Global Summit an Eye Opener for Green Hotel Professionals

At EcoGreenHotel, we eat, sleep and breathe green lodging. Environmentally-friendly hospitality is all we do – and it’s all we’ve done for years. We spend every waking moment reading up on the latest information, studying trends, products and technology, and talking to hoteliers, staff, vendors, guests – heck, anybody associated with lodging – about what’s happening in the industry. It’s a complex specialty, and we know our stuff inside out.

But we can always know more.

That simple truth was brought home to us earlier this month when we participated in the 1^st Annual Global Renewable Energy Networking Summit at the Bear Creek Mountain Resort and Conference Center in Macungie, PA. Although EcoGreenHotel President Scott Parisi delivered a keynote address at the Summit, he also took time to listen to a host of presentations. One that caught his attention was delivered by Jason Kliwinski, Director of Sustainable Design at Spiezle Architectural Group of Trenton, N.J. Spiezle is an award-winning firm that has designed spaces for companies such as Merrill Lynch, Sirius Satellite Radio and Westin.

Jason’s presentation, entitled “Creating a Culture of Sustainability,” focused on just that – making sustainability a way of life… a philosophy… a custom. He spoke of using a holistic approach to sustainability project design and implementation, and then he said something that really stuck with us:

We are better than Me.

Now, we all know that teamwork is essential to a project’s success, and chances are very good that if you’re working on a project at your eco hotel, you’ve got a team in place. But take a look at that team and assess the following:

• Is it diverse? Are all departments and management levels represented? Think too about other diversity markers like gender, race and socio-economic status. Identify gaps and fill them. Diversity is key to success – you never know who is going to have the next great idea!

• Is communication open? Is everybody still in the loop or has communication trickled off lately? Ask the team for ideas about how to establish – and maintain – the lines of communication.

• What is the level of commitment? Are team members still excited about the project or have they lost interest? Bring them together to hear an inspiring speaker (perhaps a local environmental activist) or to watch a compelling documentary about climate change. Pick an easy-to-implement sustainability project so the team can experience some instant gratification to get them back on track.

How have you inspired your eco hotel’s green team? Drop us a line at info@EcoGreenHotel.com and tell us all about it. We may feature your team in an upcoming issue of our newsletter or on our website at www.EcoGreenHotel.com!

Hospitality virtual-Marketing™ Launches Eco-Friendly Sales & Marketing Products

April 22, 2009 (Atlanta, Ga.) -- Hospitality v-Marketing™, a leading virtual marketing company in the hospitality industry; in partnership with VIZERGY, JRPG Hospitality Consulting , and EcoGreenHotel; today launches an environmentally-friendly marketing company specializing in virtual sales and marketing products for the hospitality industry. These partnerships marry the expertise of content capture, using HD photography and video, with intelligent marketing and sales solutions complete with top of the line customer service - all specifically designed for the hospitality industry.

“We help capture sales that would not be otherwise possible, said David Cro, executive officer of Hospitality v-Marketing™. “We accomplish this by enhancing the experience of the internet viewer. It is our goal to engage the viewer so they become captivated and emotionally bonded to the property. The bottom line is the viewer makes an emotional decision based on their virtual connection and that experience is what converts into a sale. This connection is not possible without the virtual technologies we create for our clients.”

Hospitality v-Marketing™ (HvM™) offers custom created rich media, hosting, deployment and delivery. An alternative to the a stand-alone website, HvM™ currently offers more than 10 robust deliverables and has more than 18 new products in development. HvM™ core products are designed to capture audience attention using high definition resolution images (HDRI), virtual tours and video along with web application developments. These products offer the industry’s best in high definition photography, allowing hoteliers and venues to uniquely showcase their value proposition to prospective clients. This, along with tracking analytics, brings hoteliers quick returns on their investment.

