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The Fairmont SF and DC Deliver Luxury and a Lexus Hybrid
Luxury is synonymous with excess, which in the car world usually suggests the use of high smog-emitting vehicles. Bigger is not always better for Mother Earth, with all that carbon monoxide contributing to her degradation.
A depressing reality, to be sure, but with environmental awareness being so very haute these days, tastemakers and luxury providers are striving to make the good life the green life, too. It's no coincidence that you hear blatant plugs for hybrid cars as stars arrive on the Oscars red carpet, you know. Plush comforts and planet-friendly alternatives can coexist, as LuxuryLink, Lexus, and The Fairmont San Francisco and Washington DC are attempting to prove with special Eco-Chic packages.
Included in the three-night deal for two in San Francisco are accommodations in a special Lexus Hybrid Living Suite decked out in all organic or sustainable materials, use of the 2009 Lexus LS 600H Hybrid sedan, organic wine, and passes to three local green wineries in Napa. In DC, you get a two-night stay for four, including Living Suite digs, use of the same sedan, organic wine upon arrival, $150 in hotel dining credits, and a $100 donation to the National Geographic Society.
Tags: Hilton Hotels / New York Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Times Square Hotels / Eco-Friendly Hotels / Green Hotels / → All Tags
Hilton New York Honored With a 'Green Street' Award. Really.
Swarming with smog, exhaust, and buzzing with the din of taxis in neutral, New York's Avenue of the Americas is hardly a location we think of as being environmentally-considerate. A work in progress, maybe, with a little cheerleading needed to nudge it in the right direction.
The "Green Street" Award was established by the Avenue of the Americas Association to inspire the thoroughfare's tenants to think eco and find new ways to close the loop. This year, the Hilton New York was honored, and not just because it hosted the ceremony in its Trianon Ballroom last week.
Innovative eco-hotels are normally found bourgeois bohemian neighborhoods like the West Village or SoHo, so when we caught wind of this news we were looking for certifiable proof of the Hilton's investment in going green. According to the Avenue's Association, proof came in the form of a futuristic, energy-saving PureCell system that uses electric power to power the hotel and heat water, which has accounted for 6% of the hotel's consumption since being installed. It is also three times more energy efficient than a normal electric grid and operates 24-hours per day.
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Design Competition Proves The Green Life Can Be The Suite Life
Where: United States
A mock-up of the winning design
Be honest; when you hear the phrase "environmentally friendly," the sensation of scratchy hemp rubbing against your skin and the cloying smell of patchouli come to mind. Before we were familiar with the versatility of a green lifestyle, we thought the same thing. Hotels like Portland's The Nines have taught us otherwise, though, and once you get into the finer points of sustainable design, it's clear that luxury need not be pushed to the back burner.
All of the not-so-small environmental efforts that hotels are making these days—recycling, installing low energy bulbs, et cetera—are done with the hope that we'll live a brighter future. So it's only natural that eco-hospitality look to the next generation of green designers for innovation, not to mention to up their cool quotient. The Sustainable Suite Design Competition was created precisely for this purpose.
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Parisi Is the Little Green Hotel that Could
When you hear about hotels going green, names of the big brands pop up, like Kimpton and The Westin. But little guys are leading the eco charge too, like the Hotel Parisi, inconspicuously tucked away above a Roxy/Quicksilver and a Victoria's Secret in tony La Jolla, California.
One of the 29-room boutique hotel's greenest accomplishments has been becoming the first and only hotel in the San Diego area to offset all of the electricity it consumes with wind power, according to hotel officials. It purchased 294,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy credits, thereby lessening its carbon footprint. To save more on electricity, the hotel installed a keycard-activated light system, which ensures that the lights are off when guests leave the room to go to the nearby coves.
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100,00th Tree Planted on Seychelles Island Paradise
Sometimes, that old adage, "Can't see the forest for the trees in the way" can take on a positive connotation. We've made puns about hotels taking the LEED and recently reported on Kimpton's initiative to plant a billion trees in Brazil, and in the same spirit, Seychelles' Fregate Island Private Resort is marking a significant ecological milestone: They recently planted the 100,000th tree in their endemic hardwood program.
The program is part of Fregate's efforts to become carbon neutral, which in broad terms refers to achieving zero carbon emissions. Hoping to replenish what was destroyed when Seychelles was colonized—namely local forestation that was replaced by coconut trees—Fregate sought to bring back natural flora and fauna to the area. The 100,000th tree was a Ficus, which normally thrives in rocky underground environments like those on Seychelles. The trees are said to reach heights of 50 to 65 feet and grow remarkably quickly.
And, lest you think that the resort is one of those hypocritical businesses whose real estate is taking over the island while claiming to save it, not that their buildings only occupy five percent of the island, leaving the remaining 95 percent untouched.
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The Lovat Loch Ness Promises a Green Stay, But No Monster Sightings
We know Loch Ness for its mysterious monster lore and tranquil scenery, but not so much for its green environmental efforts. Which isn't to say that the Scottish aren't pioneering eco-saving projects overseas, specifically in the hotel sector, but other well-known chains like Kimpton have been ruling the news lately.
