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Green technology will bring benefits to the hospitality industry. It will become a future trend for the hotels to go green. From my point of view, going green is another saving cost and long-term benefits. We can reduce the the harm for what we produce and keep the guest's travel experience more green. Also hospitality plays an important role in telling others about the green concept. People will remember more when they are in realx.

This article discusses the different approaches hotels are using to make their hotels green. They are trying to use technology to reduce energy consumption which will help reduce fossil fuels. At Hotel 1000 in Seattle when a guest checks in the computer system sends a signal to the room to turn on the air conditioner. This system helped the hotel save approximately 40% on their energy. The Bardessono in Napa Valley has auto controls, so when the guest enters a room the sunshades rise, lights, television, and fireplace turn on. They will also turn off when the guest leaves the room. Xanterra in Death Valley has a total of 5,040 solar panels and uses wind power. By doing this they will offset emissions of 24,000 tons of dangerous pollutants over the next 25 years.

The Hotel Industry and its vendors are acknowledging and taking a keen revenue advantage, because their customers are supporting a green environment focus. This green economic revolution has impacted the $90 billion dollar Hotel industry. The article describes a hotel in Austin Texas profoundly in regards to their property having the "largest solar system in the continental U.S.". The hotel goes as far as creating their motto, which gear guest towards a green environment focus; their motto states "Environmental consciousness in action." The hotel grows its own food and vegetables, in which they serve the guest with, and they also give some of their produce to local food banks. The hotel guest often brag about how well they slept in the night, this might be caused by the toxic free chemical environment they are in. The lodging have refrained from using chemical pesticides 20 years ago, which may have added to the result of guest sleeping well; stated the general manager. The Ritz-Carlton program "Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ambassadors of the Environment program" was originally for the children that were staying on the Kapalua in Hawaii. The children enjoyed it so much, and their parents became very inquisitive; that the program emerged into the entire property focus. This program gives guest the opportunity to have involvement with the native forest; native nature walk and the hotel also harvest a native garden. This is almost the same idea as the hotel located in Austin Texas. There are many valid reasons for the reason why the Hotel Industry should be green conscious. The Green Hotels Association states that "Companies with proactive environmental strategies will make 4 percent higher investment, 9 higher sales growth and 17 percent higher operating income growth than companies with poor environmental practices.". If I was a general manager, this would be one of my main concerns and focus. Going green is cost effective, but the ending

nowadays, more and more hotels attending to join the green army. one of the most important reason is this kind of hotel will have a better market. because of the education level of the guests, their invironmental awareness become stongly. so the guests want to do more to make a contribution the the environment protection. on the other hand, the customers all knows that even the price of the green hotel is higher, but it is more health and safe. it will make them feel better and have a good experience in the hotel. as we know, a good experience is the final goal of hotel. so, the green hotel must have a bright future.

The green economic revolution is impacting the $90 billion U.S. hotel industry. There is an opportunity to increase revenue and market share by "going green". Habitat Suites in Austin, Texas is a leader in this area. The hotel's motto is "Environmental consciousness in action." Habitat Suites has an environment that is free of chemicals, has the largest hotel solar system, and uses their own organic fruit and vegetable garden for food in the hotel. Due to this environmental consciousness, the customers are reacting positively. Commenting on how great they slept, due to the ecologically fresh rooms. Many hotel chains are jumping on the green revolution bandwagon. At the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua in Hawaii, they started an environment program that was originally designed to provide fun for kids. But after positive feedback from the children, this has grown from just learning about local marine life to educational nature walks. These walks go through Maui's native forests and a garden that grows native foods and has community engagement in order to preserve their island's culture and environment. The food that is grown in the native garden is used in the hotel to provide guests with a healthy dining experience. Because of this, it has increased guests' reason to eat at the hotel and is 15 percent of the hotel guests' revenue stream. This environmentally friendly program increases the possibility of repeat business and attract new travelers who search for these types of experiences. A report published by the Green Hotels Association states, "Companies with proactive environmental strategies have a 4 percent higher return on investment, 9 percent higher sales growth and 17 percent higher operating income growth than companies with poor environmental track records." Even non-hotel-industry entrepreneurs are realizing business opportunities in the green vacation industry. Patricia Griffin, president of the Green Hotel Association, started the associatio

