HotelChatter

1. The Juicer: The Charles Hotel
The Charles Hotel recently introduced its very own Juice Bar, a charging station for hybrid and electric cars. When we hit it up yesterday, there wasn't much juice action going on — but here's how it will work when ready:

Two separate parking stalls will be equipped with dual charging outlets, featuring a GFI protected outlet with 50/60 AMP, 240 volt and 20 AMP, 120 volt service, which will electrically charge cars between two to four hours. As an added service, The “Juice Bar” will keep an extensive inventory of back-up adapters on hand for popular EV models for guests who may have left theirs behind.

The hotel's parking garage will also provide special parking rates based upon each vehicle's actual size using the nanoMAX small-car detection system. So if you drive a Prius or a SmartCar, you'll score a much cheaper rate than, say, Eminem, who will be rolling up in his massive Tahoe.

Later this spring, the hotel will launch its Hotel Bike Program with the introduction of a fleet of six Electra Amsterdam Classic Bicycles equipped with shopping baskets. The bikes will be free for all hotel guests. Rates start at $199 a night.

2. The Treehugger: St. Julien
In the environmentally-friendly enclave of Boulder, Colo. a hotel really has to go above and beyond the normal green practices to get special notice. The St. Julien already has in place a Zero Waste commitment by 2010, a policy not to use leather products in its public areas or guest rooms, and a Green Team, that meets weekly to discuss new green initiatives as well as manage current environmental programs.

But today, the hotel really stands out from the rest. St. Julien will plant a tree on behalf of all the guests visiting the hotel today, including guests at the Spa at St. Julien, diners at Jill's and barflies at the T-zero Bar. Working with the Arbor Day Foundation, the trees donated by St Julien will specifically repopulate nearby Rocky Mountain forest areas that have been affected by beetle kill and forest fire.

But it doesn't end there. St Julien will also plant a tree for every new "fan" who joins their Facebook page today.
Rates start at $299 a night.

3. The Luxurious Hippie: Montage Beverly Hills
The Montage Beverly Hills' first green step came before the hotel was even built, when the plans that were drawn up called for a public garden. Today, that 28,500 square-foot garden is open to anyone, not just guests who can cough up the $495 room rate. But beyond the creation of a beautiful mini-park, the hotel was earth-conscious in its construction, recycling 83 percent of construction waste from the building site.

Indoors, the hotel has used eco-friendly and low-VOC paints, sealants and adhesives, efficient lighting systems and specific seasonal temperature and humidity controls. The hotel has also implemented a green housekeeping program and a Reduce, Reuse and Recycle program, among many other practices.

And because of all these efforts, the hotel nabbed a Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED for New Construction rating system. Oh and did we mention this is a luxury hotel in the middle of everything that screams "excess" in Beverly Hills?  Being green here doesn't have to mean sleeping on hemp and wearing Teva sandals.
Rates start at $395 a night.

4. The Green Business Traveler: Element Hotels
Designed to appeal to the business traveler who is both eco-conscious and budget-conscious, Starwood's relatively new brand Element Hotels lays claim to the distinction of being the first hotel chain to mandate that all its properties obtain LEED certification.

Without sacrificing the sweet luxuries of Starwood comforts — the Westin Heavenly Bed and "spa-like" bathrooms, for instance — Element goes the distance, right down to replacing traditional paper "Do Not Disturb" signs with more eco-friendly magnets. The hotel boasts energy efficient appliances and lighting, water-efficient faucets and fixtures and easy in-room recycling receptacles. Filtered water in guest rooms, amenity dispensers in the showers (instead of mini plastic bottles) and green building materials are also major talking points for the chain. Finally, guests rolling up in hybrid cars get priority parking.

Four properties are open in cities like Lexington and Houston, with several more on the way in the coming months.
Rates start at around $125 a night.

5. The Salvager: The Bardessono
The newest hotel in Napa Valley is completely up-front about how green it is, detailing nearly every aspect of its creation from start to finish here — and it's aiming for a Platinum LEED certification. What's most admirable is the tree-saving that happened in the process of building the hotel — not tree-killing.

Salvaged Monterey Cypress has been milled into siding used on the exterior of several buildings. These are trees that otherwise would have been ground up or burned. Walnut trees that were pulled out by farmers at the end of their production life have been milled into the hotel's flooring, rather than being burned. Veneers of the Walnut grace the entry doors into the guest rooms and to several public rooms. Redwood recycled from wine casks has been used on the ceilings of some of the public spaces within the hotel, and on several public room doors. Salvaged California Bay trees have become cut slabs for the desks in the guest rooms. The large tables in the public areas and dining room tables have all come from salvaged trees.

More green practices include: 940 solar panels that provide most of the hotel's electricity demands, 200-sq.ft. of glass in each room to allow for natural lighting, guest beds outfitted with organic linens and comprehensive recycling and composting programs.

Perhaps the biggest green nod of them all? Toyota chose Bardessono as the location for their latest Prius press launch.
Rates start at $500 a night.