Being Green is “In” But Also a Matter of Policy

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 by Kevin Iwamoto

I’m glad to see that there’s some new research out that shows companies aren’t into the whole green hotels phenomena just because it’s, well, a phenomena and good for public relations. Why are they into it, then?

A new survey taken by travel and expense technology firm KDS at ACTE’s Global Conference in Paris last week says that 62% of 392 respondents say their companies have a sustainable development policy, up from 58% in 2010.

So, going green is not only “in” for these firms but it’s also a matter of following policy.

Those companies typically have policy features such as an online carbon emissions calculator, provisions for virtual meetings alternatives (such as remote conferencing technologies) and/or rules that point travelers to lower-emission trip alternatives. One hiccup: while 70% of firms have an online booking tool (up from 64% last year), only 35% implement their policy through the online booking tool.

What I found most encouraging is that there’s evidence that meeting managers and planners are being held accountable for the sustainable policy decisions they make. In the survey, about one-third or 32% of represented companies’ travel departments are required to submit reports to management on carbon emissions.

That brings up a great best practice, by the way:  Get senior executives to not only endorse your initiatives to book green hotels (you know, the properties
that have recycling programs, use local produce, employ smart heating and cooling systems and give guests alternatives to daily laundering of sheets and towels), but also require that planners submit reports on the level of green properties that are actually used and how that made an impact on the environment.

Policies are great, but what’s even greater are when you can measure how your policies are being used and taken seriously.

By the way, there are great systems out there that provide information on green hotels when sourcing for a hotel — so good decisions (that also comply with corporate policy) can be done at the point of sale, at RFP time. Some technology even provides reporting on carbon footprint, energy consumption, water usage and waste generation associated with room-night usage and event bookings. For example, check out the partnership StarCite has entered into with the Green Hotels Global program!

Lastly, let me use this post to take my own survey: how many of you have sustainable hotel usage policies in your travel and/or meetings program?

Business Travel News: American Express Aiming New Meetings Services At Unmanaged Programs

October 21, 2011 – 12:00 PM ET

By Chris Davis

American Express Business Travel’s Meetings & Events division, generally
targeting corporations with unmanaged or lightly managed meetings programs, this
month announced several services and partnerships that broaden its offerings for
ad hoc meetings management.

The Amex Meetings Expert service includes planning, sourcing and onsite
services for events held by corporations without a strategic meetings management
program. The new service is separate from the existing Amex Maxvantage SMM
partnership in North America with Maritz Travel.

“We believe having a strategically managed program drives the most benefit
and value to corporations, but the fact is that companies need to start
somewhere,” said American Express Meetings & Events vice president and
general manager Issa Jouaneh. “Many departments in an organization have meetings
sourcing and planning needs, but they cannot all be centrally planned. Any
professional responsible for planning a meeting can have Meetings Expert plan,
source, negotiate and have onsite support. It helps to mitigate the risk and
exposure that often comes when those who are not professionally trained in
meeting planning have the task to plan a meeting.”

Jouaneh said the new service is broader than previous American Express
efforts in ad hoc meetings management. “In the past, we had provided a very
limited set of solutions outside of our SMM offerings, which is Maxvantage in
North America,” he explained. “We had a number of phased solutions that provided
clients with a roadmap to progress to become a strategically managed program.
What’s new about this is that it is a broader, more flexible program targeted at
all companies.”

American Express Meetings & Events recently announced other developments
, including:

• Collaboration with The Carbon Accounting Co.’s Green Hotels Global lodging
industry environmental assessment and reporting effort, in which Amex will
sponsor the submission of 100 properties. “Many clients have a need to
demonstrate the impact of their meetings and events programs from a
carbon-footprint perspective, and we recognize that in many cases it’s difficult
to get started with such a program,” Jouaneh said. “Our collaboration with GHG
is to facilitate that process. We identified the top 50 properties for two of
our clients and one of our preferred suppliers, and sponsored addition of these
50 properties into the program to provide a case study for those clients to
understand the impact of the carbon footprint they have today and how they can
influence that over time.”

• A solution through Amex’s FX International Payments currency exchange
service that enables meeting planners at pharmaceutical clients to manage and
track payments to health care providers.

• Partnerships with Le Public Système and WRG Communications to add
communications and event production in France and the United Kingdom,
respectively. “There’s a need to manage strategically, but business stakeholders
also need to drive the right outcomes and deliver the right experience,” Jouaneh
said. “With the creative content and production capability we have now in France
and the United Kingdom, we believe we can bring that seamless experience to
clients.”