During the recent solar eclipse the hotels located on the path of totality got an increase on their revenue. The greatest increase on the occupancy rate was the night before the event but also the following days. Apparently customers took advantage of this natural event to explore the areas that they were visiting. The most incredible point for me , is that the main part of such event , it lasted less than 2 minutes, which it was the moment of total eclipse. These 2 minutes of total darkness had a geographic path were it could be seem from, therefore, those 2 minutes were the responsible for such a great episode in our industry. Some cities were not prepare for this touristic wave as they are not popular destination in general. Some other cities had a great number of accommodations therefore these ones had great deal of business. Regardless, the number were so scandalous for the average revenue this time of the year "that was enough to lift performance results for the entire country last week." Important to mention as well that most of the hotel were located in non-urban areas which requires a certain type of customer but it did not matter in this case. We need more solar eclipses everybody.

H.I.S., a Japanese travel agency, cut the amount of human workers at its Huis Ten Bosch amusement park, and its neighboring hotel, Henn na Hotel, significantly wherein only 1,200 workers still labor at the park while the others will be reassigned to other branches within the group. Instead of human workers, H.I.S. has replaced with with robots that handle a wide variety of tasks severely limiting the amount of employees that have to work there. Among the tasks that they accomplish, there is a program which collects garbage in the park, as well as cleaning and landscaping. H.I.S. also plans to add customer service robots, an electronic payment system (hoping to go "cashless" in the future), as well as a new wing to the hotel, that will be an energy-independent generator made from film-like solar cells and plant-based storage batteries.

This article discusses an Eco-Friendly Greek hotel. The hotel uses smart technology, as well as solar panels, and other green methods.

In the article, "Travel Agents Increase Use of GDS to Book Hotel Rooms," it talked about how the leading global provider of revenue is generating solutions for hotels, it shows how important GDS platforms are to travel agents. "84 percent of respondents indicated that they were using their GDS platform the same amount or more often than in the past, with 35 percent stating that they are using GDS more." Back in 2009, when the last study was conducted, about 26 percents of travel agents said that they used their GDS platform more often than in the past. This study also states that the annual GDS shopping displays will be over $50 million in 2011, which will increase more than a million bookings compared to 2010. There was another survey that was done and they surveyed different travel agents from across the world that were subscribed to a major GDS system. In the survey the travel agents indicated that promotional messages are effective and often prompt bookings. Out of the travel agents they surveyed, 66% said that they were aware of the "promotional messages requested addition information by looking at the screen attached to he promotional message." From this survey it showed that promotional messages are an excellent way to reach travel agents and from reaching the agent, they also reaching the customer, it's a win-win reaction.

I enjoyed the part about brand and promotional messaging, that is always a lure for me. When I see an attractive offer, evern If I'm not interested in booking or going to the destination, I often click on it anyway just to see the offer. It is a very effective marketing tool.

Consumers are significantly more eco-concious in their daily lives which translates significantly to their hotel experience. They want to ensure that they and the hotels they stay at are doing their best efforts to be green. Hotels that create green initiatives see more return from those guests. Cloud computing is also one of those initiatives.

19% of travelers said they would pay more to vacation with a green resort. Sustainable hotels are shaving 8% off expenses in their first year. Biomimicry is the future of because they will not only be energy efficient but coexist peacefully with the natural habitat.

Hotel Indigo in Dubai runs entirely on solar power. With a digital building management system, the hotel can monitor, control and track energy use to become more efficient. Biophilic Design Biophilic design in hotels can achieve a sense of serenity, mixing natural with artificial. Plus, guests will stick around longer, with a 36% higher dwell rate compared to hotel lobbies without biophilic features. Repurposed Materials At RIMBA Jimbaran Hotel in Bali, Indonesia, the lobby is built from driftwood and the remnants of old fishing boats. Sustainable Architecture The wave coursing, while not eco-friendly, accurately matches the original 1920s architecture. Biomimicry Solutions Biomimicry in hotel design can enhance the guest experience for the modern, eco-conscious traveler. A hotel could generate power using wind, absorb sunlight and collect and recycle rainwater. Cloud Computing Combined with automation, which won't bog down internal operations, a hotel can monitor performance, manage energy use, detect felt and diagnostics and much more.

