Popular Hotels Begin Sustainability Initiative
One of the largest hotel management companies in the U.S., Crestline Hotels and Resorts, recently announced an expansive sustainability initiative to be implemented at all 70 of its hotels, resorts and conference centers.
The company manages reputable hotel properties across the country, such as Marriott, Hilton, Westin and Wyndham hotels.
EarthPact is a comprehensive program that addresses sustainability across key areas, including:
- Administration
- Food and Beverage
- Facility Management
- Conferences and Meetings
- Owner Relations
- Public Relations
- Rooms Operations
The program works to provide a comprehensive operations guide for each property, and 100 percent participation across its facilities is anticipated by 2009. “EarthPact uniquely accomplishes this objective by incorporating a rating scale and enabling hotels to work towards excellence in sustainability throughout the property’s operations,” said Dave Durbin, president and CEO of Crestline Hotels and Resorts.
Beyond setting a criteria for green meetings, sustainable sales logic and guest relations programs, EarthPact includes an energy management plan to improve performance and limit energy usage. It addresses issues such as interior and exterior lighting; HVAC and domestic hot water systems; laundry and kitchen equipment and sauna, pool and exercise areas.
The Westin at Virginia Beach is one of the hotels expected to adopt the EarthPact program this year.
A Green HQ
In addition to the EarthPact initiative, Crestline has worked to create a earth-friendly headquarters in Fairfax, VA.
“First and foremost,” explained Durbin, “the new campus is in a location that has immediate access to public transportation and also provides alternative modes of transportation for employee commuting such as on-site storage locations for bicycles and shower facilities for those who bike or walk to work. And for those who do drive, carpooling is encouraged including priority carpool parking spaces in the garage.”
The new corporate offices also follow sustainable guidelines for water conservation, energy efficient lighting, windows featuring automatic shades and film to reduce heat and Energy Star® appliances.
Sustainable construction practices were in place while the office was built, such as an onsite management process to recycle construction waste. Additionally, materials like high-recycled content drywall and acoustic ceiling tiles were used. Decorative materials were chosen from naturally renewable resources such as bamboo, regional materials were used wherever possible, and carpeting, paints and adhesives were selected for their low emissions.
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Aaron
posted on January 15th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Its fantastic that they’re implementing all these green design into their HQ, we can only hope they love them so much there that they roll them out to all their hotels & resorts!
A hotel that’s leading the way is (surprisingly?) found in the world’s largest polluter, in China the URBN hotel has not only, like the Crestline HQ, used plenty of natural resources like (living) bamboo but has even salvaged their bricks and tiles from demolished buildings in the vicinity. Its feature list is world leading as well, from rain water retention basins to passive solar shades!
I guess renovating all its 70 hotels to include features like these might not be in Crestline’s plans, but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for more hotels in the US to take a cue from this Chinese start-up.
more here: http://tinyurl.com/93v92q
ecobaan.com » Blog Archive » Popular Hotels Begin Sustainability Initiative
posted on January 16th, 2009 at 1:06 am
[...] Source:Popular Hotels Begin Sustainability Initiative News [...]
Joe Ascanio
posted on January 16th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Hotel chains across the board are beginning to adapt to “green”, sustainable principles for 2 main reasons: consumer demand and cost effectiveness. It is up to businesses to continue to provide the tools necessary that allow travel purveyors to explore all aspects of sustainable travel – affordably and beneficially.
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posted on January 17th, 2009 at 2:39 am
[...] reasons for having an electric car The Value Of Brand In Emerging Markets : The Inspired Economist Popular Hotels Begin Sustainability Initiative – Earth911.com A Wind Turbine for Every Rooftop? : Green Building Elements The Benefits of Recycling Use Green [...]
Darrel McMaster
posted on January 21st, 2009 at 7:15 am
That sounds great, but not nearly far enough.We build homes today that are fully sustainable ,100% raincatchment for all domestic use’s ,grid-tied solar for zero energy and the list goes on and on.Our company is presently bidding a resort that will be fully sustainable using the same all the features that we put in our homes. Let’s set the bar a little higher .
Aaron Fu
posted on January 21st, 2009 at 5:34 pm
That’s awesome Darrel! With all these features like raincatchment, how much more does it cost your clients to build one of your homes vs. a ‘regular’ home. Also, I’m just curious, do you guys work toward the Green Building Council’s LEED certification?
It just seems that its mostly commercial property that builds with LEED in mind: http://tinyurl.com/78bkr7
LEED EB Consultant
posted on April 22nd, 2011 at 2:57 am
Hello, I am interested to know how the process is going with the hotel group and if they are saving money and lowering their energy & water use?