“Every one of our products has analytics associated with it so all of our clients can see who is intrigued and excited by their products,” said Cro. “Why use a hard copy brochure with a 3-4 year shelf life tops, when virtual is lifetime, environmentally friendly, and instantaneous with updates. And speed to market in today’s environment is key to staying ahead of the competition. ”

Hospitality v-Marketing™ has partnered with Eco-Green Hotel, a company dedicated to helping lodging facilities address environmental issues and implement environmentally sound initiatives, to promote this environmentally-friendly form of marketing in the hospitality industry.
“Hospitality v-Marketing™ brings an amazing solution to the hospitality industry that when implemented can eliminate the use of paper for sales and marketing communications,” said Scott Parisi, president, Eco-Green Hotel. “The solutions offered not only reduce or eliminate the use paper it also gives hotels and resorts a competitive marketing edge through state of the art technologies that provide an incredible presentation that cannot be achieved elsewhere.”
In addition to Eco-Green Hotel, HvM™ has partnered with VIZERGY, an Internet marketing company that empowers hotels and resorts to drive revenue through the Internet. This partnership allows HvM™ to offer extended services in the form of PPC (pay-per click) and SEO (search engine optimization). VIZERGY has a proven track record with PPC & SEO optimization with over 10 years of experience in helping their clients get better rankings. HvM™ has been seamlessly integrated into the VIZERGY workflow process to provide compelling imagery for their clients. To assist in creating an accelerated turn-around, HvM™ does in most cases, return proofs within 2 weeks.

“We’re excited and optimistic about our new affiliation with Hospitality v-Marketing™,” says Joe Hyman, VIZERGY’s Founder and CEO. “As a specialist in hospitality marketing, we know a picture is worth a thousand words. Great photography improves Website conversions and can be optimized in many social media channels, improving the image, visibility and revenue for our clients. Hospitality v-Marketing™’s work is fantastic and we look forward to recommending their services to our clients.”

HvM™ has also teamed up with hospitality marketing partners Pam Grayboff and Julie Reigle of JRPG Hospitality Consulting, LLC. Experts in the industry, Grayboff and Reigle offer sales & marketing, and revenue management advisory and consulting services. In addition, JRPG Hospitality Consulting offers acquisition & transition services and asset management & development services.

“As part of our vision to partner and consult with creative and environmentally friendly vendors to help with our clients, we have found Hospitality v-Marketing™ to be an innovative hospitality marketing solution offering high quality services and imagery for all hotel sizes,” said Grayboff and Reigle.

Hospitality v-Marketing™ has revolutionized process management and customer service by delivering customer products to market with speed and efficiency to assure top-line sales.
“We are hands down the fastest in the industry with our deliverables,” said Heather Kennedy, project management director for Hospitality v-Marketing™. “Our team ensures the highest standards of quality, speed and delivery. Within 24 hours of an agreement we are in contact with the client. This contact produces results that ensure satisfaction, expedited delivery and that expectations are met.”

Hospitality v-Marketing™ currently operates with four Regional Sales Directors; Jim Mathley, Teresa Rubin, Bill Scull and Allison Parris. Jim Mathley, a 19 year hospitality sales veteran, is the West Coast Regional Sales Director. Mathley is using his diverse hospitality background with Wyndham as regional director of sales and marketing to ensure every HvM™ customer receives the full benefit and maximum revenue return for their investment in using the HvM™ cutting-edge products.

Teresa Rubin is Regional Director of Sales for the Southeast Region for Hospitality v-Marketing™. She has a very strong portfolio in leading hotel sales in various brands that include: Resort, full-service hotels and select service properties including the Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, Courtyard by Marriot, and Springhill Suites. She was awarded several industry awards and recognitions throughout her career including Select Service Sales Manager of the Year for Whitelodging Services Corporation and Leader of the Quarter for Horseshoe Bay Resort Marriott.

Bill Scull, Regional Director of Sales for the Midwest region, is responsible for creating awareness, developing partnerships and increasing sales between Hospitality v-Marketing™ and the hotel community. Scull has more than 17 years of hotel experience with Marriott International.
Allison Parris, a 13 year veteran in the hospitality industry, serves as the Director of Sales in the Northeast region. As Regional Director of Sales, Ms. Paris has conducted sales training and created marketing plans for a multitude of hotel brands, both chain-affiliated and independent hotels, most of these years with the Hilton brand.

“We have surrounded ourselves with great marketing talents in the industry who understand that hotels are looking for ways to set themselves apart from the others,” said Cro.
Hospitality v-Marketing™ aspires to be the preferred choice for hospitality internet marketing tools and photography among the world’s leading hotel, resort, destination and investment property corporations. To learn more about Hospitality v-Marketing™ products and services, please visit www.hospitalityvmarketing.com or call (404) 975 0597.
Now through June 30, 2009, Hospitality v-Marketing™ is offering a “click and book” to receive 20% off any v-brochure at www.hospitalityvmarketing.com

About Eco-Green Hotel
A valuable resource for green hotels, Eco-Green Hotel is dedicated to helping lodging facilities address environmental issues and implement environmentally sound initiatives. The company’s online presence at www.EcoGreenHotel.com offers a marketplace for green hotel products and services and provides a one- stop venue for green hospitality industry news, basic environmental overviews and other tools like green hotel checklists, project ideas, book lists, and valuable links designed to promote a more sustainable hospitality industry.

