NATIONAL REPORT— While many properties and hotel companies are realizing environmental responsibility can increase their savings, many more are noticing they can also distinguish themselves in the marketplace and increase guest loyalty by incorporating “green” initiatives into their operating and design plans. Indeed, according to Saunders Hotel Group EVP Tedd Saunders, there is a “triple bottom line” comprised of economic, social and environmental aspects his hotel company watches. When all three aspects are monitored, a hotel can cut costs while maintaining the quality of the guest experience, and at the same time decrease its impact on the environment, noted Saunders, whos also president of EcoLogical Solutions, a company that works with hotels on green initiatives. “The myth about these measures reducing guest experience, I should think, have been dispelled long ago. Its clear today you dont have to sacrifice to be green,” he said. Implementing ideas that go beyond cost-saving operational strategies can produce not only significant financial savings, but can also serve to generate employee pride and bolster guest loyalty. Such initiatives as installing environmentally friendly materials and efficient technology, employing greener construction practices and instituting recycling programs also can provide a hotel with increased visibility in its marketplace. Thats the strategy Boston-based SHG has instituted at its hotels, which include Comfort Inn & Suites Boston/Airport, Copley Square and The Lenox. “We have a very comprehensive approach, which encompasses about 90 initiatives at our hotels,” said Saunders. “We saw [these initiatives]as a way to reduce costs, and to distinguish ourselves, which is hard for a small hotel group to do.” For example, at all SHG hotels, purchasing is carefully examined, and instead of buying small quantities, which increases the amount of packaging materials, items are bought in bulk. Theres a heavy emphasis on buying recycled goods, and local or regional vendors are used to reduce the impact of transportation on the environment. Specifically, at the new Comfort Inn & Suites— several months ago named “Star of the Industry” by the American Hotel & Lodging Association for its environmental practices— Saunders said SHG started a composting program where all food waste is collected into a separate bin thats picked up a few times a week by a composting firm. “We found that saved us more money than having it hauled away to landfill,” noted Saunders. That program, he said, will be rolled out to the other hotels soon. Other initiatives at SHG hotels include using water-saving faucet aerators and low-flow toilets, replacing chlorine in pools with an ionization cleaning process and installing ozone laundry systems and energy-efficient “low E” windows. Saunders noted SHG is “now applying for grants to purchase compressed natural gas vans to be used for its airport shuttle service.” In addition, to oversee the implementation and progress of these environmental initiatives, all of the SHG hotels have what Saunders calls “green teams.” They include managers and line-level employees and meet on a monthly basis. Meanwhile, initiatives similar to those at SHG hotels also are being carried out by the properties owned by Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. For more than 10 years the company has put forth green initiatives and encouraged its employees to devise ways to lessen a hotels impact on the environment. In 1998 it published the second edition of its Green Partnership Guide, an environmental how-to for others looking to green their operations, which many Fairmont properties have done. In fact, initiatives number in the hundreds each year for some properties. One example is The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. According to Building Superintendent Marty Schenk, among the newest initiatives the resort instituted is the “No Net Negative Environmental Impact” program. As Sche
The Green Partnership Guide