This is an excellent, comprehensive article and research study that fully looks at environmental technology through interviews with hotel professionals. It has many specific examples of hotel environmental technologies. It also specifically looks at energy, water and waste in the hotel industry.

This article details a number of green features that hotels can put into place, including several with an important tech factor. These include automated energy-saving measures (including in-room temp controls) and the use of solar or wind energy, Although not explicitly mentioned in the article, it's easy to see how even the "non-tech" measures would benefit from computerized controls and assessments: water-saving practices, waste disposal and recycling, local ingredient sourcing for the F&B department, and harmful chemical avoidance.

This article discusses some innovative and unique technologies that exist to combat top sustainability issues such as energy consumption, water conservation, and waste maangement.

For hotel, the benefits of reducing the carbon footprint are both social and economic. The green hotel can attract more guests. Studies have shown that guests prefer staying at properties that are actively involved in providing a green environment. A hotel can implement an effective green plan since it is built from ground up. The developer should think about that make use of natural light, how to save water such as rainwater capture or reuse grey water, how to use solar heating for the pool or hot tub, etc.

This Hilton is taking on a very ambitious project to help save a lot of money in power costs. They are installing wind turbines on the rooftop of the hotel. The good thing about these turbines is that they seem to be sort of "stylish" and not the typical field turbines. The turbines, a total of six to start, will assist in creating more sources of electricity as opposed to the conventional methods. Electricity is probably one of the most expensive costs a hotel has to deal with. Using turbines will definitely help cut costs. Additionally, Hilton is not new to using green initiatives. They are planning to install solar panels in 2013. Both the turbines and the solar panels are expected to supply about 5 to 10 percent of the needed electricity. Also, the windows are built to block out the heat from the sun and to withstand the forces of a hurricane. Of note: this particularly Hilton was the very first hotel in Broward County, FL to receive the Florida Green Lodging designation. Erica

This article is about how the POS system works with the ipads. Nowadays, as the Apple products-ipad attract so many people, more and more restaurants notice that applying ipads as part of their point of sale system is a good decision. iPad users are running the terminals in a variety of POS system configurations, including those centered around remotely hosted software running at so-called "cloud" data centers, to which store-level devices communicate via wireless Internet connections. Many restaurant operators feel satisfied with the POS running work with the ipads. The ipads are attractive, and many guests are interested in the products. The most important, using ipads as part of the POS system, they can help speeds up the ordering process in the restaurant. However, using the ipads is not a perfect idea because there is a high cost associated with the high technology products. In my opinion, it is good the combining the POS system with the latest popular products. As on one hand this can make the restaurant more attractive, on the other hand, it is a good way to increase the service speed.

This article describes how there are an increasing number of eco-friendly hotels,(popping up) in general, but more specifically in urban center. The article points to be the cost of energy and the new abundance of green technology as the primary reasons for the surge in the number of eco- friendly lodging. The article gives several examples of how city hotels are employing eco-friendly practices and products. First, Sheraton has introduced fuel cells in four of its urban locations. Fuel cells are ultraclean power plants with up to twice the efficiency of fossil fuel. Second, Hyatt is using renewable energy source (wind, hydro, and solar). Finally, Marriott and Hilton are even seeking difficult- to- attain leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certificates for the U.S Green Building Council, which can yield significant tax benefits.

This article is very interesting because it does not focus solely on one type of technology, but rather summarizes several technologies and discusses the importance of their uses. Green technologies in hotels can vary from anything affecting the water heating system to air ventilation and even plumbing systems in hotels. As stated in the article, it is extremely important for hoteliers to be aware of these changes that are occurring. Hoteliers may not have to immediately alter their current systems but they should definitely be aware and in tuned to the ever-changing "green" technologies - for if they don't they may be putting their hotels at risk.

This article is basically talking about the different green ways that a hotel can operate. For instance in Denmark they have stations set up where a guest can pedal stationary bikes to produce energy which in exchange they receive a free meal from the restaurant. To make hotels more green the hotels are using higher technological systems like changing the ventilation systems that provide fresh air indoors and have timers on the exhaust in the bathrooms. These technological advances to the properties will be more pricey than normal systems but in the long run they will save these hotels money and help them be more earth friendly.

