Hotel chains responding to public demand and looking to cut costs are increasingly turning to “greener” buildings.
“Building green hotels isn’t about fetching higher rates. Hoteliers view it as an advantage at a time when customers want to patronize green businesses, and hotel operators want to cut high bills for electricity and water,” says USA Today.
Although green construction is mostly voluntary in the US, some cities such as Dallas and Las Vegas are encouraging it by expediting permits, granting subsidizes or requiring it.
“People want to be at a hotel that is on the cutting edge,” said Dallas Mayor Laura Miller. “Whoever does it first is cool.”
Marriott’s green-certified hotel in College Park, Md., for example, uses 30% less electricity than a comparable property. That means it can charge the same rates as rivals, yet earn a better profit, said manager George Trujillo
Seeing the benefits, chains are slowly embracing new construction guidelines created by the US Green Building Council. Under the program, hotels can get certified by curbing a building’s energy and water use, improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions.
Among ways to gain points is to recycle construction waste, locate near mass transit, plant water-efficient landscaping, install windows that open and choose low-energy elevators, among other options.
Today, just four US hotels are certified green, vs. more than 800 US office buildings, according to industry figures.
But that’s changing, especially as green construction costs fall and expertise and material quality rise, Tom Hicks, a Green Building Council vice president, told USA Today.
The council has 59 applications for US hotel projects, including 7,500 hotel rooms within MGM Mirage’s $7.4 billion CityCenter in Las Vegas, said to be the largest privately financed green building project in the US.
Report by David Wilkening
