Spa and Hotel news from SpaCast.com. Part of Spa Index Media Network.

Saybrook Spa in Connecticut launches Green Meetings Program

Saybrook Point Inn & Spa, located in Old Saybrook, CT, one of New England’s most widely recognized resorts for its environmental and sustainable practices, has launched a Green Meetings program to help meeting planners meet the growing demand for environmentally sound meetings and events.

Read the Story

More on the remarkeable LEED certifications for CityCenter Las Vegas

CityCenter may very well change the way the hotel world looks at sustainability. For the first time in the lodging business at this kind of a scale, a company set out to incorporate wide-ranging green efforts in order to create some of the most environmentally friendly structures that have ever been constructed. 

Incredibly, six components of the $8.5 billion CityCenter project on the Las Vegas Strip have achieved LEED Gold certification, an accomplishment of Herculean proportions that is a total game changer for any significant hospitality project on a go-forward basis.

Read More

RockResorts Innovative Program to Recycle Hotel Soap

High in the Colorado Rockies a life-saving necessity is making its way to the island nation of Haiti and abroad. By partnering with Clean the World, Inc., RockResorts is collecting barely-used soap and shampoo from its collection of 8 hotels and enabling the Orlando charity to provide the much-needed supplies to needy people in homeless shelters and impoverished countries around the world.

Read the Story

Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa Awarded Silver LEED Certification

The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa in Avon is the first hotel in Colorado to achieve the green accolade of Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 210-room hotel earned its official green rating in part by using low-emitting paint and carpeting and roof tiles made from recycled automobile tires.

Read the Story

Salamander Resort & Spa, Virginia, to launch "Meeting Green" Program

As construction continues and interest in booking the property increases,Salamander Resort and Spa, which opens in March 2011 in Virginia, announced the launch of a new group meetings initiative called "Meeting Green."

When it opens in March 2011, the resort will become one of the first luxury destination resort and spas in the United States to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. In addition to the building's physical characteristics, which include extensive waste, water and energy management programs, Resort Management Company Salamander Hospitality is creating a practical program in which group attendees can participate in environmental sustainability.

Read More

Hotels, Spas Enjoy Big Savings from Green Projects

By implementing energy- and water-saving initiatives, hotels and spas are illustrating how businesses across all industries can reduce their operational costs while cutting their environmental footprint. As an example, the Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe Hotel & Ski Resort has spent $250,000 less than it had expected to spend on energy so far this year after rolling out a series of energy-saving improvements that cost about $200,000, reports Green Lodging News.

Read More

The new Hilton Maldives Irufushi Resort & Spa

The Hilton Maldives Irufushi Resort and Spa in South Miladhunmadulu atoll was inaugurated by President Mohamed Nasheed on Wednesday.   Upon arrival at the resort, the President was greeted by Chairman of Sun Hotels, Ahmed Siyam Mohamed and senior management of Hilton.  Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the President expressed hope that the resort would contribute for greater advancement of the tourism sector. He also spoke on the importance of good management practices. Speaking in this regard, the President said good management practices were essential for sustainable tourism.

Read More

Trading: HLN, HLT

Farmaesthetics went from farm stand to Macy’s, luxury spas

Ten years ago, Brenda Brock was selling organic skin lotions she whipped up in her home blender at a farm stand in Portsmouth. Today, she’s heading up one of the hottest natural, green skin care lines in the country as founder and CEO of Farmaesthetics.  The skin care line was selected to among a handful of natural product companies to be featured in Macy’s new Beautiful Planet, a green cosmetics boutique within the department store.

Read More

The challenge of ‘Eco’ demands on spas

On an indulgent eco spa break, it’s only natural that you would want to leave the worries of the world behind. But what if the term “eco” doesn’t live up to expectations?   Your luxury paradise may recycle waste into fuel or use water from ancient boreholes, but hot showers and piles of fluffy towels are two energy-guzzling eco-crimes that spas commit daily.

“If you define ‘green’ as being carbon-free, then no business on earth is [green],” says Patrick Wahlberg, sustainability and project manager for Raison d’Etre, a leading spa management and development company that has set up more than 50 spas worldwide. “The label is often used where it’s not warranted. We’re really talking about shades of green.”

Read the Story

Forget pricey Eco-Resorts — here come the Chains

In the lodging world, green has gone mainstream. Once chided for being wasteful, the big hotel chains are now constantly trying to one-up each other with smart eco-design upgrades and stringent water and energy conservation policies.  The number of properties trying to become LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, the most recognized standard for building sustainability, is also on the rise: Applications to the U.S. Green Building Council for the award spiked by 550 percent between 2006 and 2008.  

More than 500 hotels could soon earn the label; until four years ago, only one had the designation.

Read the Story