With a heightened sense of environmental awareness and concern, meeting planners are looking to hotels and resorts to do their part to conserve. And it seems hoteliers have stepped up to the plate - and stepped up their game in the process.
From low-flow toilets and waterless urinals to key card - activated master light switches and more, the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” dictum has been taken to a whole other posh level as upscale retreats, woodsy lodges and swanky city center properties embrace the concept. The hospitality industry has not only has caught up to the green trend, in many ways it’s leading the industry.
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) reported a near 400 percent spike from 2006 in the number of applications for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification (the rating system that measures how sustainable and environmentally friendly a building is). Currently, more than 400 hotels have adopted the USGBC’s building requirements and registered for certification, but far fewer boast actual LEED - certified status. The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, N.C., which opened in late 2007, was the first hotel in America to achieve top-level certification as a LEED Platinum hotel.
While most of the hotels offering eco-accommodations are boutique establishments, a couple of chains are making definite strides. In 2005, Marriott unveiled its 226-room University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center — the nation’s first LEED-certified hotel-conference center. Two years later, Hilton followed suit with its introduction of the officially green Hilton Vancouver Washington.
Though many hotels boast of their commitment to sustainability, not all of them are truly green. It takes more than “water upon request” statements in menus, or towel and linen reuse programs to receive the seal of a certified green property. And sly attempts at “greenwashing” - where more money or time is spent advertising being green, than is actually spent on environmentally sound practices - aren’t fooling anyone.
According to the Ecotourism Travel Guide being green is the business-world equivalent of high school popularity - everyone wants to be in the in-crowd, even if it means pretending to be something they’re not. “If people want ecotourism, they’ll get ecotourism. Whether their businesses really are eco-friendly or not is another thing entirely… To be genuinely green requires an understanding of the bigger issues, enthusiasm for change and a lot of effort.”
To attain the USGBC’s seal of approval, a hotel must meet six key requirements: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, material selection, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design. Different levels of certification (certified, silver, gold, or platinum) are awarded based on the amount of credits a hotel receives in each category.