The federal government is working to develop green guidelines that would offer hotels a blueprint for earning federal meeting and convention business on the basis of environmental sustainability. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked the Convention Industry Council, in conjunction with the American Society for Testing and Materials, to develop the guidelines and establish a certification process. CIC estimated the guidelines would be available year-end.
"We would like to be able to take these standards, if they are acceptable to us, and to adopt this into our own process so that the procurement people at the agency--the people that we have that actually go out and plan meetings and go out and send requests for proposals out to hotels and conference centers--will be guided by these standards in making decisions on how to purchase," said Harry Lewis, attorney adviser for EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
EPA two years ago said it "changed its acquisition rules to give preference to facilities which consume less and manage their resources in environmentally positive ways." At the time, the agency said it would start to "consider environmental achievement along with such factors as price and past performance when buying meeting and conference space," and that its program would be "seen as a template that eventually may be emulated government wide."
It is unclear who would be certifying hotels and how, once CIC and ASTM develop new guidelines for EPA, but Lewis said the standards would expand upon current programs in the arena and rival the Energy Star program for appliances and other household products.
Existing programs have been developed by such not-for-profit organizations as Sustainable Travel International, which offers a process by which hotels can seek a "green seal." Many hotels also look to the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) as a metric to develop an environmentally friendly property, even though LEED standards are not specific to hotels.
Given existing programs, and progress many hotels already have made in greening their properties, some fear the new EPA guidelines could make the situation more confusing.
"It is very important that these standards are not blurred," said Stefan Muhle, general manager of the Orchard Garden Hotel in San Francisco. "We need to have high standards. If we are just lowering the bar here so that we gain traction and have more hotels become green businesses that would be completely counterproductive."
However, Muhle said that if the standards improved upon the current ones, an EPA-approved certification program would "carry some weight" because it would allow hoteliers easier access to eco-friendly education. Moreover, the possibility of losing business would be a great motivator.
"It is not just government [travelers] that are supposed to be staying at green hotels," Muhle said. "A lot of businesses that stay at our hotels now have corporate social responsibility components in their respective business plans and many of their employees are asked to stay at hotels that try to make a positive impact on the environment."
A recent PhoCusWright poll of 1,352 frequent travelers found that 44 percent of respondents would be more trusting of a certification that was approved by a federal agency; however, 37 percent were unsure and 19 percent said they would not.
"There is a lot of enthusiasm surrounding the fact that someone is developing standards that are endorsed by the EPA," said CIC chief operating officer Karen Kotowsky. "A lot of meeting planners just want some guidance on what is truly a green meeting. Planners are hungry for this information and wanting to do the right thing. It is going to be industry-changing, and shows that the travel industry wants to be good corporate citizens."
CIC already identified some categories for which standards would be developed, including audiovisual, meeting venues, accommodations, transportation, communication, destinations, onsite offices, food and beverage and exhibits, according to Kotowsky. Meanwhile, EPA is working with several state governments, including Florida and California, to incorporate work already completed, Lewis said. The Orchard Garden Hotel is working with local government officials and EPA, according to Muhle.
"Anyone looking at creating a certification program should start with the foundation of the work that has already been completed versus expending resources on recreating the wheel," said an STI spokesman, who argued that EPA and CIC should hire a third party to grant hotel certification to ensure the highest standards are met.