American Express Supports Green Hotels Global!

Below is the press release that American Express issued yesterday.  We are very excited to work with American Express Meetings and Events to grow hotel participation.  Our tool brings hotels and corporations an opportunity to get a head start on gathering metrics that are expected to be in next year’s standard GBTA hotel RFP and in the new International Tourism Partnership and World Travel & Tourism Council’s hotel carbon measurement methodology, as well as help hotels meet the forthcoming Green Meetings Standards.

http://about.americanexpress.com/news/pr/2011/cmgreen.aspx

Corporate Meetings Go Green with American Express Meetings & Events LAS VEGAS,  October 13, 2011 – 

American Express Meetings & Events and Maxvantage are helping clients with their green meeting objectives with The Carbon Accounting Company’s Green Hotels Global (GHG). American Express Meetings & Events is providing its support to increase hotel participation on behalf of their clients and Maxvantage in GHG’s environmental reporting program.

Launched last year, Green Hotels Global initially partnered with hotels to determine and disclose metrics on environmental impact performance to industry stakeholders. Now expanding the program, GHG is working to provide companies with access to environmental data for their meetings programs. The metrics are valuable in both the meeting planning and post-meeting evaluation stages. American Express Meetings & Events is supporting GHG’s efforts to further expand and develop the program’s hotel participation by enabling 100 additional hotels to participate in the initiative.

“Data is essential to having a successful meetings program and by supporting hotels’ participation in GHG, we are helping our clients have the tools to grasp the environmental footprint of each hotel and event,” Issa Jouaneh, Vice President and General Manager American Express Meetings & Events. “With this data companies can be better equipped to accomplish meeting objectives that have a maximum return on investment and experience with minimum waste.”

Participating hotels allow American Express Meeting & Events and Maxvantage clients to compare standardized footprints of carbon and water use as well as waste diversions across all properties generally and per meeting. Clients can access property specific metrics for comparisons during the RFP process which is available through industry-wide meeting booking solutions and also through a Green Hotels Global portal. Additionally, once the event has been completed reports can be generated calculating the hotels’ component of a meeting’s environmental impact.

“Johnson Controls is very serious about reducing its environmental footprint. Sustainability is one of top five business goals for our organization,” says Karen Lynch, CMP, Global Lead Meetings & Events, Johnson Controls, Inc. “We were looking for a way to pioneer in the travel & meetings space and Green Hotels Global gives us real metrics for carbon, water and waste for each individual property. No estimates or guesstimates. Green Hotels Global helps hotels measure and reduce the metrics that make a real difference to the environment.”

“American Express Meetings & Events recognized that clients were embarking on large scale green initiatives and that having this data available for meetings and events is necessary to help them reach their goals,” said Justin Raymond, president and Chief Executive Officer, The Carbon Accounting Company. “We are excited that our tool brings hotels and corporations an opportunity to get a head start on gathering metrics that are expected to be in next year’s standard GBTA hotel RFP and in the new International Tourism Partnership and World Travel & Tourism Council’s hotel carbon measurement methodology, as well as help hotels meet the forthcoming Green Meetings Standards.”

American Express Global Business Travel was the one of the first TMCs to offer these metrics to its clients starting last year. American Express Meetings & Events, Maxvantage and Green Hotels Global are currently working on developing case studies with clients to help showcase the value that standardized environmental reporting metrics bring to SMM programs.

About American Express Meetings & Events

American Express Meetings & Events, a division of American Express Global Business Travel, offers capabilities spanning from program implementation to optimization, delivering powerful meeting experiences for clients. The team is comprised of more than 1000 employees world-wide focused on meeting and event sourcing, planning, contract negotiations, budgeting, expense management, reporting and benchmarking, combined with strategic counsel and integration of leading technology. This end-to-end approach focuses on creating visibility, driving savings and enabling effective meeting experiences.

With more than 40 years in the industry and an in-market presence in over 50 countries, American Express Meetings & Events is uniquely positioned to help you manage your meetings and events locally, regionally and across the globe. American Express Meetings & Events works with market leaders to enhance its offering to clients. Creating alliances that a provide clients with leading creative support for their meetings and events needs.

About The Carbon Accounting Company

The Carbon Accounting Company provides sector-specific environmental sustainability programs and other corporate climate change strategies such as greenhouse gas inventory quantification, reporting and management.

