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Friday, May 22, 2009
Green lodging in Tampa: local eco-friendly hotels
Posted by Michelle Schenck on Fri, May 22, 2009 at 8:00 AM
What the heck is "green lodging"? That might be the first question someone asks when clicking on this post. In a nutshell, green lodging are hotels that are making a conscious effort to lower their water and energy uses, reducing waste and promoting various other green efforts that work specifically for their hotel. Some of the ways of doing this include introducing and encouraging recycling programs of traditional items (plastic, paper, etc.) and of towels and sheets, installing energy efficient lightning, and promoting contributions back to their local communities.
The Florida Green Lodging program, established in 2004, has set forth a set of guidelines for hotels that are interested in becoming more eco-friendly. On their website, they give eight steps to becoming a designated property with their organization, like creating a "green team" with employees at the property and creating a leader to oversee all of the changes that the hotel will make. They find it especially important to educate the staff about the importance of conservation.
So why become a designated property? What is in it for the big wigs paying for everything? The program takes a stab at answering some of these questions on their website. The first thing they mention is saving money. This always catches corporate's eye. For exmaple, when you use energy efficient products, your utility bills tend to go down. No big surprises there, but is a nice incentive for hotel businesses that are concerned about changing policies that might effect their budget. They also mention that it attracts audiences that are specifically looking for lodging that is more environmentally friendly. Saving money, becoming more eco-friendly, and the possibility of a bigger client base is really music to everyone's ears.
So which hotels in the Tampa Bay area have made the grade with the Florida Green Lodging Program? Some of them include the Courtyard Marriots in Downtown and Tampa North, the Doubletree Westshore, Embassy Suites Downtown and USF, Tradewinds on St. Pete Beach, Sheraton Sand Key in Clearwater Beach, among many others. See the full list here all of the Florida hotels.
The fun part of all of this is seeing what an impact a single hotel can make on the environment. The program website also offers some success stories of a few local Florida hotels that have saved an exponential amount of water, electricity and excess waste just from their one facility.
If you work at a hotel and this sounds like something that might be up your alley, check with your manager about being a 'green team leader' and then go to the application section of the website and start your new green iniatives today!
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
Great article - thanks for the info! I went over to www.EnvironmentallyHotels.com and found so many green hotels in Florida - I didn't think there would be so many!
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We have been speaking and working with companies involved in the Green Lodging Program because we have just the product to do this. Water from Air. It is always there. Brandt's WaterPure is the largest company in the US selling atmospheric water generators. Reduce humidity in your room or office and it will make 99.9% bacteria free water. No more lifting, storing or contaminated plastic water bottles. No more delivery interruptions or increased costs. For $.12 per gallon and a 5 year parts and labor warranty and a green product no other water generator comes close to providing you with the purest water ever. Check us out at BrandtsWaterPure.com .
Hi, It is great that many people are trying to be greener and more eco friendly which is great. I think if we all pulled together and tried to make a few simply changes then we could improve the quality of the planet. I have recently discovered a way to send friends a greetings card but without using any paper or stamps. I was told about eCards by a friend, we were chatting about ways in which we could help the environment. We both recycle everything, and make sure that we turn our electrics off at the mains, we also try and walk to places instead of driving. So trying to become more eco friendly with our greetings cards seemed like a good idea. We spent ages looking on the internet and came across a really cool environmentally friendly eCard site that I really like. I like this site because there is so much choice, and I found an eCard for every friend that I know will make them smile. Changing my habits, even if it is a small change, like opting for an eCard over snail mail, or recycling, I think if we all contributed we could all make a difference.
I take a trip to Florida every year and use EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com to find my lodgings, no matter what city I stay in. This is a great list that everyone can use. This Florida program is new to me, but I checked it out and am really jazzed about all of the choices they offer. Thank you for the information!
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