H otels are doing more on the environmental front than just encouraging guests to reuse towels and turn off the lights.
Hoteliers are tapping engineers to design and install insulated water tanks, convection ovens and solar energy signs, among other measures. They’re also looking at water conservation, recycling and waste management.
The payoff: lower costs and less outcry from environmentalists.
Hotels use about 218 gallons of water per day per occupied room. Electricity accounts for up to 70% of a hotel’s utility costs. Two percent of California’s food waste comes from the hotel industry.
Environmentalists and developers often butt heads over hotel projects. Hotels are seen by some as blight on natural coastline. They use up a lot of resources and draw scores of people to areas that often are ecologically sensitive.
Recent moves by hoteliers and developers to design environmentally friendly elements is a matter of practicality on several fronts.
For California hoteliers, the state’s energy crisis of 2001 was a warning shot.
Hoteliers saw rates soar, cutting into profits. They also quickly learned that guests weren’t willing to absorb energy surcharges levied for a short time by some hotel companies.
Another push was consumer demand.
Eco-friendly programs are a factor for some 34% of travelers looking at possible hotels, according to a study by the Automobile Association of America last year.
The simplest and most visible environmental measure is the cards found in many hotel rooms giving the option of reusing towels and bedding.
The Grand Californian at Disneyland allows visitors to choose that option at check-in, so they don’t have to remember to hang up towels each morning.
“That’s probably our most popular environmental program that gets the highest visibility,” said Bob Tucker, a Disneyland Resort spokesman.
Many hotels also place signs in guest rooms encouraging people to turn off the lights and air conditioning when they leave the room.
Hotels such as the Anaheim Marriott have time and temperature sensors that help manage energy consumption internally, easing up on heating or cooling big spaces, such as meeting rooms when they’re not in use.
Some hotels have similar sensors built into guestrooms.
The state also has jumped on the green bandwagon in recent years.
The California Integrated Waste Management Board launched the Green Lodging Program two years ago to help the industry minimize waste, conserve energy and provide suggestions for conservation practices that help the bottom line.
The demands are stringent.
Each member of the program must set up several programs, including recycling, food scrap and yard waste composting, bulk buying and installation of energy- and water-efficient fixtures.
Orange County hotels taking part in that effort include Disney’s Grand Californian in Anaheim, Embassy Suites in Buena Park, Garden Grove and Irvine; Hilton Costa Mesa; Four Points by Sheraton in Fullerton; and Doubletree Guest Suites in Dana Point.
The program also encourages state employees to use “green lodging” when traveling on business.
Green Equipment
The newly remodeled Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa has installed energy-efficient equipment such as insulated water tanks, convection ovens and water boilers that garnered $30,000 in rebates from Southern California Gas Co.
“By teaming up with Southern California Gas Co., they’re showing the benefits of tapping into the energy efficiency programs of local utilities,” said E.J. Hilts, West region director of energy for Marriott.
Hilts said the company’s parent, Marriott International Inc., is a partner in the Environmental Protection Agency’s EnergyStar program, using the standards as a benchmark for all their hotels. Marriott also has joined Climate Leaders, a group that aims to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Fairmont Newport Beach is working on an environmental program. The hotel is undergoing a renovation that’s set to be completed later this year.
When Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. took over management of the hotel last year, it said it would form an on-site green team made up of volunteers from all hotel departments to create environmentally friendly programs at the hotel.
Fairmont spokeswoman Anne White said at the time that “given the hotel’s proximity to the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, we are certain they will be successful in creating the best back-of-house and guest environmental opportunities.”
Fairmont is known for its environmental efforts in Canada. The company recently bought wind-powered check-in computers for all North American hotels that will reduce annual greenhouse gases by about 100 tons.
Locally, new coastal resorts face intense scrutiny from the California Coastal Commission as well as local residents.
The Athens Group, developer of Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach, went before the Coastal Commission twice before getting the go-ahead for the blufftop resort.
Among its environmental efforts are a water diversion system that treats water from the site and urban runoff from above the property.
The developer also removed a concrete slab that joined the beach and a small area known as Goff Island. The long-abandoned parking slab was converted into a beach, with the concrete forming a jetty that is supposed to create reef life.
The resort partners with the nonprofit Ocean Laguna in a tidepool education program, distributing information and providing space for tidepool programs.
“Several of our associates trained as docents,” said Jeff Johnson, director of marketing for Montage.
Now the Athens Group is working on plans to remake the Aliso Creek Inn and Golf Course, a 50-year-old lodge-style hotel set in Aliso Canyon near the Montage. The company reworked some of its initial plans after meeting resistance from environmentalists.
Proposals in the company’s latest plan include:
A trail connection within the Laguna Coast and Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park.
Rebuilding the hotel away from its 100-year floodplain along the creek.
Improving degraded creek embankments.
Introducing water quality best practices for the golf course that include better drainage and zone watering.
“We want to do justice to the canyon and the environment,” said John Mansour, vice president of development for the Athens Group.
Other attractions have embraced environmental programs as well.
The Irvine Company’s Oak Creek Golf Club in Irvine uses reclaimed water, a computer-based irrigation-control system and weather station. The weather station measures conditions that determine which parts of the course need water.
Meanwhile, the Irvine Co. is under way with a renovation of Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast. It’s installing an irrigation system that requires large subterranean cisterns.
The cisterns will capture and hold water runoff, which will be used for irrigation. The company also uses slow-release fertilizer to prevent nutrients from seeping into ground water.