About VIZERGY
VIZERGY is an Internet marketing company that empowers hotels and resorts to drive revenue through the Internet. Founded as SECURE-RES in 1998, and rebranded to VIZERGY in 2007 to better reflect the company mission, VIZERGY offers Internet marketing, search engine optimization, Web site design, email marketing, reservation services, and e-commerce strategy development to help hotels and resorts aggressively compete online. For more information on VIZERGY and its services, please visit www.vizergy.com, call Amakeda Ponds at 904.389.1130 Ext. 179 or email Amakeda.p@vizergy.com.

About JRPG Hospitality Consulting, LLC
JRPG Hospitality Consulting, LLC is an owner and manager’s solution for lagging performance in today’s challenging economic cycle. Our advantage stems from 53 combined years of hospitality industry expertise within luxury, upper upscale and select service segments, including all hotel types from resorts, to boutiques to convention hotels. We can navigate the path to improvement in an independent realm or branded world while understanding the dynamics of franchise, brand managed and third party management structures. Our vision is to partner and consult regularly with creative and environmentally friendly vendors and providers of hospitality solutions. Our association with these partners allows us to stay current with emerging applications and services to provide the appropriate recommendations. It is our nature to integrate collaboration and integrity in every client and vendor interaction. For more information about JRPG Hospitality Consulting, LLC, email us at: info@jrpghospitalityconsulting.com or visit us soon at www.jrpghospitalityconsulting.com.

For more information visit: www.EcoGreenHotel.com

Another Green Lodging Certification Program in the Works! Enough already?

The buzz around Washington D.C. is that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is laying the groundwork for a federal green lodging certification program for U.S. hotels.

The EPA plans to roll out its sustainability guidelines by the end of the year, with the goal of giving facilities an outline of the standards necessary to win federal meeting and convention business in the future.

Is there a need for yet another green lodging certification program? Well, that depends. If the EPA’s program turns out to be a meaningful method for recognizing genuine accomplishments in sustainable lodging, then we’re all for it. But if it’s just another pay-to-play, rubber stamp mechanism for properties to drum up business on the ruse of operating a watered-down green lodge, then we’re wholeheartedly against it.

In other words, only time will tell if there’s really “room at the inn” for a new federal green lodging program. We’ll just have to see it before we can believe in it.

Indications are, however, that this program might actually be a worthwhile addition to the green lodging certification mix. An EPA spokesman said it will be modeled after excellent state-sponsored programs like the ones in Florida and California, and will eventually become as highly regarded and recognizable as the Energy Star ratings for appliances.

Plus, word on the street is that these new guidelines will eventually be the measure by which all federal agencies and departments will award their meeting and convention business in the future – along with price and past performance considerations, of course.

And one can’t help but wonder if a highly publicized, well-funded federal green hotel certification program will eclipse others of questionable quality – especially those in the pay-to-play arena.

So our recommendation is for hospitality properties to watch this process closely, and to plan to apply just as soon as the EPA opens the floodgates. There’s likely to be a stampede of facilities scrambling to align with the federal program and you want yours to be in front of the pack.

Are you satisfied with your facility’s sustainability program? Could your staff use some professional guidance in positioning your property to earn the upcoming federal certification? Send a message to info@EcoGreenHotel.com today, and we’ll have you on the road to a meaningful green certification before you know it!

For more information visit: www.EcoGreenHotel.com

Found objects find new life in San Francisco eco hotel

I read a story in Hospitality Design magazine last week that made me smile. It was about the aptly named Good Hotel in San Francisco’s trendy SOMA district.

The 117-room property – once the site of a Best Western and a hostel catering to backpackers – has been totally remodeled and decorated largely with reused, everyday objects. The designers called upon area artists to put the finishing touches on everything from the lobby to the guestrooms.

For example, a recent art school graduate fashioned a cool bench from old blankets. A furniture maker built a computer desk from old cabinets, and he constructed a coffee table that included parts from a skateboard. Throw pillows in the guestrooms were covered with bedspread material from the old hotel. Recycled water bottles now form a chic pendant light.

