Shades of Green

If press releases are any indicator, no other U.S. business segment seems to have embraced the growing culture of environmental stewardship with quite as much gusto as the lodging industry. It used to be hotels sang long and loud about achieving the coveted five-diamond or five-star rating. Now, they fairly buzz with self praise each time they launch a "green" product or service.

But unlike Mobile Travel Guide's star rating system, which has been in place since 1958, and AAA's Diamond Rating Program, launched in 1937, there is no industry standardization, based on hotel-specific criteria, defining what makes a property "green." Instead, the relatively new and rapidly growing field of green hotel certification is crowded with government, private and nonprofit organizations, each defining its own set of regulations and assessment standards.

For example, 12 states have in place their own green lodging certification programs, including California, Delaware, Florida, Vermont and Virginia. The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council, a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of green buildings, created its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in 2000. The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy are jointly responsible for the Energy Star rating, which tracks energy-efficient products and practices. And Washington, D.C.-based Green Seal, an independent, nonprofit organization that was founded in 1989, has been awarding its Green Seal Certification to hotels since 1999.

To decipher what all the green jargon adds up to, and how the environmentally conscious meeting planner can make an informed site-selection decision, M&C spoke with representatives from several green watchdog organizations about the sustainable hotel movement, how far it has come and where it still needs to go.

Understanding the basics
A hotel's "green-ness" must be divided into three categories: the physical construction of the building, back-of-the house operations (operating systems, products and vendors), and the environmental programs and services it provides to guests and meeting groups.

Creating a level green playing field for the U.S. lodging industry's approximately 54,000 properties is impossible for a number of reasons. Older hotels cannot possibly compete on an infrastructure level with new-build projects made with newly developed, eco-friendly raw materials. Also, independent boutique properties do not have access to the deep pockets of chain-branded hotels when it comes to capital for financing green renovations, upgrades or even marketing those accomplishments.

Adding to the confusion is that some hotels, such as those under the umbrella of San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, which have made environmental sustainability a cornerstone of their practices, do not seek any third-party certification. Kimpton, for example, relies on its own EarthCare program, which outlines specific operating standards, to measure and monitor the greening of its portfolio.

Going for LEED gold: The 185-room Fairmont Pittsburgh will open in 2009.

Another hotel company committed to greening its properties is Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which has a significant U.S. presence with 17 luxury hotels. "A big portion of our portfolio was built 75 or more years ago, so the focus for us has been in energy efficiency, waste management, water conservation and community outreach," says company spokesperson Lori Holland. "But we are going to manage a new-build in Pittsburgh, opening next year, which is going for LEED gold certification."

As green as it gets
The widespread greening effort taking place across every segment of the lodging industry cannot be ignored.

•  Make mine LEED. The LEED Green Building Certification is a point-based system with four levels -- certified, silver, gold and platinum. Building projects earn points for satisfying specific criteria within six different categories, including innovation and design, materials, and energy and water efficiency. The number of points earned determines the level of certification awarded.

LEED certification, however, is not specific to hotels. Rather, it  was created with industrial buildings, such as offices and hospitals, in mind. The USGBC says it does not have any immediate plans to create a hotel-specific certification, but it might develop credits within its criteria that are specific to hotels. "Our growth among hotels in the last two to four years has been absolutely phenomenal," says Ashley Katz, communications manager, citing the 12 LEED-certified  hotel properties. "The model of building-specific credit is something that will be addressed in the next generation of LEED in 2009."

There is a caveat. Once certification is achieved, there is no follow-up. That, says Katz, is because LEED is such a relatively new certification system, it is still concentrating on its initial plan, which centers solely on certification. "We do encourage projects that get certified to keep their buildings up to standards," notes Katz. "I think that is going to become easier to do, especially since more products are on the market now and more experts are entering this field."

Several hotel chains, including White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; Washington, D.C.-based Marriott International, and Dallas-based Accor North America, are working with the USGBC, via the agency's new Portfolio Program, to help green and certify future new-build properties.

