INTERNATIONAL REPORT—As environmentally responsible construction and operations become integral to hospitality culture, the greening of hotels will proceed no matter the economic outlook, according to hospitality executives from around the world.

Hoteliers long involved in the greening of hotels said doing so makes economic sense, whether that means something as complex as building a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified property or as simple as changing light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescent lamps.

 “The pressure will be on and off depending on energy prices,” said David Jerome, senior vice president of corporate responsibility for InterContinental Hotels Group. “But energy will be more expensive over the long run, so whether you’re doing it to save energy, make a hotel more efficient or look at it as an investment, there are a lot of reasons to do it.

“You have to look at it as a cost of not doing as opposed to doing.”

Steve Pinetti, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

For example, when Kimpton approached its national coffee vendor for an organic product, that vendor could not deliver at an appropriate price, so Kimpton found a regional supplier.

“We were able to find that organic product at a price equal to or less than the non-organic product,” Pinetti said.

 The cost always lies in the research and the testing, but it’s worth it, he said.

Pinetti went through the same process with cleaning products, albeit with an unexpected wrinkle: Because organic cleaning products don’t foam, housekeeping employees didn’t think they would work.

“The products were less expensive, but time was needed for training and education,” he said.

As for switching from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs, CFLs cost more, “but I’m getting payback within nine months because they don’t burn out. Anything that costs me more money but has a payback within a year I consider a wash,” Pinetti said.

He and other company spokespeople say it’s crucial to maintain—and, if possible, enhance—the guest experience. Much greening results from cost savings back-of-the-house that are invisible to the guest, like the US$9,000 a month that Kimpton’s Sir Francis Drake in San Francisco and Hotel Allegro in Chicago each save by recycling their trash and cardboard. Reducing shower water strength and installing low-flow toilets can save US$2,000 a month, Pinetti said.

Low-hanging fruit

At a time of economic retrenchment, addressing the “low-hanging fruit” with a green orientation is a no-brainer, Pinetti said. Changing printer settings from single-sided to double-sided is an example; so is setting thermostats to automatic.

“My printed material for the entire company is on recycled paper,” he said. “That was a phone call, and it was done. It was a switch-in product. What’s lower than the low-hanging fruit? It’s about the level of consciousness.

“On the other hand, if you want to be a LEED-certified building, that’s probably another conversation. We’re still waiting for the tipping point in that process to make it less expensive, but that is happening as well.”

The bigger picture

LEED case in point: the Fairmont Pittsburgh, a 185-room hotel that will be part of a 780,000-square-foot, mixed-use “green” project in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The entire building is intended for certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System. It will be the first such building in the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts portfolio.

The Fairmont Pittsburgh will be the first LEED-certified hotel in the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts portfolio.