Traveling the Green Way

Chicago leads U.S. cities in Green Seal Hotels

by Sonya on November 23rd, 2008

Chicago now leads U.S. cities with the most Green Seal certified hotels.

The City of Chicago recently announced that five hotels - Hotel Monaco Chicago, Hotel Burnham, Hotel Allegro Chicago, InterContinental Chicago and The Talbott Hotel - had received their Green Seal certification.  An additional 20 Chicago hotels now have the baseline requirements to become Green Seal certified. 

Founded in 1989, Green Seal  is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC.  It provides science-based environmental certification standards that are “credible, transparent, and essential in an increasingly educated and competitive marketplace.”

Green Seal certified hotels may have a  less harmful environmental impact while saving money.  For example, a 300-room hotel switching to a bath tissue with 100 percent post-consumer content would save approximately 4 tons of virgin paper, 48 trees, 16,400 kwh of electricity, 28,000 gallons of water and 240 pounds of air pollutants annually.

How did these Chicago hotels achieve Green Seal certification?  Here’s how:

 Hotel Monaco Chicago

• Conducted an extensive amenity study to examine the smallest practical size that amenity bottles could be based on the average use of guests.
• Hotel Monaco reduces paper consumption by having a paperless check in at the front desk, no paperwork to sign, and all printers for office use are set to print double-sided.  
• The hotel is committed to using eco-friendly paints – low VOC and free of heavy metals.

Hotel Burnham

• The hotel minimizes disposable service ware by using durable, ceramic cups in guest rooms and the lobby.
• All coffee served to guests is shade grown, organic or fair trade.
• Hotel Burnham uses non-phosphate, nontoxic, biodegradable laundry detergents and cleaning products by Sierra Environmental, a leading provider of natural, environmentally safe, commercial-grade cleaning products.
• All lights that are on 24 hours a day such as hall ways, the lobby, and exit signs are energy efficient. The Burnham Hotel has established a comprehensive 5 year plan to retrofit all lighting.

Hotel Allegro Chicago

• The hotel has recycling receptacles in all guest rooms. The Hotel Allegro along with Hotel Burnham and Hotel Monaco are part of a collection of Kimpton Hotels, which is the first hotel company to start recycling in guest rooms nationwide.
• The hotel recycles clothing wire hangers from dry cleaning ~ about 300 - 500 hangers per month.
• Hotel Allegro uses dual purpose nylon dry cleaning bags.  These bags are used to send clothing to the dry cleaners, and the dry cleaners use the same type of bags to send the hotel the dry-cleaned clothes.
• Uses suppliers that take back reusable packaging and shipping pallets.

InterContinental Chicago

• Earlier this year, the InterContinental was awarded EPA’s ENERGY STAR Label, which means the building achieved a score of 75 or higher in energy efficiency for a building of its size and use.
• The hotel purchases Green-e certified renewable energy credits for 50% of the energy the hotel consumes annually.
• The hotel installed refillable amenity dispensers in one floor to test the product and gather customer comments.
• The hotel uses solar powered water faucets in public washrooms.

The Talbott Hotel

• The hotel donates left over food from banquets to the employee cafeteria and minimizes a majority of food wastes.
• The hotel’s landscape company uses organic insecticides, fertilizers and biocides.
• The hotel purchases wind energy credits to offset 100% of their electrical footprint.
• The Talbott Hotel implements a “Greenificent Lifestyle” program for guests and employees.  If guests push “Eco Mode” on their thermostat, the housekeeping staff will replace bed and bath linens every other day. The thermostat will automatically adjust when the guest is not in the room. By opting for this program, the hotel rewards guests by offsetting the guest’s household electricity consumption for a month.
• Employees were given 2 free CFLs and an offset for one month of their household electricity consumption to encourage sustainable living.

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POSTED IN: Green Places USA, Green Stays, Green Travel, Uncategorized