Two of The Carbon Accounting Company’s innovative programs are Green Ride Global and Green Hotels Global.

Green Ride Global is a leading environmental sustainability program for businesses in the ground transportation industry.

Green Hotels Global is a comprehensive, interactive, environmental sustainability benchmarking tool for the global hotel industry.

Green Hotels Global at the GBTA Convention – Book a Meeting Time Now

Green Hotels Global will be located at booth #587 during the GBTA Convention.  ALL hotel properties, Travel Managers & Event Planners can book 10 minute dedicated information sessions with members of the Green  Hotels Global team by emailing Sarah Champoux at sarah@greenhotelsglobal.com

 

Major Corporations Drive Increased Green Hotels Global Usage in 19 Major Cities

Forty-four new hotels in major cities are in the process of signing up for the Green Hotels Global tool. With the support of the American Express/Maxvantage and StarCite teams the program is sure to be a success.

Properties have already signed in 19 cities in 3 countries, including: New York, Boston, Baltimore, DC, Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa, Miami, Denver, Dallas, Pheonix, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles.

Major corporations require the single set of independent and standardized metrics that Green Hotels Global provides to manage its environmental program.  The myriad of different metrics and approaches from programs developed by chains for their own properties are impossible to reconcile for a company that uses properties from many chains for its meeting and travel programs.

Accurate Data, Easy to Participate, Free for Corporations.

Green Hotels Global is rapidly becoming the industry standard for environmental performance.

We’d love to have your support during the current hotel season and with your meetings program. It’s very easy for you to participate! Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to set up a quick meeting.

Stay up to date by following this blog. For more information or to watch our webinar with StarCite go www.greenhotelsglobal.com

Thanks!

James Gelfand of The Westin Copley Place on joining Green Hotels Global

Guest blog entry by James Gelfand on Green Hotels Global:  “We, at The Westin Copley Place in Boston, were not aware of Green Hotels Global until we saw corporations asking if we were using the tool in their RFPs.   We signed up to use the system as soon as we saw the multi-level value in joining:

1.  The dashboard
2. The ease for our sellers to respond to RFP’s
3. Data that tracks and reports our carbon footprint from an independent source on a monthly basis
4. Affiliation with Starcite and Lanyon

Using Green Hotels Global, we are certain that we can have a real and measurable effect on our environmental impact.  Also, we are proud to be the first Starwood Hotel in the US and the first Green Hotels Global in Boston. We think our customers will appreciate our commitment to being green and our leadership in independent measurement and disclosure of our environmental footprint.”

The Westin Copley Place first in Boston, MA to disclose Sustainability Metrics through Green Hotels Global

We are excited to announce that The Westin Copley Place has become the first hotel property in Boston, MA and the first Starwood property in the US to begin using the powerful Green Hotels Global tool!

We hope that all environmentally-minded corporate hotel and meeting programs will add this industry-leading property to their corporate hotel directory and use this property for their corporate meetings in the Boston area. By using the Green Hotels Global tool, The Westin Copley Place has taken a critical step to improving its environmental impact.

The Green Hotels Global tool calculates accurate environmental metrics on a monthly basis, so that hotels can take actions that improve their energy usage, carbon emissions,
water usage and waste diversion. These metrics are standardized to enable comparison and will soon be available through StarCite and Lanyon site selection and RFP platforms.

The Westin Copley Place is making a real impact by focusing their efforts on understanding and reducing their environmental footprint using real and accurate metrics. See a sample Property Dashboard at www.greenhotelsglobal.com
and be sure to visit The Westin Copley Place at www.westincopleyplaceboston.com

Real Impact Through Measurement and Disclosure

Peter Drucker said, “What gets measured gets managed.”  Measurement and management are critical to environmental improvement for the hotel industry. But, it is disclosure that will change the entire industry, get everyone focused on the right metrics and have an impact on the environment.

The power of disclosure, making the metrics available to customers and prospective customers, is the power of transparency, the ability to see metrics and progress over time without marketing or positioning.  Disclosure is accountability.  Disclosure is more information for the entire industry to make better decisions.

Green Hotels Global drives disclosure and delivers the right metrics.  Customers will demand the right metrics and hotels will manage their properties to improve those metrics over time.

