Hotels have jumped on the green bandwagon in a big way.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association calls the greening of the hotel industry the No. 1 trend this year.
“If you would have talked about this a year ago, they would have looked at you as if you had two heads,” said association President Joe McInerney in a recent interview.
The association is working on a certification program that will include inspections along the lines of those used by the American Automobile Association and Mobil Travel Guide when they determine a hotel’s diamond or star rating.
Hotels cite queries from meeting and convention planners and other consumers as one reason to embrace environmentally friendly policies. But green practices also have cost-saving potential that is attractive to hotel owners and operators.
Laurence Geller, chief executive and president of Strategic Hotels & Resorts in Chicago, told Hotel Business magazine that meeting planners increasingly demand environmental practices from hotels they work with, in part to satisfy their own internal policies.
“If hotels don’t adopt green best practices, they do so at their own peril,” Geller said.
An affiliate of Strategic Hotels & Resorts owns the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel.
There’s been an increase in queries from meeting planners at the Disneyland Resort hotels in the past year, according to Robert Donahue, director of resort sales and services.
“People know Disney as a good corporate citizen and expect those practices,” he said.
The Disney hotels have implemented recycling programs and measure the carbon footprint of its operations, Donahue said.
Several major hotel chains have embraced environmentally friendly practices, with most of them centered on water and energy conservation.
In a recent survey of hoteliers, 80% of respondents indicated at least some interest in green buildings, while 51% said they’ve already incorporated green concepts into new construction or renovations.
The green movement in the hospitality industry even spawned a new conference this year.
The recent Green Hotel Development conference, hosted by Century City law firm Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP, Univer-sity of Las Vegas and the U.S. Green Building Council Nevada chapter, looked at a the costs and benefits of going green.
Efforts to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, known as LEED, can represent anywhere from 1% to 9% of construction costs, according to Don Wise, global hospitality group managing partner for Irvine-based Johnson Capital and a speaker for the conference. About 80% of current LEED projects are at existing hotels rather than new ones, he said.
“It’s becoming a marketing thing because customers are asking for it,” he said.
This is no news to Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which has long been a leader in environmental initiatives. At the Fairmont Newport Beach, director of front office operations Arthur Wong heads the hotel’s green committee, which meets weekly to discuss green ideas from each department.
The hotel has a co-generation system to provide its own electricity. This year, it sponsored a beach cleanup at Scotsman’s Cove in Crystal Cove State Park.
Other local hotels are making a green push:
– The Ayres Hotel Group uses cogeneration,solar heating and cooling systems,at its Costa Mesa hotel and reuses the heat for hot water, which reduces natural gas usage. The hotel also installed a satellite-based watering system, called WeatherTrak, from Petaluma-based HydroPoint Data Systems Inc. WeatherTrak measures moisture in the ground to determine watering needs.
– The Marriott Laguna Cliffs Resort & Spa in Dana Point Naturopathica uses a line of eco-friendly spa products. Naturopathica is a founding member of the Green Spa Network, which encourages such practices in the spa industry. The products use natural ingredients, not petroleum-based ingredients, and minimal packaging.
– The Hilton Anaheim uses compact fluorescent light bulbs, automatic controls for heat and air conditioning in meeting rooms and low-flow shower heads and toilets. It also installed a water-conserving laundry system to save water. Shampoo and soap dispensers in the Athletic Club & Spa have replaced individual bottles of those products. For greener meetings, the hotel offers local and organic meal options, recycling bins in the meeting space and individual temperature controls in corporate rooms.
– The St. Regis Resort in Dana Point last year stepped up its green efforts beyond its recycling and energy-saving programs. The hotel has a green team, which looks for ways to improve resort practices to reduce waste and achieve LEED standards. The team’s first community event was a coastal beach clean-up day, with about 30 employees cleaning up Salt Creek Beach. This spring, workers took part in a tree planting day. Other objectives this year include starting an education program for staff and preparing a green fact sheet for meeting planners. The efforts are part of a program from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, parent company of the St. Regis brand.
– Smaller hotels also are getting in the act, particularly in coastal towns. In Laguna Beach, the newly renovated Vacation Village partnered with extreme athlete Tom Jones to create an environmentally focused discount travel package for guests. A percentage of each package sold will be donated to Jones’ Plastic-Free Ocean project. Hotel employees also rake the beach in front of the hotel twice daily to reduce trash.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” said general manager Kevin Johnson. “We plan other efforts focused around the beach.”
