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April 29, 2008
AHLA Surveying Hotels for Green Actions
I've heard that AHLA (American Hotel and Lodging Association) is working on a green hotel certification program. It seems to be making progress because I just read about their information gathering efforts. Not only are they surveying their 9,500-ish members, but also they are donating money to a green cause in exchange for the returned surveys. Their adopted green cause is the National Arbor Day Foundation, a worthy organization.
AH&LA is taking yet another step towards finalizing their environmentally friendly hotel certification program. Responding to their member survey not only earns money for the National Arbor Day Foundation but also provides valuable information for AHLA's green hotels program and gives the responding member hotel a marketing opportunity. That's turning green to gold!
I've been curious as to approach AHLA would take with their green hotel program. What I have gathered so far is their interests lie in environmental issues like recycling, a sheet and towel re-use program, water conservation, energy conservation, and green procurement programs and the relationships hotels have with their vendors. They are also asking about what is motivating any particular hotel to adopt green actions to become an environmentally friendly hotel.
It sounds as if this survey effort on AHLA's part is creating a win:win for both sides of the equation. AHLA will gather valuable information, it will help them develop a national certification program, and it gives the respondent a chance to be included on AHLA's Green Best Practices website.
Granted AHLA is a bigger entity than I am and their website probably gets lots more traffic than my EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com website, but if your hotel has adopted green actions, feel free to submit it for inclusion (if it's not already there) today!
The more green hotel websites you are on, the better. That's an ECOnomically Sound action.
Posted by Kit
