Houston’s own “Green” Hotels Association (GHA) is helping hotels, motels, resorts, and small inns improve the environment while improving their bottom line. “Our business is to promote, support, and encourage an ecological consciousness in the lodging industry by helping owners save money through conserving energy and water and reducing waste,” says Patricia Griffin, the trade association’s founder and director. The organization has over 200 members across the country and around the world.

Earth Day at the Houstonian

The Houstonian landscapes with heat-tolerant flowers and shrubs and composts its grass clippings, practices Terrell credits with reducing water use by 5 to 10 percent in 2000. Over the next two years, the hotel will install high-efficiency chillers and a sophisticated energy management system with the goal of reducing electricity use by 30 to 40 percent.

The Houstonian takes its environmental efforts a step further by holding an annual Earth Day program on its grounds, maintaining an on-site employee garden, donating surplus food to a local food bank, and, in past years, by sponsoring the release of 150,000 ladybugs for natural pest control. Employees are offered discount bus passes to encourage use of public transportation.

“We undertake greening efforts not only to reduce costs, but to set an example for our members, guests, and other hotels to show that good business practices can benefit the environment,” Terrell notes.

GHA supports the Houstonian and its other members by providing conservation guidelines and tips to its members. The association has also developed a questionnaire for green-minded event coordinators and travel professionals for assessing a hotel’s environmental programs.

GHA also sells water conservation devices, recycling baskets, sheet/towel and energy conservation reminder cards, and soap and shampoo dispensers for guestrooms to eliminate costly and wasteful plastic bottles. The association’s mail order business was up 40 percent in 2001, according to Griffin, as lodging owners look for more ways to reduce operating costs during the economic downturn and the slump in travel after September 11.

GHA encourages hotels to “green up” by collecting recyclables from guestrooms, separating cardboard and other recyclable materials from their trash, and by giving guests staying more than one night the option to reuse towels and sheets. Griffin says a linen reuse program can save a large hotel thousands of dollars a year in utilities, detergent, and wear and tear on linens and cleaning equipment. “Many of our members report more than 70 percent of their guests opt to reuse linens, so large and small hotels can benefit the environment while significantly reducing costs and housekeeping time,” says Griffin.

GHA also advises lodging owners to install sink aerators and low-flow showerheads and toilets to reduce water and sewer bills. They encourage owners to replace incandescent bulbs with energy-saving fluorescents, switch to recycled and post-consumer paper products, find new uses for worn linens, eliminate single-serve food and drink items, and use natural cleaning products when possible.

Griffin cites two examples of hotel greening efforts that have paid off big - the Inter-Continental Hotel in New Orleans and Chicago Hyatt both started recycling programs and discovered thousands of dollars in linens, utensils, and more were being thrown out in the trash. They eliminated that loss, recycled other materials, and significantly reduced disposal costs.

For more information on “Green” Hotels Association and The Houstonian’s environmental program, visit their web sites at www.greenhotels.com and www.houstonian.com.

Pat Y. Spillman is an environmental attorney living and working in Houston.