Hotel & Motel Management - January 19, 2009 - (Page 8)

H&MM January 19, 2009 | HotelMotel.com 8 Green Focus BY ANNA STARK “A focus on energy efﬁciency signals that hoteliers are taking active steps to address climate change.” BRIEFS Marriott Vacation Club International held a green fair and food drive at its Orlando call center to help educate staff members on ways to properly recycle and reduce energy consumption. The 650 associates who attended the November event donated 300 pounds of canned food items to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. The company launched its MVCI Green Initiative program earlier last year at corporate headquarters Independent hotel management company Destination Hotels publicly launched Destination Earth, an environmental sustainability program, throughout its collection of more than 30 properties. Since its inception about a year ago, the properties have implemented more than 60 eco-friendly measures to ensure a viable program was in place when the company announced it to the public. Palace Resorts created an environmental committee with the mission of preventing and controlling pollution and degradation of the environment at its allinclusive resorts. Personnel will be educated on how to take part in efforts including paperless technology, energy saving, recycling and saving indigenous wildlife. Five hotels were the ﬁrst in Chicago to receive certiﬁcation from Green Seal. Included in those are three of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants’ properties: Hotel Allegro, Hotel Burnham and Hotel Monaco Chicago. The remaining two are the InterContinental Chicago and The Talbott Hotel. Compiled by Jennifer Kovacs, jkovacs@questex.com Communicate your green commitment L eaders in the hospitality industry have long understood the value of energy efﬁciency as an effective strategy for controlling expenses. Recently, however, hoteliers have begun to see energy management as a way to demonstrate their commitment to green operations and are communicating this to an array of stakeholders. A focus on energy efﬁciency signals that hoteliers are taking active steps to address climate change— the largest green issue facing the commercial buildings sector and the issue capturing the attention of guests, franchisees and the general public. A recent study published by Deloitte indicates increasing environmental concern among business travelers: One-third of respondents indicated they “seek out hotels that are environmentally friendly,” and 28 percent are willing to pay up to 10 percent more to stay at a green hotel. As this demand grows, the industry is responding with resources hotel owners and operators can leverage to communicate their environmental commitment. For example, the American Hotel & Lodging Assn.’s Green Task Force has deﬁned 11 minimum environmental performance guidelines its members should strive to meet in order to make credible green claims [see below]. And Orbitz now allows travelers to search for environmentally friendly hotels, including those that have earned the Energy Star. All of this suggests that, now more than ever, it is crucial for hoteliers to demonstrate their green credentials to the marketplace in order to remain competitive. Recognizing this trend, leading hotel companies are taking action. And for many of these organizations, Energy Star is the ﬁrst step to green. Though fairly new to the Energy Star program, Best Western International has quickly recognized the importance of its partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—not only to achieve ﬁnancial beneﬁts from enhanced operational efﬁciencies, but also as a means to demonstrate the environmental stewardship that can help attract and retain guests. To achieve these goals, Best Western is seeking to educate and empower its more than 4,000 independent owner/ operator members with regard to green operations and energy efﬁciency. Furthermore, through this partnership, Best Western members now can leverage the widely recognized Energy Star brand as an additional way to communicate energy efﬁciency efforts to guests. At its annual member conference in October, Best Western’s senior leadership announced a companywide push for energy efﬁciency. To underscore this commitment, Best Western endorsed the Energy Star Challenge—a national call to action to reduce energy use by 10 percent. In order to provide conference attendees with the necessary resources to undertake this challenge, Best Western offered live trainings to introduce members to Energy Star resources and also provided a “Green Booth” for members to learn more about Energy Star and to sign up to take the challenge. In addition, Best Western created an environmental portal on its member website, containing Energy Star co-branded fact sheets, recorded trainings and other educational materials. As Best Western members achieve energy management success, this website also will host member success stories and best practices that can be shared across the company. In the coming year, Best Western will work to ensure its regional service managers are trained on Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager tool so these corporate staff members can offer benchmarking support to individual properties during site visits. By helping its members undertake and demonstrate green activities, Best Western is aligning its organization with the growing environmental interest among the traveling public. Best Western International is just one of the many hospitality partners joining Energy Star to improve energy efﬁciency while attracting eco-minded guests. For more information on how your organization can get involved with Energy Star and take advantage of the program’s free online tools and resources, visit www.energystar. gov/hospitality. hmm@questex.com SHARE YOUR GREEN EXPERTISE: If you’re interested in contributing future Green Focus columns, please contact Jennifer Kovacs at jkovacs@questex.com. Anna Stark is the national program manager for commercial property markets, Energy Star, United States Environmental Protection Agency. AH&LA creates green guidelines for hotels Washington, D.C.–Instead of following its original plan to provide a green certification for hotels, The American Hotel & Lodging Assn. in November launched a strategy that primarily focuses on environmental guidelines hotels may use to better meet standards. The guidelines target effective energy, water and waste management and will continuously be added to and built upon. The next set will take on design and construction, materials and resources, chemicals and cleaning, and indoor air quality. The association’s green strategy was crafted by its Green Task Force, which originally set out to implement the proposed certiﬁcation program but found that no program was readily available or affordable. So, the task force recommended that AH&LA identify pillars of efﬁciency and have hotels report on progress in meeting certain benchmarks. “Not all hotels will be able to achieve these guidelines, but we want to make sure we set a bar and goals now so hoteliers receive direction for immediate action,” said AH&LA president and CEO Joseph McInerney. The guidelines to assess progress were created based on criteria of existing state and national certiﬁcations. hmm@questex.com ONLINE EXTRA: For more on AH&LA’s green guidelines, visit www.ahla.com/green.aspx http://www.HotelMotel.com http://www.energystar.gov/hospitality http://www.energystar.gov/hospitality http://www.energystar.gov/hospitality http://www.ahla.com/Green.aspx?id=24560

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - January 19, 2009

Hotel & Motel Management - January 19, 2009 Contents Select Inn First in Vista's Buying Plans Danzinger Chosen for Round 2 at Wyndham Perspective Energy Star Update Legally Speaking Consultant's Corner Sales Clinic Travel Trends Franchise Law Family Business Cornell Insights HotelWorld Update Transactions Careful Marketing is Key for Timeshare Debt Market Slow for Most Transactions Trends & Stats Proper Mix of Uses Leads to Profitable Partnerships Card Check, Employee Retention Big Issues for CEOs Locking Systems Televisions Fitness Centers/Spas Mattresses Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - January 19, 2009

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