A great example of the power of disclosure is “The Carbon Disclosure Project” (www.cdproject.net).  I encourage everyone to visit their site and become aware of your own companies’ involvement.  Here are some great quotes taken from the case studies (www.cdproject.net/en-US/WhatWeDo/Pages/case-studies.aspx):

- “CDP illustrates how the answer to reducing GHG emissions lies as much with companies and investors as it does with governments, international agencies and the public” – Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister

- As Kathrin Winkler, Senior Director, Corporate Sustainability at EMC comments: “You can’t figure out where you’re going if you don’t know where you are.”

- Avaya debated whether to disclose publicly or privately. The decision to adopt public disclosure was taken at the highest level as a means of moving best practice forward and demonstrating transparency about the company’s commitment and achievements. “Best practices improves year over year and we are happy to share where we are on the carbon management journey with our stakeholders. Public disclosure of GHG emissions is good – the difference between companies that do and don’t is stark. We are proud of our work and CDP is a fantastic vehicle for sharing our journey,” says Wilson Korol, Sustainability Business Leader, Avaya.

Measurement is a necessary first step.  Without a baseline a hotel cannot know if its initiatives are having a positive effect on their environmental impact.  To be effective you must measure the right things.  Customers have told us what the right metrics are.  For hotels, the right metrics are carbon emissions, water usage and waste diversion.  As it turns out, these metrics can be determined using monthly bills and other readily available information.  Any hotel can use the Green Hotels Global tool.

Competent management of projects that are focused on reducing the environmental impact of operating a hotel is also critical.  If initiatives are not implemented properly they won’t have a positive impact on the metrics.  Environmental initiatives that aren’t having the desired effect, should be redesigned, reconsidered or reprioritized.

Are you ready to get off the sidelines and make a difference?

Here is what you can do:

1) Write a letter to you hotel partners encouraging or requiring them to use the Green Hotels Global tool (try to reach individual properties as well as chain contacts)

2) Give hotels and hotel RFP tool partners advanced notice of your Green Hotels Global request or Requirement (ideally 4-6 weeks prior to you Meeting or transient hotel request)

3) Include RFP questions about Green Hotels Global metrics

4) Support the hotels leading the industry in sustainable lodging by adding Green Hotels Global properties to your meetings program and your corporate hotel directory (information about participating hotels is provided in this blog: greenhotelsglobal.wordpress.com)

5) Encourage hotels to watch one of our pre-recorded webinars

6) Ask hotels to reach out to Ian Lipton at ian@greenhotelsglobal.com for more information or sign up directly at www.greenhotelsglobal.com

For more information contact me at fschnur@greenhotelsglobal.com.

APEX Green Meetings Standards Take a Big Step Forward

The Convention Industry Council announced today that the APEX/ASTM Standard Specifications for Environmentally Sustainable Meetings, Events, Trade Shows and Conferences are one step closer to being published. The standards address nine key areas: accommodations, audiovisual and production, communications and marketing, destinations, exhibits, F&B, meeting venues, on-site offices and transportation. Representatives from the CIC’s Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) have been working with ASTM International, a voluntary standards development organization, to develop the documents. The process has been completed for eight of the areas, the provisions for which are expected to be approved by the ASTM in July and August, after which they will be edited and published. Work on the final piece, accommodations, is expected to be completed soon after.

Source:  Meetings & Conventions

Embassy Suites Charlotte & Concord Golf Resort and Spa the first in Charlotte, NC to disclose Environmental Sustainability Metrics through GHG Standardized Tool

We are excited to announce that Embassy Suites Charlotte & Concord Golf Resort and Spa has become the first hotel/resort property in North Carolina to begin using the powerful Green Hotels Global tool! We hope that all environmentally-minded corporate hotel and meeting programs will add this industry-leading property to their corporate hotel directory and use this property for their corporate meetings in the Charlotte, NC area. By using the Green Hotels Global tool, Embassy Suites Charlotte & Concord Golf Resort and Spa has taken a critical step to improving its environmental impact.

The Green Hotels Global tool calculates accurate environmental metrics on a monthly basis, so that hotels can take actions that improve their energy usage, carbon emissions,
water usage and waste diversion. These metrics are standardized to enable comparison and will soon be available through StarCite and Lanyon site selection and RFP platforms.

Embassy Suites Charlotte & Concord Golf Resort and Spa is making a real impact by focusing their efforts on understanding and reducing their environmental footprint using real and accurate metrics. See a sample Property Dashboard at ww.greenhotelsglobal.com and be sure to visit the property at www.embassysuitesconcord.com