Green Lodging : An Update on State, City Level Green Recognition Programs

　　According to Karrie Teel, Director of Education & Communications for the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Assn. (IHLA), the StayGreen Program has changed significantly in the last two years. It was in 2015 that IHLA aligned its program with the TripAdvisor GreenLeaders program. To become a recognized StayGreen Hotel, IHLA members must meet the minimum GreenLeaders program requirements and score a 30 percent or above on the TripAdvisor GreenLeaders Survey. Properties that score a 40 percent or above are recognized as StayGreen Elite. Achieving these scores will also qualify a property as a TripAdvisor GreenLeader. There are currently 75 hotels that either meet minimum or elite levels.

　　Kentucky

　　Members of the Bed and Breakfast Assn. of Kentucky can earn Green Lodging Certification. I reached out to the association but did not hear back. There are at least 23 B&Bs that have earned Green Lodging Certification.

　　Los Angeles

　　Green Seal is working with LA Inc., The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, to implement a Green Lodging Program for the Los Angeles area. The LA Green Lodging Program is based on certification of area hotels to Green Seal’s GS-33 Environmental Leadership Standard for Lodging Properties. There are currently eight hotels certified through the program with several others pursuing certification.

　　Maine

　　According to Julie Churchill, Maine Department of Environmental Protection Special Projects Coordinator, there are more than 100 properties participating in the Maine Green Lodging Certification Program. “We are transitioning to electronic certification,” she says. “We are revising our points system.”

　　Maryland

　　Catherine C. Batavick, Manager, Maryland Green Travel, says the program has not significantly increased the number of accommodations participating and nobody is out “selling” the program. “It is not getting the attention it deserves,” she says. “They have actually assigned me other duties here in Tourism.” According to the program’s website, there are 81 Maryland Green Travel Accommodation partners.

　　Massachusetts

　　A call to the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism went unreturned. As part of the MAGREEN page, links are provided to other certification program sites—LEED, Green Seal, Green Key Eco-Rating Program, etc.

　　Minnesota

　　The Minnesota Bed and Breakfast Association’s “It’s Inn to Be Green” self-certification program currently has 35 properties certified, says Tami Schluter, Executive Director of the Association.

　　New Jersey

　　Ky Asral, Manager for Small Business Environmental Assistance Program, says the Garden State Green Hotels Project is not as active as it once was. “We are not actually pursuing new people,” he says. “If someone contacts us, we will do an evaluation.” The Garden State Green Hotels Project had been funded using a grant from the E.P.A. Click here to view a recent video about the program.

　　North Carolina

　　Tom Rhodes, NC GreenTravel Initiative Program Manager, says there are currently 62 lodging facilities taking part in the NC GreenTravel recognition program. “This year, we are reaching out to breweries, wineries and food truck businesses as well as lodging establishments,” Rhodes says. “I am working with the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina’s Visit NC program to help bring more lodging facilities on board. Their Tourism Resource Assistance Center holds four or five events annually so we can meet and greet potential lodging members and other tourism-oriented businesses throughout the state. We also have a Twitter account and a Facebook page on which we feature one of our members each week. We also feature sustainability videos to help our followers learn how to be greener. I am writing a weekly column for the Visit NC NewsLink, which goes out to the lodging and tourism businesses in North Carolina. Our plans for the coming year are to step up our outreach efforts now that we have a P.I.O. for our section at DEQ.”

　　Oregon

　　Member inns of the Oregon Bed and Breakfast Guild can be recognized for their green initiatives on a Green Travel section of the Guild’s website. There are currently 10 B&Bs currently listed. Kristin Fintel, Innkeeper, Chehalem Ridge Bed & Breakfast, said the OBBG Green Travel program is in flux right now.

　　“This past spring, one of our innkeepers, Jamie Kerr, revamped the program,” Fintel says. “As you know, green standards are a moving target and our old program had not been maintained well enough to keep up with changes. Our program is nearly ready for re-boot; we will be getting our innkeepers to sign up and go through our qualification process this fall and winter. I don’t have an estimate as to how many members will be signing up, but we have three levels of qualification, so we are hoping to get quite a lot of members participating on the level they can afford to do within their inn and budget. We will be submitting our process to Travel Oregon to be one of their Recognized Certification Programs for their Sustainable Tourism program.”

　　Oregon lodging establishments can also participate in Travel Oregon’s Sustainable Business Challenge. There are now 38 properties participating in the self-assessment recognition program.

　　Puerto Rico

　　As part of Puerto Rico’s Green Certification Program, more than 40 properties have been evaluated but just eight have been certified. “We have worked under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Environmental Protection Agency since 2011,” says Carolina Morales, a representative of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co. “The MOU was extended in August 2016 for five more years.”

　　Rhode Island

　　I reached out to this state’s Green Certification representative but did not hear back. The site has not been updated in two years and lists events from five years ago. The link to the site has been removed from Green Lodging News.

　　San Francisco

　　Kevin Kumatak, San Francisco Green Business Coordinator, says eight area hotels have been certified as a San Francisco Green Business. There are 13 others in the process of being certified. “We are working on creating a tiered certification program,” Kumatak says. The tiers will include: Participant, Certified, and Innovator. A six-month pilot program will be conducted and the new system will launch in 2018.

　　Tennessee

　　 Dobbin Callahan, Environmental Consultant and Administrator of Tennessee Green Hospitality, says that including State Park lodging and all Welcome Centers, 107 facilities have been certified. At least 50 of those are lodging establishments. “We recently added the in-house restaurants as part of the certification for the hotels,” Callahan says. “It was a logical extension of what we were already doing, but now the restaurant gets its own certification (if it earns it). We also recently added a benefit for our certified properties and for the guests coming into Tennessee. Each Welcome Center has a small poster stating Tennessee’s commitment to sustainability, including the efforts by all the Welcome Centers in becoming certified. Also on this poster is a QR code that travelers can click on to see all of the certified properties statewide, by region. I wish we had some way to prove this, but I think we are the only state with all of its Welcome Centers certified.”

　　Vermont

　　In Vermont a property can earn a Green Hotel designation after completing an application and having an on-site audit. Mary Ann Remolador, Assistant Director with Northeast Recycling Council and Coordinator for the Vermont Green Business Program, says there are currently 100 hotels that have earned the Green Hotel designation. “The person who founded the program retired in September last year,” Remolador says. “I started coordinating it when he left. At the state level there have been changes. The application process was revised. There are more changes coming.”

　　Virginia

　　This state’s Virginia Green program is currently undergoing some major changes. Tom Griffin, Executive Director of the Virginia Green Travel Alliance, says the transition should be complete by the middle of September. “The program will no longer be administered by the state,” he says. “However, the Virginia Tourism Corporation will continue to recognize and promote the Virginia Green certification; and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will assist in the development of technical guidance and resources for the certification.” Businesses previously certified will not lose their certification, but will be required to recertify in the coming year. The new system will be run by the nonprofit Virginia Green Travel Alliance, and it will involve administrative fees to support the certification process and marketing materials associated with it.

　　Griffin says the Virginia Green program currently has 582 lodging partners—approximately 200 B&Bs, 30 to 35 cabins and resort condos, and the remainder hotels. This makes the program the largest state-level green lodging program in the United States.

　　Wisconsin

　　Heidi Schultz, Travel Green Wisconsin Coordinator, says there are currently 500 certified travel businesses statewide. A search of the Travel Green Wisconsin website produced 63 hotel search results and 45 B&Bs. Cabins and cottages can also be green certified.