Cheers or Jeers?
Last month, Hilton Worldwide released the details of its proprietary system for measuring the sustainability of its properties. The company has been tweaking the system, LightStay, for the past couple of years, testing it at 1,300 Hilton green hotels before unveiling it and its results in an April press release.
And what results they are! Hilton announced that in 2009, LightStay green hotel properties saved “enough energy to power 5,700 homes for a year… enough water to fill more than 650 Olympic-size pools and reduced carbon output equivalent to taking 34,865 cars off the road.”All told, participating green hotels reportedly saved more than $29 million in utility costs for 2009. We still have yet to find out how it compares to other certification programs as the Green Key, ENERGY STAR and LEED. Would it be complimentary to worldwide recognized certification programs or could it stand on its own? We’ll just have to wait and see.
LightStay measures and evaluates indicators across two hundred different operational practices, including housekeeping, paper product use, food waste, chemical storage, air quality and transportation. It includes a “meeting impact calculator” that event planners and corporate travel managers can use to assess the projected effect their event will have on the environment when they are making their decision about which green hotel to book.Over the next eighteen months, Hilton Worldwide will implement LightStay throughout all 3,500 of its properties, making it the first major multi-brand company to require sustainability measurements at the property level.
Cheers to Hilton Worldwide for taking the initiative to create a meaningful sustainability assessment tool for their properties around the world to use!About EcoGreenHotel
EcoGreenHotel LLC is a privately-held company dedicated to helping lodging facilities address abroad spectrum of sustainability issues. The company provides information, tools, checklists, current news and trends to the hospitality industry through its website, www.EcoGreenHotel.com. In 2009, the company launched an online marketplace for green products and services at www.EcoGreenHotelStore.com. In addition to the online offerings, EcoGreenHotel provides customized consulting services tailored to the needs of the hospitality industry in the areas of energy efficiency and certifications, including LEED, Green Seal and Energy Star. For those properties that have reached certified levels of sustainability, EcoGreenHotel assists with marketing services to position the properties within the growing “green” space and enhance revenue. For further information, emailinfo@EcoGreenHotel.com or call 888.229.0213.
