ly, which he attributes in to encourage an extension of the part to the fact that most project. guests were away from Both cities also worked with the rooms during the day Xcel Energy Inc. to limit their use at convention activities. of traditional energy. Among other The hotel also went initiatives, the Hyatt Regency Minthrough 46,000 pounds neapolis and the headquarters of room linen versus a When Hurricane Gustav created a hotel for the Democratic National typical 62,000 pounds, planner’s nightmare and forced Convention held August 25-28, the based largely on the fact the Republican Party to halt events schedHyatt Regency Denver, used only that the hotel typically uled for Monday night, some visitors went wind power from Xcel for the durachanges out linens on tion of the convention. Thompson day four of a guest’s stay to the Guthrie Theater, the Minneapolis and his counterpart in Denver, even if they have opted to Sculpture Garden, and other area sites. “It General Manager John Schafer, reuse their sheets and was not a nightmare, but a scramble, a lot agree that using wind power is towels, but many convenof shifting on the fly.” seamless on the venue’s end, tion guests elected not to —Michael Kofsky, director of sales and marketing, although Schafer notes that there have their sheets Hyatt Regency Minneapolis can be an additional cost. changed at all during the At the Hyatt Regency Denver, week-long convention. where guests included Howard Dean, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Other initiatives include an increase in locally sourced food Madeleine Albright, and personnel from NBC and ABC, materiand the use of food containers produced by a company in Boulals on the green initiatives were provided to each guest by the der that are biodegradable or made of at least 30 percent postnonpartisan convention host committee. consumer recycled material. Schafer adds that some projects To reduce paper waste at the Hyatt during the Republican have proven to be cost saving—“You can sell a couple of tons convention, information was not delivered daily to each guest of cardboard versus putting it in a landfill,” he says. “I think for room, but made available in the lobby, both to decrease upfront us there was a realization that a lot of these things you can do paper use and to ensure that leftovers were quickly and easily pretty easily, without much impact on cost, and sometimes save recycled. Thompson says the move was well received by some money.” He also notes that much has changed in the past guests, although he was reluctant to specify who his guests few years, and there are more resources available than ever were. before. “We had the Republican National Committee leadership City-wide, projects included the planting of trees, solar enerhere and a number of extremely high-priority, high-profile, secugy installations, water stations throughout the city to allow rity-conscious individuals, and I hesitate to disclose their guests to refill water bottles, recycling bins along the 16th names,” says Thompson, adding that his property did not host Street Mall, and the use of eco-friendly room keys made from the suddenly famous vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, birch, supplied by Boulder-based Sustainable Cards LLC and but did have the delegations from Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, and used at all convention hotels. The city was considered fairly 36 successfulmeetings.com NOVEMBER 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS http://www.successfulmeetings.com
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