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Wanna Know How Green Your Hotel Is? Ask to See Its LEED Plaque

September 23, 2009 at 2:22 PM | by juliana | 3 Comments

Hotels love to talk about green their properties are--from electric car charging stations to non-toxic cleaning products, in-room recycling bins, water saving practices and low energy appliances and lighting. These are all commendable and we hope that more and more hotels introduce green services, practices and amenities in the future.

But still the reigning status symbol of a truly green hotel is the coveted LEED Status. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to rate "environmentally sound building practices" ranging from materials used to construct the building to water efficiency and sustainability. Ratings are point-based and range from certified to silver, gold and platinum.

While many hotels are pursuing LEED certification, only a handful actually are. So how do you know your hotel is telling the truth about its LEED status? By asking to see their LEED plaque like this one hanging at the Courtyard by Marriot Portland City Center hotel in Oregon which just recently received LEED gold status.

Sam Latona, a Pre-construction Manager at Turner Construction in Texas, is a "Green Champion" who educates folks in the building construction and development industry about green building and obtaining LEED certification. He says the plaque is usually located in the lobby but if guests can't immediately see it then they should ask someone who can show the plaque to them.

It's usually a bronze plaque about a foot and a half in diameter and it tells you what the hotel's certification level is. If the hotel doesn't have a plaque, then they are obviously making it up.

Let's hope there aren't any hotels out there participating in this sinister kind of "green-washing" by faking a LEED status but it's always good to know just how green your hotel stay truly is.

[Photo: Marriott Green/Twitter]

3 Comments

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Return to » Wanna Know How Green Your Hotel Is? Ask to See Its LEED Plaque

  1. Jay Hamilton

    HotelChatter Member

    Another Courtyard Chevy Chase, MD

    Courtyard Chevy Chase had its grand opening the same day that Cy Portland City Center received its LEED plaque.  Chevy Chase will also be LEED certified "GOLD" by year-end.  It's very cool.  
    http://www.marriott.com/news/detail.mi?marrArticle=456932
    September 24, 2009 at 11:45 AM
    #Permalink

  1. twedrosm

    HotelChatter Member

    SCAM

    It is totally a waste of time for hotels to go through the trouble of getting LEED certification when they are wasteful in all other areas of operation.  Just look at how much paper they waste.  Accounting offices are always swimming in paper. Management love to write out welcome cards (which only gets thrown out).  Front Desks always print out hundreds of pages of useless reports.  LEED should look behind the scenes and see the internal operations of these alleged "green hotels".
    September 24, 2009 at 2:44 PM
    #Permalink

  1. juliana

    HotelChatter Editor

    That's coming next

    I think the next version of LEED requirements for certification will look at those "behind the scenes" practices like paper waste. Or so I've heard...
    September 24, 2009 at 3:01 PM
    #Permalink

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