Having worked in the meetings industry for 5 years now, we have also seen the increase of the more eco friendly traveler/meeting planner/attendee. Our accommodations have taken an active stance to incorporate more of the green friendly features to meet the needs of this traveler, but also to cut costs and increase operations efficiency.

Along with green initiatives in hotels and airlines, cruise lines and ports have been making efforts on "Going green" for years. This article, particularly introduces The Port of Los Angeles that can provide plug-in power system, a.k.a. Alternative Maritime Power system (AMP) to two cruise ships simultaneously. Basically, cruise ships consume the huge amount of fuel just like hundreds of cars do while they are in port. With the AMP that cruise ships gain electrical power from, cruise ships can turn off their engines while being at berth like an electric car. As a result, cruise ships can reduce their fuel cost and eliminate significant ship exhaust. More and more cruise ports have installed the AMP system and cruise ships have tried to be fitted to the power system. Obviously, the AMP is not the ultimate solution to pollution, however this can prevent the environment from being more polluted. The AMP system will advance, and we might see cruise ships sailing with only electrical power or other alternative power sources, such as solar power, power generated by cruise ships in the future.

According to the July 2011 results of the Sustainable Asset Management Survey by Gartner and TRIRIGA, an IBM company, only 8% of their 130 respondents in large corporations and public sector organizations indicated that they did not have an energy and environmental strategy. However, I suspect that this problem is more prevalent in medium and small organizations.

Article discusses results of study on sustainable facilities management and provides a rubric to set and reach energy efficient goals. Key point of the article I think was item number three in which the article instructs managers to focus on energy efficiency rather than renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and other areas. See also link below to study... http://1105govinfoevents.com/custom/IBM/sustainability_white_paper.pdf

This article shows us that Hilton New York installs a green roof system which installed with a Cogeneration (Combined Heat & Power) System. The whole system was designed to reduce the hotel's overall carbon usage so that to promote the hotel's sustainable development. This kind of green roof system was located on the hotel's fifth floor rooftop and it represents a major investment by Hilton New York. They want to benefit from the carbon capture, energy conservation, and reduction the Urban Heat Island effect. According to the article, this green roof will support the local farming industries by using the locally grown plants come from an upstate farm in New York. These plants are well able to absorb airborne pollutants, and then to prevent lots of CO2 releasing. In addition, the solar radiation and the thermal load have been deflected and the energy previously expended in cooling the property would be reduced. These effects will be resulted in reducing the Urban Heat Island effect. The hotel also will install a highly-efficient, environmentally-friendly Cogeneration system that will provide more electrical power by using less resource. It will use clean and efficient natural gas as the new energy. All of these system are environmental friendly and doing well in sustainable development of hospitality industry.

The Grand Cancun has been designed to anticipate natural disasters climate change, as well as incorporated amenities that will make it self-sustaining and even beneficial to the city in which it resides. Including a wind and underwater energy farm, desalination plant, ocean waste facility, wind turbines and solar panels. Not only this but its design will avoid destruction of the underwater ecosystem during development and construction. This is not only a hotel but also it incorporates a facility for marine research. The design appears expensive but it has the opportunity to recapture its investment through the building's own energy savings, the sale of the energy it generates to external users, its ability to remain largely unaffected by rising sea levels or other climate change and the incremental business related to the research laboratories.

The Grand Cancun eco-complex including hotels and convention centers, set to be completed in 2020, will drive ecotourism to Cancun while utilizing multiple green hotel technologies. The mega-building will have zero carbon footprint and be able to provide drinking water and energy to the city, all while helping clean the surrounding ocean water of pollution and waste. Remarkably, the entire structure is built on stilts, taking up no space from the ocean marine life. I recommend checking out the pictures in the article, the design is incredible!

I found this article interesting for this week's topic, as it talks about the advantages to sustainable buildings. The article mentions the practice of sustainability has existed in some way for decades. However, now more than ever, there is a drive for responsible construction, for both homes and commercial buildings. Advantages to such buildings include lower costs, as sustainable designs offer energy efficiency. Which leads to the advantage of lower energy consumption, through the use of systems, such as solar panels, or wind energy generation features. Lastly, sustainable buildings can also require less maintenance, allowing for a longer lifespan, and less costly attention.