First Hyatt-brand LEED-built hotel opens in Michigan

Plans for the 5-story 113-room hotel started a couple of years ago. Built by Rockford Construction, it's a project with a $15M price tag.

The hotel is aimed at business travelers featuring pre-registration, self-serve automated kiosks for check-in and 24 hour food service. But, it also accommodates families, including those who need a place to stay that is close to Metro Health.

Some of the LEED-related features include: in-room motion sensors to control heat and lighting and the use of green cleaning compounds. According to Morgan Burkett, Vice-President of Oxford Development Co., "We're taking all of our leftover shampoo and soap products and we're recyling them onsite into a slurry that we then convert into basically a laundry detergent. So, all of our pool towels, all of our terry towels, kitchen towels will be washed with products from our guest rooms."

The Hyatt Place isn't the first local hotel built to meet LEED certification. The JW Marriott in downtown Grand Rapids and City Flats in Holland were also LEED projects. But the Hyatt Place is the world's first Hyatt-brand LEED-built hotel. The business helped to bring 30 new jobs to the area.

"We had 120 highly qualified applications and it took a lot of processing to get to the top 30," said Burkett. "But it is really a credit to this community. The quality and caliber of staff we were able to procure for this hotel is the best that I've ever seen. I've been in the business for 40 years."

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Chicago’s Talbot Hotel Receives Green Power Award

On the heels of it being awarded the Green Seal Certification, the Talbot Hotel has been named a member of the 2008 Green Power Leadership Club by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The 149-room hotel received this EPA award in recognition of its exemplary environmental leadership. The hotel is also being honored for its efforts to operate a 100% carbon neutral property through the purchasing of renewable wind energy credits that offset the hotel’s entire carbon footprint. The hotel not only met the minimum requirements for the EPA’s Green Power Partnership, but reached the 10-fold qualifications of the Green Power Leadership Club.

Talbot Hotel

EPA Green Power Award

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Missouri to offer Green Hotel Certification Program

The Missouri Hotel & Lodging Association (MHLA) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR)have just initiated a new green certification program as of Jan. 1.

The program will award green certification to hotels and bed and breakfasts that reach a certain level of environmental sustainability. The DNR will use a point system to measure things such as a facility’s efforts to lower water usage or maximize energy efficiency.

Ramona Mormann, executive director of MHLA, said Certified Green participants could earn their points by changing lighting, implementing recycling or green education programs for employees, and even mulching their grounds with eco-friendly material.

There is no cost to participate in the Certified Green program other than the cost for facilities to upgrade to green materials. Promotion of the program will be left to the individual hotels that meet green requirements.

“Going green is so important to our guests and to corporate America,” Mormann said. “Major companies like Johnson & Johnson won’t even consider hotels that aren’t green. We have to go green to keep our guests coming.”

The DNR will provide the official recognition for any hotel that meets its green point requirements, and the MHLA will offer enhanced award packages to its members that pass the Certified Green program. Packages will include distinctive signage and Certified Green branding opportunities.

The Missouri Hotel & Lodging Association is based in Jefferson City and has between 80 and 90 members in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Floyd Gilzow, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said the first year would be used to gauge interest and participation in the Certified Green program.“I’d be willing to declare initial victory if 100 hotels joined,” Gilzow said. There are approximately 1,800 places of lodging in Missouri.



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