Hotel Industry Moves Beyond GreenWashing.
May 12, 2008
Jay Westerveld, a New York Environmentalist, spotlighted the hotel’s industry’s practice of placing “green” placards in each room and promoting reusing guest towels. Coining the term “Greenwashing“, he implied such practices are a facade and are not a serious attempt by the hotel industry to “save the environment”.
Times have changed. Top hotels are aggressively tackling the issue and pulling out all the stops to lower their impact on the environment. By 2009, Westin will open 20 of its new Elements hotel. Elements will be a chain of “green” hotels that meet and pursue LEED certification. Hilton and Marriott all have presented action plans to reduce their impacts. Marriott’s plan includes adding solar panels to some hotels by 2017. The Intercontinental Hotel Group even launched a virtual hotel. Innovation Hotel allows visitors to look at the news ideas in “green” hotels and give feedback.
“Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.” Alfred Adler