We recently stumbled across The Lovat Arms, an unassuming hotel that offers views of the surrounding Highlands (and maybe that elusive plesiosaur), touts itself as being "eco-conscious," and has earned a Silver rating from the Green Tourism Business Scheme, the UK's "national sustainable tourism certification" organization.
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Kimpton's 'Giving Tree' Campaign Not Shel Silverstein-Related
Where: United States
A room at Kimpton's Hotel Monaco in Chicago.
If it seems like we've been writing about the Kimpton Group's environmentally-sound strides ad nauseam, it's only because they're really—and we mean really—pushing green initiatives these days. They didn't win an "Earth Saver" award for nothing, you know.
But even their Captain Planet-like heroism could use a helping hand, namely from you, their faithful guests. Their latest pet project has them teaming up with The Nature Conservacy (an organization that "protects Earth's most important natural places") for TNC's "Plant A Billion Trees" campaign. Their mission is to do just that: plant a billion trees in Brazil's Atlantic Forest over the next seven years to help restore its luster and save its ecosystem.
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AAA's Guide to What's Green, Organic, and Eco All Over
The Nines Portland makes it easy to be green
When you're readying to book a hotel, you probably have a memorized list of criteria you mentally check off: location, star-rating, workout facilities, in-room amenities, and so on. Considering how hot—and we don't mean in the global warming sense—green hotels are these days, you might also question how "eco" your next hotel is. Are those low or no VOC paints on the wall? Are the toilets built to conserve water? Are the toiletries you might stuff in your suitcase 100 percent organic?
Investigating these questions while you're planning your trip is enough to drive even Al Gore crazy. To make the task less stressful, AAA, your roadside savior and glove compartment travel buddy, has launched an Eco-Friendly guide to the nation's hotels. Now all you have to do to locate green lodgings is look for an easy-to-spot "ECO" symbol in the AAA TourBook listings.
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Hotels Keep Gettting Greener: The Westin Riverfront Takes the LEED
Green hotel news has been taking the LEED (sorry, we couldn't resist the pun) on HotelChatter lately, but don't tab this eco-friendly movement as a passing trend. Most hotels are jumping on the bandwagon by, at the very least, introducing organic linens and natural bathroom amenities into suites. But more ambitious, environmentally-aware hoteliers and conglomerates are enacting full-scale green overhauls. From stem to stern, or penthouse to lobby, rather, we're seeing more hotels take the necessary steps toward meeting critical green standards.
Colorado's Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa, a hotel nestled among nature's mountains and trees, recently announced that they've earned Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, making them one of only nine hotels in the country to carry the title.
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Fairmont Hotels Inspired to Give Back by Ken Burns' New Documentary
The Fairmont San Francisco jumps on the state park philanthropy bandwagon, details below
If you've ever seen any portion of the sweeping TV-documentary The Civil War, then you know who Ken Burns is. The PBS mainstay has been producing and directing films for the network for a quarter century about everything from the Statue of Liberty to architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
When Burns speaks, PBS-o-philes listen, and he's not one to shy away from advocating causes close to his heart. His latest documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea (how's that for a bold statement?) recently premiered on PBS; it takes a look at famous outdoor landmarks like The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone, and the "people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved."
That's all well and good, but what exactly does it have to do with hotels? The Fairmont has jumped on the Ken Burns bandwagon, promoting park and nature-related packages and making charitable gestures in the spirit of PBS' giving filmmaker. Hey, if The Fairmont Newport Beach can push an Orange County, naturalist-led "Gold Coast" tour and donate 10 percent of proceeds to the California Commission at the same time, why not?
Tags: Green Hotels / Chicago Hotels / Kimpton Hotels / Philadelphia Hotels / Portland Hotels / Eco-Friendly Hotels / Conde Nast Traveler Awards / → All Tags
Kimpton Hotels to the Eco-Rescue
Where: United States
A selection of Kimpton's eco-friendly products
Cue the swelling superhero theme music. There are comic book heroes and there are eco-warriors, and as of this month, Kimpton Hotels can count themselves in the latter category. For a commitment to sustainability that has spanned 28 years, they've recently been honored with a "World Saver" award by Condé Nast Traveler magazine.
The awards, which were held last night in New York City, are decided upon by a panel of 21 "academics, CEOs, and philanthropists" who recognize companies in the categories of Education, Poverty Alleviation, Wildlife Conservation, Cultural and Environmental Preservation, and Health. This year the panel noted that sustainable travel has been a sweeping trend, which is where Kimpton Group comes into the picture.
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WTF Hotel News :: Brad Pitt to Help Design Dubai Hotel
Earlier today, VacantReady's Chris tipped us off to a breaking news story that does not appear to be a joke: Brad Pitt is going to be designing a hotel.
The actor announced today that he is set to work with Zabeel properties to help design an America-themed (seriously) hotel and resort in Dubai.
The project, which aims to be an "environmentally sustainable" 800-room luxury property, will include Pitt as a designer working with GRAFT, the LA-based architecture firm behind Hotel Q and Lohan hotspot Marquee.
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