Results from the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2010 Lodging Survey showed that luxury and upper-upscale hotels are most likely to feature green amenities and earn green certifications. The survey, which is conducted every two years, was funded by the American Hotel & Lodging Education Foundation and prepared by Smith Travel Research. Results were tallied from 8,800 respondents, for a very respectable 18% response rate. Questions focused on 14 green-related categories, including allergy-free rooms, water-saving programs, energy management systems, recycling programs, green certification, and green renovation.
The chief findings:
- 23% of respondents use energy management sensors in guestrooms, down slightly from 25% reported in 2008. Properties most likely to have sensors: luxury (43%) and upper-upscale (32%) hotels.
- 60% of respondents have recycling programs, up from 40% reported two years ago. Luxury (87%) and upper-upscale (85%) properties are most likely to have these programs, while economy hotels (36%) are least likely.
- 88% of respondents report use of energy-efficient lighting, versus 68% in 2008. Hotels across the board equally report using this type of lighting to a significant degree.
- 69% of respondents say they have a water-saving program in place, up from 46% in 2008. Once again, luxury (80%) and upper-upscale (85%) properties are most likely to have such a program. A significant number of upscale hotels (73%) also report having a water-saving program.
- 51% of respondents report having a digital energy management system in place; this is the first time the question appeared on the survey. Luxury (48%) and upper-upscale hotels (51%) again lead the industry, with only 7% of economy hotels reporting use of a digital energy management system.
- 56% of hotels offer 100% nonsmoking rooms, up from just 38% two years ago. Upscale (70%) and independent brands (66%) are most likely to offer such rooms.
- 71% of luxury hotels report that they are working toward a green certification program, with upper-upscale (64%), upscale (47%), mid-level (43%), and independent (40%) rounding out the category. Least likely to go for certification: interstate hotels (32%).
- 12% of hotels plan to incorporate LEED elements within the next years (if major structural renovations are planned). This is down markedly from the 21% reported in 2008. Luxury (28%) and upper-upscale (16%) are most likely to pursue LEED renovations.
- 10% of hotels reported having incorporated LEED renovations during the past 12 months, again down from 2008, when 20% of hotels reported LEED renovations. Luxury (25%) and independent brands (12%) were most likely to have incorporated LEED.
The 2010 Lodging Survey is available for purchase (free to AH&LA members) at: www.ahla.com.
Related Stories
| Nov 16, 2010
Calculating office building performance? Yep, there’s an app for that
123 Zero build is a free tool for calculating the performance of a market-ready carbon-neutral office building design. The app estimates the discounted payback for constructing a zero emissions office building in any U.S. location, including the investment needed for photovoltaics to offset annual carbon emissions, payback calculations, estimated first costs for a highly energy efficient building, photovoltaic costs, discount rates, and user-specified fuel escalation rates.
| Nov 16, 2010
CityCenter’s new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition
MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotel—one of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didn’t match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the building’s 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.
| Nov 16, 2010
Where can your firm beat the recession? Try any of these 10 places
Wondering where condos and rental apartments will be needed? Where companies are looking to rent office space? Where people will need hotel rooms, retail stores, and restaurants? Newsweek compiled a list of the 10 American cities best situated for economic recovery. The cities fall into three basic groups: Texas, the New Silicon Valleys, and the Heartland Honeys. Welcome to the recovery.
| Nov 16, 2010
Landscape architecture challenges Andrés Duany’s Congress for New Urbanism
Andrés Duany, founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, adopted the ideas, vision, and values of the early 20th Century landscape architects/planners John Nolen and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to launch a movement that led to more than 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization project commissions for his firm. However, now that there’s a societal buyer’s remorse about New Urbanism, Duany is coming up against a movement that sees landscape architecture—not architecture—as the design medium more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience.
| Nov 16, 2010
Just for fun: Words that architects use
If you regularly use such words as juxtaposition, folly, truncated, and articulation, you may be an architect. Architects tend to use words rarely uttered during normal conversations. In fact, 62% of all the words that come out of an architects mouth could be replaced by a simpler and more widely known word, according to this “report.” Review this list of designer words, and once you manage to work them into daily conversation, you’re on your way to becoming a bonafide architect.
| Nov 16, 2010
NFRC approves technical procedures for attachment product ratings
The NFRC Board of Directors has approved technical procedures for the development of U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and visible transmittance (VT) ratings for co-planar interior and exterior attachment products. The new procedures, approved by unanimous voice vote last week at NFRC’s Fall Membership Meeting in San Francisco, will add co-planar attachments such as blinds and shades to the group’s existing portfolio of windows, doors, skylights, curtain walls, and window film.
| Nov 15, 2010
Gilbane to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc.
Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Company announced plans to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc., a construction management firm with operations based in Florida. The acquisition will dramatically strengthen Gilbane’s position in Florida’s growing market and complement its already established presence in the southeast.
| Nov 11, 2010
Saint-Gobain to make $80 million investment in SAGE Electrochromics
Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest glass and construction material manufacturers, is making a strategic equity investment in SAGE Electrochromics to make electronically tintable “dynamic glass” an affordable, mass-market product, ushering in a new era of energy-saving buildings.
