Going Green

- by Helena Faith Miel, CITE

from Conference & Incentive Travel May 1996

Environmental issues may seem to sit uneasily in the opulence of five star hotels and extravagant incentive programs but behind the scene the conference industry is going green.

Talk to any international hotel chain and you will find environmental programs in place in their properties around the world. These range from donating food to local shelters, water conservation, waste minimization and recycling, to collecting contributions for wildlife preserves.

The reasons behind these initiatives are more than pure altruism. Market demand, government regulations, increased profits, good stewardship of the environment, public relations and the prompting of employees all play a part. But most important of all is the fact that, as the International Hotels and Environmental Initiative (IHEI) program states, "going green makes cents." Last year, Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts saved US$5m from its energy saving program alone.

Writing the book on initiatives
Inter-Continental literally wrote the book on environmental initiatives for the hospitality industry. In 1991 it created the first environmental operations manual. Based on the premise of "reduce, reuse, recycle, this 200 page environmental operating manual provides a 134 point check list to evaluate waste management, air emissions, water quality, energy conservation and more. Inter-Continental president of Americas, JT Kulman says that the manual was produced as a result of employees questioning how an international hotel company could make a difference.

The environmental operations manual was produced by an international team of Inter-Continental's resident managers and an environmental consultant and distributed to more than 100 of the company's hotels worldwide. The manual was then made available to competitors and provided the framework for the creation of the IHEI. Inter-Continental approached the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum and recommended forming an independent organization where environmental practices could be shared, thus the IHEI was born.

Developing practical guidelines
Eleven hotel companies were founder members of the IHEI. Their charter agrees to develop practical guidelines, encourage the best environmental practices for hotels and to upgrade environmental performance in the industry worldwide. In September 1995 the IHEI launched Green Hotelier, a quarterly publication which highlights environmental projects in hotels around the world.

Today the IHEI produces low cost materials that include step-by-step guides and videos to help companies implement their own environmental programs. It also produces an environmental action pack. It is more user-friendly than the manual and includes charts that can be used by all employees, from the general manager to the housekeeper, to set environmental targets and plot their progress.
International hotel companies were among the first to implement environmental programs. In 1990 Sheraton Corporation started the Going Green Environmental Program. The first initiative of its kind in the hotel industry it raises awareness of the need for responsible tourism in Africa and the Indian Ocean area. Sheraton also encourages guests to add just under a pound to their hotel bill and it matches the donation. This money is used locally to promote wildlife conservation, educational projects with the World Society for the Protection of Animals, community projects (tree planting and wildlife tours) and resource conservation projects (minimizing waste and recycling.)

Raising awareness of issues
Sheraton hotels serve to raise awareness of these environmental initiatives to employees, neighbors, and guests through promotional materials and activities. In 1995 the Africa and Middle East Division of Sheraton won the EIBTM Greening of Business Tourism Award. "Environmental and socially conscious initiatives are an important part of the hotel industry. We are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in each community. By operating an environmentally and socially responsible hotel, not only have you integrated yourself into the community, you made it better than when you came," says Sheraton vice president of incentive sales & promotions JJ Gubbins.

Improving business
Hotels have also found that making the public aware of their environmental efforts has improved business. In the 18 months since the Boston Park Plaza went public with its environmental programs the hotel has won US$1m of extra business. Part of the hotel's green initiative has been to use pump dispensers for its bathroom amenities to replace more than two million shampoo containers used every year.

With the hotel industry well on the way to contributing its bit to the environment, how do meeting, conference and incentive organizers feel about the "greening" of the industry? Feelings and activities run the gamut from being very environmentally responsible to paying no mind at all to the environment. US ice cream company Ben & Jerry's runs its annual stockholders meeting at an outdoor festival in Vermont. Every year 30,000 people gather for the Ben & Jerry's One World One Heart Festival. The company says that its environmental is basically reduce, reuse & recycle. This basic rule is practiced in production, offices and at the stockholders meeting.

Green meetings at Body Shop
Body Shop US national director of meetings Tristan Layton begins his site inspections by asking the property what environmental programs they have in place and what their social policies are for the local community. Donating extra food to homeless missions and local shelter is a must for his meetings. At its meetings the Body Shop discourages individual care rentals and encourages group transportation to and from airports. It uses recycled paper and in hotel rooms bath amenities are with Body Shop products. Layton says that running a green meeting is very easy for the planner. His experience is that hotels are very willing to fulfill an organizer's need. All the planner has to do is ask.

Living up to guest expectations
Holiday Inn Worldwide environmental affairs manager Cara Holley Montrief says, "Hotel operators have begun to realize that guests expect them or desire them to be environmentally friendly. I received a number of letters in the last few months from people who want to know what Holiday Inn is doing from an environmental standpoint."
Barbara Somerfield, conference planner for the Treshold Foundation, which works to improve conditions that impact the environment, says, "It's important to use our purchasing power to affect how business is done. We run our conferences in a manner that is not counterproductive to our ideals."

Industry slowly turning green
Conferences and incentives that are planned as "green" are still few and far between. However, whether you ask for it or not hotels and conference centers are becoming greener everyday. Industry organizations such as MPI and SITE are raising the awareness of their members about environmental responsibility.
By going green you have everything to gain. "All I can say is it's working. For example, cruise lines changed the ways they manage waste and British Airways is doing wonderful work. It's a long road that has to involve everybody. It involves us in our personal life at home and our business life," say JT Kuhlman of Inter-Continental Hotels.