LEEDing the way: Every Element hotel (prototype shown) must be certified.

The front-runner on the chainwide greening front, however, is Starwood. In April 2008, the chain issued a mandate that every Element hotel, its newest brand, must achieve LEED certification. And with 20 Elements in the pipeline to open by year-end 2009, that is a huge commitment. In making the announcement, Starwood CEO Frits van Paasschen said, "With Element, we're creating a new way to build hotels and guest experiences through the lens of environmental responsibility."

•  Energy Star. In June 2002, building on its decade-old Energy Star performance rating for energy-efficient consumer products, the EPA launched an Energy Star rating tool designed specifically for hotels. The first two properties in the country to receive the label were the Courtyard Indianapolis Capital and the Sheraton Boston Hotel. Today, the number of hotels earning the Energy Star has climbed to more than 330.

To earn the Energy Star rating, hotels must meet several EPA criteria that make up a 100-point system. For example, they must measure and track their energy performance; develop an energy team and assign responsibilities that pursue energy efficiency in all departments; train employees in energy-saving practices, and benchmark the energy performance of their property against hotels of similar size nationwide. Hotels that receive a rating of 75 or higher are awarded the label -- and bragging rights.

According to Maura Beard, communications director, Energy Star, commercial and industrial buildings, "the growth of hotels participating has been exponential," pushing the number of total commercial buildings earning the rating in 2007 up 25 percent over the previous year.

One standout in the Energy Star arena is Marriott International, the only hotel company to achieve the rating's "sustained excellence" designation in 2007. In 2006, Marriott saved close to $6 million in energy consumption by installing 450,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs and 400,000 low-flow showerheads and toilets, earning the Energy Star rating for 250 of its properties.

For its part, Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hilton Hotels Corp. in 2001 began tying the annual bonuses of hotel general managers to energy performance. GMs who reduce energy consumption at their properties by at least 5 percent receive increased monetary incentives -- an incentive that has resulted in many Hilton hotels earning Energy Stars.

Selling hotel owners on the idea of going green, says Marriott's Mari Snyder, vice president of social responsibility and community engagement, is gaining momentum. "Growing customer demand, greener products and services being more readily available and competitively priced, in some ways makes going green a bit easier to implement," Snyder notes.

•  Green Seal. A green watchdog on the consumer front years before it took on the lodging industry (Green Seal-rated products have long been found in retail stores such as Office Depot and Whole Foods), this designation has since become a sought-after stamp of approval among hotels, which recognize its cachet. However, unlike LEED and Energy Star, a Green Seal rating is good for only one year, making it perhaps the most difficult of all such certifications to maintain long-term. In fact, as of Aug. 1 of this year, there were only 19 Green Seal-certified hotels.

That might soon change. According to Linda Chipperfield, vice president of marketing and outreach for the Washington, D.C.-based organization, Green Seal is in the process of revising its certification system in hopes of offering a multitiered process. "What we are trying to do is address the fact that properties change hands, which often means they develop different priorities," Chipperfield says. "We are trying to make it easier for the hotel to get started on its way to certification."

Properties are measured on an exhaustive variety of criteria, such as the composting of food waste; recycling efforts; the use of energy-efficient equipment; whether they follow an environmental purchasing policy using responsible suppliers; and even whether they donate room amenities, such as soap, and leftover banquet food to local shelters. For its standard, Green Seal uses international environmental labeling programs as established by the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization.

In a first, Green Seal is working with the city of Chicago to certify up to 30 hotels by year's end. "It is very exciting to have so many hotels working at once toward certification," Chipperfield says of this unique experiment, adding that Chicago, as an incentive, is supplementing each hotel's Green Seal application fee, which for properties of 300 rooms or more comes to $3,000.

"Because of the integral nature of hotels to Chicago's huge convention and tourism industries," says Hanh Phan, green business projects coordinator for the Chicago Department of Environment, "they hold an important place in the public eye and offer a ripe opportunity for Chicago to ‘walk its talk.' "