TRAVEL INSIDER
Hotels hop on the 'green' bandwagon
By Alfred Borcover, Special to the Chicago Tribune
August 22, 2007
In case you haven't noticed, hotels are going green, doing their part
to be ecologically friendly. You might call it the Al Gore effect,
although the movement began before "An Inconvenient Truth" won an
Academy Award this year.
The green efforts go further than asking guests to use towels and bed
linens more than once (as they do at home), to conserve water and
avoid flushing more detergent-laden water into sewers. It's also more
than replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
in guest rooms.
Other green initiatives are subtler -- things a guest might never
notice: recycling, low-flow faucets and showerheads, water-saving
toilets and the use of products that don't harm the environment or
contribute to global warming.
Whether guests truly care about these hotel efforts is another matter.
When you call a hotel to make a reservation, what are you most
concerned about -- the room rate and hotel's location, or its
conservation efforts? The only green at issue is dollar cost.
Some 59 percent of frequent travelers admit to letting their "green
routines" slip when on the road, according to a survey commissioned by
the new Element extended-stay brand of Westin Hotels, part of Starwood
Hotels & Resorts. Conducted by StudyLogic, a New York research firm,
via telephone interviews with 1,041 respondents who had a minimum of
three hotel stays over the last 12 months, the survey of frequent
travelers found:
• 70 percent open a new mini-bottle of shampoo and conditioner each
time they shower on the road.
• 75 percent expect fresh sheets and towels daily in a hotel, but not
at home.
• 60 percent are more likely to leave a bathroom light on overnight in
an unfamiliar hotel room than at home.
• 63 percent are more likely to leave a light on when they leave a
hotel room than at home.
• 62 percent said one reason they use water and energy less
efficiently in a hotel than at home is that they "don't have to pay
for it."
According to Starwood, when Westin's first Element Hotel opens in
Lexington, Mass., next year, shampoo dispensers will eliminate
multiple plastic mini-bottles; water-saving devices will conserve an
estimated 4,358 gallons of water per room each year; compact
fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs will cut energy use by 75 percent, and
eco-friendly materials will be used throughout the hotel.
As responsible corporate entities, Starwood and other hotel companies
believe they must slash waste and pollution because it makes both
sound economic and public relations sense. While many hotel groups
have green policies in place, Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and others are
ramping up their eco-initiatives. In time the whole industry will have
to be green to be competitive.
Kimpton Hotels, a boutique group of 42 properties, launched an
EarthCare program about four years ago. The mission is "to deliver a
premium guest experience through non-intrusive, high quality,
eco-friendly products and services." Translation: Use recycled paper
and soy-based inks, recycle paper and other materials in hotels,
install water-saving faucets, showerheads and toilets, use
energy-saving lighting.
In Chicago's Monaco Hotel, a Kimpton property, most of these
conservation efforts are in place. Some, guests will notice; others
occur behind the scenes. "We serve organic coffee and tea in our lobby
during the morning, and in all our restaurants and meeting rooms,"
Nabil Moubayed, Monaco's general manager, said. "We have low-flow
aerators in our faucets and low-flow showerheads. Cards explain
linen-changing and towel re-use options, and there's a tasteful,
maroon recycling bin in each room."
What Moubayed and Kimpton are still searching for is an appealing
fluorescent light bulb for guest room lamps.
As an added green bonus, some Kimpton hotels have a free or discounted
parking incentive for guests who drive hybrids, a program that the
Monaco will have in place later this summer.
Here's what else, unusual and usual, is happening on the green front:
• Four Seasons. During its high season, the tony Four Seasons Jackson
Hole (Wyo.) is replacing 7,000 plastic bottles of water left when beds
are turned down in the evening with pitchers of local tap water. At
the Four Seasons Boston, in a trial test with the firm Pure Allergy
Solutions, five rooms were made allergy-friendly to help guests who
suffer from airborne allergies. Four Seasons Maui recently had its
oceanside hales (huts) renovated by the island's only hale builder,
who uses no nails or screws, only natural materials.
• Hilton Hotels. Individual hotel efforts include allergy-resistant
rooms and improved indoor air quality at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare
Airport, Conrad Miami and Doubletree Hotel Tucson. The Hilton New York
completed the rigging of a Pure Cell 200, a state-of-the-art
fuel-efficient power- and hot water-generating system as part of its
global green program. Hilton's bed linen and towel initiative saves
more than 12 million gallons of freshwater a day. Several years ago,
Hilton switched from incandescent to compact fluorescent lighting in
guest rooms, reducing the wattage used per room by 70 percent, yet
making the rooms brighter.
• InterContinental Group. At InterContinental Chicago, specific green
practices include a motion detection system that conserves lighting
and air-conditioning energy when guest rooms aren't occupied; a towel
and sheet re-use program (changes are made every three days unless a
guest requests otherwise), and water-saving devices in faucets,
showers and toilets. Table scraps and leftover food go to composting
sites. The InterContinental Group recently launched an initiative to
replace more than 250,000 incandescent light bulbs with CFLs in more
than 200 company-managed hotels in the Americas.
• Marriott. With more than 2,800 lodging properties in the U.S. and
abroad, Marriott said last year's eco-efforts reduced greenhouse gases
by 70,000 tons, and its goal to reduce emissions by nearly a million
tons between 2000 and 2010 is the equivalent of taking 140,000 cars
off the road. Also, last year Marriott saved 65 percent on hotel
lighting costs by replacing 450,000 bulbs with fluorescent lighting.
• Wyndham Hotels. Pure Room technology, which sanitizes every surface
and fabric, and purifies air and water to provide maximum guest
comfort, now is in place at three Wyndham properties -- Lisle-Chicago,
Miami Airport and Peachtree in Atlanta. Individualized climate
controls and CO2 sensors also are being installed. Wyndham's other
green initiatives: energy-efficient room lighting, water conservation,
recycling, the use of materials with recycled content and solar
heating where possible.
--
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
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