FEATURE ARTICLE, MAY 2010

GREENING THE HOTEL INDUSTRY
Environmental initiatives make it easier than ever for hoteliers and franchisees to get into the sustainable spirit.
By Amy Bigley

A Courtyard by Marriott prototype.

The hospitality industry as a whole continues to explore the green and energy-efficient movement that is sweeping the nation and world. Thus, many of the major hotel companies are developing and implementing different approaches customized to optimize guest quality and energy efficiency across their brands.

For example, Wyndham Hotel Group has implemented Wyndham Green, which focuses on six areas of conservation and efficiency: energy conservation, water conservation, recycle/re-use, education, community and innovation. Wyndham also interacts with its associates, suppliers, owners and local communities to minimize environmental impacts and improve the world, notes Faith Taylor, vice president of sustainability and innovation at Wyndham Hotel Group. “Sustainability is not a ‘nice to have,’ but a ‘must have’ in our organization,” Taylor adds.

Beyond traditional energy-efficiency improvements, Wyndham has implemented a few unique approaches to offering a more guest-friendly environment and incorporating eco-friendly changes into all aspects of its hotels. The company has focused efforts on improving air quality by offering allergen-friendly guest rooms through the chain’s Wyndham ClearAir initiative, which utilizes a state-of-the-art cleaning process to remove 98 percent of allergens. Additionally, the chain has introduced green uniforms, which are spun from recycled plastic bottles. Each uniform uses 66 percent less energy and 90 percent less water to produce than a standard uniform.

A major goal for many hotel companies is to facilitate environmental initiatives and simplify the process for their franchisee owners. Marriott’s team of approximately 30 LEED-accrediated professionals has taken this approach a step further by joining with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to design a green prototype for its Courtyard brand. Marriott is the first hotel company to create a joint program with USGBC to offer easy and energy-efficient LEED certified building plans for hotel owners.

“Owners register with us at Marriott, and they do not need to interface with USGBC,” explains Karim Kahlifa, senior vice president of architecture and construction at Marriott International Inc. “My team is authorized to do the quality assessments for both Marriott as a brand company and USGBC for the LEED-certification, so it’s a one-stop shop for owners.”

From an operational standpoint, Marriott’s Spirit to Preserve program focuses on five areas, including protecting the rainforests; water, waste and energy reduction; supply chain; green buildings; and employee and guest engagement. The company is greening its supply chain and encouraging guests to be socially responsible as well. Marriott teamed up with BIC to develop a biodegradable pen for use in all of its hotel brands. For Marriott guests, the company has created the Juma Project, which allows guests to donate money to preserve Juma, a part of the Amazon rainforest, and offset their carbon footprint for staying at the hotel. The company has calculated that a $1 donation will offset the average carbon generated per occupied guestroom per night at a Marriott. The contributions are sent to the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region and are then forwarded to the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation in Brazil to be used exclusively for the Juma Project.

Many hotel brands have also partnered with ENERGY STAR and encouraged hoteliers to use free monthly tracking and reporting programs to determine a property’s energy usage. Collecting energy-related data allows hotel owners and corporate heads to determine the best approach for reducing energy waste and increasing conservation efforts across the entire property.

Accor North America introduced its own monthly energy reporting, Energy Dashboard, which is provided to each property. The dashboard collects energy usage and incorporates hotel occupancy and weather conditions to determine a consumption goal for each property. This consumption goal is compared to the hotel’s actual consumption to determine whether the hotel is saving, notes Renee Swoger, senior manager of energy and environment services of Dallas-based Accor North America.

While many brands continue to offset carbon and energy footprints at hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is implementing a slightly different approach.

“There’s more than one way to respond, but ours is innovation at the hotel level to reduce and lower our impact as opposed to offsetting,” notes David Jerome, senior vice president of corporate responsibility for IHG.

The team at IHG also devoted time and effort into determining what green means to the corporation. The company’s multi-pronged answer — impacts on guests, return on investment, impacts on owners — helped to form its “Green Engage,” which is an environmental management process guide. Although implementing energy-efficient elements into IHG’s hotels was a major goal for the company, IHG also was concerned with preserving the guests’ expected experience.

“You cannot ignore either one of those things, you have to balance them both and create an environment for the guest that’s pure win-win,” Jerome says. “There should be no trade-offs for the guests. We want to give them a great stay plus a responsible one.”

To further simplify the process for owners, Green Engage offers two programs for new-build and existing hotels and three checklists for hoteliers to select. The easiest approach, Level One, involves installing energy-efficient light bulbs, low-flow showerheads and insulating pipes. IHG experimented with various energy-efficient light bulbs and low-flow showerheads to ensure that the changes would not harm the guest experience.

Creating a global green initiative allows companies to ensure quality and effectiveness across brands, states and countries. Training programs and energy management tools are in place and are being utilized by franchisees and hotel owners across all brands, but there is a push to make the programs as user-friendly as possible so franchised and independently owned hotels are able to go green through simple changes and adjustments.

The myth that going green costs green is quickly fading in the hospitality industry. Although there are strenuous green initiative programs that require major financial backing, hotels are focusing on cost-efficient small changes in existing hotels and developing more cost-efficient LEED-certified new builds for the future. Looking toward the future and the property’s return on investment also helps to offset the initial costs of implementing energy-efficient changes. Wyndham anticipates that its association with ENERGY STAR and its sustainability program rollout, which focuses on low- or no-cost green programs, can result in savings of 10 to 30 percent.

Breaking from the traditional green elements, Accor is focusing on its employees as an energy-savings element. Swoger explains that focusing on the human element of energy savings — the people and process — requires substantial training and time but not the massive capital expenditure. The payoff from having energy-saving conscious employees can be big for any company or organization.

The hotel industry is embracing environmental responsibility and implementing green initiatives at the corporate and hotel levels, but, at the same time, the industry is striving to make the most cost-efficient changes for hotel owners and franchisees.

“We have to be responsible and make our hotels green,” Jerome says. “But we have find incentives for hotel owners and do it in a way that won’t bankrupt the industry.”

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