Lyndall DeMarco Departs ITP

According to a report in TravelMole, Lyndall DeMarco, Executive Director at the International Tourism Partnership (ITP)—a part of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF)—has left her job to spend more time in her home country of Australia. Green Lodging News wishes DeMarco the best. She has played an instrumental role in spreading the message of sustainability throughout the travel and tourism industry.

Said Ed Fuller, Chairman of the ITP Governing Council and Trustee of IBLF: “Lyndall is leaving at a time when ITP is flourishing. She has taken the organization from a single focused environment initiative to one that embraces every aspect of sustainable tourism. From the Green Hotelier Magazine, to the Sustainable Hotel Sitting & Design Guide and the Youth Career Initiative, Lyndall has made her mark on our industry. She has made a difference to the lives of many individuals through her personal generosity and by inspiring us as industry leaders to move social responsibility up the corporate agenda. Her leadership, enthusiasm, energy and dynamic style will be greatly missed.”

To read the complete article, click here.

Chipotle Goes Green in Gurnee, Illinois

Chipotle Mexican Grill will open a green restaurant in Gurnee, Illinois with a 6-kilowatt wind turbine on-site that will generate a portion of the restaurant’s electrical needs. “The wind turbine is a symbol of our intent to design and build our restaurants more efficiently and environmentally friendly,” Steve Ells, founder, chairman and CEO of Chipotle said. “We want to incorporate some elements of sustainable design into all of our new restaurants.”

In addition to the wind turbine which will generate about 10 percent of the restaurant’s electrical power, the free-standing restaurant will feature: use of recycled drywall, recycled barn metal, and primers and paints that contain fewer chemicals; a variety of energy and water conservation elements inside the restaurant, including LED lighting, highly efficient faucets and toilets, and Energy Star rated kitchen equipment; a 2,500-gallon underground water cistern that will harvest rainwater to irrigate the landscape; native plants outside that will require less watering and fertilizer; and asphalt in the parking lot that will reflect the sun’s heat, rather than absorb it, making the entire site cooler.

Chipotle will seek LEED certification for the new restaurant, which would make it among the first LEED-certified restaurants in the country. Chipotle is a participant in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Retail pilot program. Chipotle is also seeking LEED for Retail certification for a Minnetonka, Minnesota restaurant that is part of a pre-existing building and shopping center. That restaurant will include energy efficient plumbing, lighting, and other green initiatives. Chipotle also operates two green restaurants in Austin, Texas (certified by the city of Austin).

Energy Costs Heading in Two Directions

With the price of oil plummeting by almost 50 percent since the summer, and gasoline prices dipping below $3.00 a gallon in many areas of the country, those planning on traveling in the coming weeks will finally have some relief. But will the lower cost of oil be enough to offset the shock Americans have had to their retirement accounts? Not by a longshot. (My retirement account has lost 28 percent of its value in the last year.) The lodging industry needs to continue to brace itself for some difficult times.

Complicating things for hoteliers this winter will be rising energy costs. In its final winter fuels outlook, the U.S. Department of Energy this week projected that natural gas prices would rise 17 percent, heating oil 12 percent, electricity 5 percent and propane 9 percent. Businesses and consumers alike are getting squeezed from all directions.

If you own or operate a lodging establishment, there is no better time to take a serious look at your operations to identify where there is the most potential for energy savings. Compact fluorescent light bulbs, towel and linen reuse programs, and proper preventive maintenance are a few examples of simple things that can be done. There is so much more, however, that one can do to reduce costs. Check out the "Money-Saving Tips" and other sections of Green Lodging News for ideas. Do you have an idea to share? Add a comment to this blog posting.

Two More Element Projects Announced

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's Element brand keeps growing and growing. Starwood recently announced an agreement with Mutual of Omaha to open an Element hotel in Omaha, Neb., in late 2010. Element Omaha Midtown Crossing will be part of a million-square-foot, mixed-use project that combines luxury condominiums and apartments with restaurants, retail and entertainment venues. Almost at the same time it was announcing its new Omaha project, Starwood announced that an Element hotel will be built in Orlando, Fla. It is also slated to open in late 2010. It will be located close to downtown, theme parks and Orlando’s business community.

ECI Investment Advisors, with offices in Chicago, Omaha and Richmond, Va., is the Omaha hotel's developer. Aimbridge Hospitality, a hotel management company based in Carrollton, Texas, will manage Element Omaha Midtown Crossing. Champ Hospitality of Carrollton serves as the hotel development consultant and The Weitz Co. is the general contractor on the project. The new-build hotel in Orlando will be owned by JHM Hotels and developed by JHM Enterprises Inc.

Element is Starwood's newest hotel concept and the first hotel brand to mandate that all hotels pursue the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED certification.

A Million Reasons to Attend the IH/M&RS

At this year's International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show in New York City, I will be moderating a session entitled, “Energy Miser All Stars: Conservation Lessons from the Best.” The session will be held Saturday, November 8 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. The session is part of a day-long series of events that are part of the Hospitality Leadership Forum. If you are planning to attend the show this year, please be sure to attend the "Energy Miser All Stars" session. The three panelists—Jeff Hanulec, director of engineering, The Westin Copley Place; Raymond M. Kemph, CEM, director of engineering, InterContinental Chicago O’Hare; and Joe Kinney, chief engineer, New Yorker Hotel—will share how they have collectively been able to reduce operations-related costs by more than a million dollars from 2007 to 2008. How have they been able to do that? Find out by attending the session or by reading Green Lodging News after the show.

Casino Workers' Health Up in Smoke in Pa.?

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board recently announced that the agency and the seven operating casinos in the state that it overseas are prepared to follow the guidelines of the state's Clean Indoor Air Act, which took effect on September 11. The act not only prohibits smoking in most public places, including restaurants and the workplace, but also prohibits smoking on at least 75 percent of the casino floor. Penalties will be imposed for individuals who smoke in prohibited areas.

Here is where things get funky. The new law provides a process that would enable a casino to increase the smoking area to include up to 50 percent of the floor. How could that happen? If a report from the Department of Revenue shows the average gross terminal revenue (GTR) per slot machine in the designated smoking area exceeds the average GTR per slot machine in the designated nonsmoking area, the licensee may increase the designated smoking area in proportion to the percentage difference in revenue.

In other words, if a casino happens to attract a large volume of smokers, and those smokers are freer with their spending, floor workers and everyone else will ultimately suffer more from second-hand smoke as the smoking areas grow. That makes a lot of sense. It is nice to see that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is so progressive when it comes to the right to breathe clean air.

Keep Asbestos in Mind Before Renovation

In recent days I posted an article on Green Lodging News that discussed the importance of paying attention to potential asbestos issues when renovating a hotel. Click here for that article. Asbestos is a leading cause of mesothelioma cancer and should not be taken lightly—especially when the safety of your employees and your guests is at stake.

Coincidentally, just before the asbestos article was sent to me, I came across a story in The Salem (Mass.) News about problems with asbestos at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites Boston-Peabody in Peabody, Mass. The state of Massachusetts' Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) discovered asbestos at the site while construction crews were renovating the property. Because of the discovery, the DEP disallowed employees and guests from working or staying at the 183-room hotel. Guests staying at the hotel during the closure had to be relocated—not exactly the kind of PR you dream about. According to the article, hotel management had not sought or obtained a permit to do any kind of asbestos abatement.

For any hotel built or remodeled before or in the 1980s, assume the presence of asbestos. You will save yourself the types of problems encountered by the owners of the Holiday Inn mentioned above.