I like this approach for so many reasons. First of all, it’s light hearted and fun. Some of those design elements are so quirky; you can be sure that guests are having blast exploring all the eccentric touches scattered throughout the building.

Next, the hotel employed the work of local artists, providing income for neighborhood folks. Local art immediately establishes a “sense of place” – an ambiance that adds to your guests’ overall experience.

I also like the Good Hotel’s approach to decorating because it’s cheaper than using new items. This design technique helped the hotel keep its costs down, which helped it keep its rates down, which in turn helps keep heads in beds. Enough said on that!

But what appeals to me most is how it promotes the idea that “used” doesn’t necessarily mean “useless” – that just because something has passed its prime in one form doesn’t mean that it’s not perfect for some other purpose.

Now, I’m well aware that this design tactic won’t work for everyone. But I firmly believe that the underlying philosophy will.

Call your green team together to brainstorm about how you can use repurposed items in your eco hotel – or how you can donate your facility’s used items to a worthy cause in your neighborhood. Then drop us a line at info@EcoGreenHotel.com and tell us what you came up with. We’ll post some of the best ideas online and share them with the eco hotel community in our newsletter, too.

Learn more about San Francisco’s Good Hotel here: www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/good.

For more information visit: www.EcoGreenHotel.com

LEED-ing green hotels to a sustainable future

I admit it: I’m not a fan of acronyms. But unfortunately the world is full of them – especially, it seems, the sustainability world. There’s CFL, CFC, HEPA, HFC, LCA, VOC and so many more… not to mention the granddaddy of them all – LEED.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and I suppose that as far as acronyms go, it’s one of the more useful ones. The LEED Green Building Rating System is the most universally accepted building certification program in the country, and its authority is even spreading around the world.

Administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, this voluntary program recommends practices and performance criteria to help architects, engineers, construction and facilities managers, interior designers, lenders and government officials design, construct, remodel, operate and maintain sustainable buildings – everything from homes schools and hospitals, to retail establishments, government facilities and yes, even hotels.

The LEED program helps improve five areas critical to human and environmental wellbeing:

• Sustainable site development
• Water conservation
• Energy efficiency
• Material selection
• Indoor environmental quality

Not sure which flooring option is the most sustainable choice for your new hotel? LEED can point you in the right direction. Wondering if you should incorporate solar water heaters into your remodel, or want to tap into tax incentives and government initiatives to help offset costs? LEED has resources to guide you.

Once the U.S. Green Building Council has ensured that the building meets its requirements, it awards the facility its prestigious LEED certification. In the sustainable building world, there’s no more highly-regarded acronym than LEED!

If you’d like to find out how your planned or existing lodging facility can earn LEED certification, send a message to info@EcoGreenHotel.com. We’ll be happy to help you get the process started!

For more information visit: www.EcoGreenHotel.com

Mood lighting for Mother Nature: Green hotels dim lights for Earth Hour 2009

Eco-conscious hotels joined millions of other businesses, individuals and government entities around the world in observing Earth Hour 2009 on Saturday, March 28th.
Lights were dimmed or turned off en masse in 88 countries worldwide that night to show support for the fight against global warming, from the Vegas strip to New Zealand to Antarctica to Greece and all points in between. The non-profit World Wildlife Fund organized the event, and on its website called this year’s Earth Hour “the largest of its kind.”
Green hotels found lots of imaginative ways to celebrate and get their guests involved in Earth Hour beyond just dimming the lights. One Boston hotel invited all its guests and staff to a party on the rooftop to watch the lights go out over Beantown. Another offered green martinis in the bar, where the lights were dimmed and supplemented by flameless candles.
In Toronto, guests enjoyed candlelight dinners and a swimming pool filled with floating candles, and guests at one hotel in Australia were treated to eco-friendly foods and “carbon neutral” drinks.
It looks as if Earth Hour has become an annual event, so perhaps now would be a great time to add an Earth Hour Committee to your property’s green team. Participating in the event is an enjoyable and memorable way to highlight your facility’s dedication to conservation. It’s not too early to start thinking about how your facility can celebrate Earth Hour 2010!
Did staff at your property come up with a fun or particularly meaningful way to observe this year’s Earth Hour? Tell us about it at info@EcoGreenHotel.com and we may post it on our website!

For more information visit: www.EcoGreenHotel.com