Starwood Capital Group, the real estate
investment firm led by Barry Sternlicht, is developing a new
collection of ecofriendly, five-star hotels with the intention of
taking the hotel industry to a new level of environmental
awareness.
The new brand
will be called 1.
The hotels will
be designed and operated from the ground up with an eye toward
minimizing their impact on the environment, with the latest "green
building" technologies and materials, Starwood said.
The first, the 1
Hotel and Residences Seattle, is expected to open in late 2008.
Others are planned for Scottsdale, Ariz.; Fort Lauderdale; and the
Mammoth Lakes ski area in California, with urban locations to
follow in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and other cities. The
first overseas venture, a conversion of an existing building, is
planned for Paris.
Starwood Capital
said it intends to have 15 hotels signed or under construction
within 24 months.
The properties
will be developed with environmental advice from the Natural
Resources Defense Council, a 36-year-old, nonprofit organization
comprising scientists, lawyers and environmental
specialists.
Further, each
property will donate 1% of its revenue to environmental
causes.
Newbuilds will
conform to the design standards of the U.S. Green Building
Council.
According to
Starwood Capital, this will involve performance criteria for "five
key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site
development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection
and indoor environmental quality."
The company said
it expected to set "a new standard for environmental excellence
and, over time, to transform the entire hotel industry."
"While some hotel
brands pay lip service to the environment by asking guests to reuse
towels and adding plants to a lobby, 1 is not using ecofriendly
jargon simply as a marketing tool," Sternlicht said in a statement.
"Our intention with 1 is to build hotels and residences that are
truly green and minimize their impact on their
environment."
Unique operating model
Starwood Capital,
which is not affiliated with Starwood Hotels, said the new
properties would follow a "unique operating model," under which
various departments of the hotel might be operated by recognized
"industry leaders." For example, BR Guest, a premier restaurant
operator, will "provide an innovative restaurant, banqueting and
room-service program," according to a Starwood Capital
statement.
The development
of 1 is the latest move by Starwood Capital Group to become a
significant player in the luxury end of the lodging
industry.
Last year, the
group acquired Louvre Hotels, a collection of 14 luxury properties
that included the Hotel Crillon in Paris as well as the Lutetia in
Paris and the Hotel Martinez in Cannes, France.
The acquisition
was followed by an announcement in January that it intended to
create a luxury, European style chain of hotels based on the
Crillon.
It's also the
latest, and boldest, move in the hotel industry's increasing level
of environmental sensitivity.
Hotels such as
the Orchid at Mauna Lani in Hawaii, the Venetian in Las Vegas, the
Sheraton Seattle and the Fairmont in Washington all have
ecofriendly programs in place that range from using solar energy to
recycling programs.
Kimpton Hotels,
meanwhile, regularly uses ecofriendly products and services at its
hotels through a program called Kimpton EarthCare.
The growing
interest in reducing the environmental impact of hotels has spurred
the American Hotel & Lodging Association, in cooperation with
Environmental Protection Agency, to launch a case study program to
gauge the impact of ecofriendly practices on hotels.
"They are three
months into it, and all of us are very eager to see the results,"
said Brad Aldrich, the AHLA's vice president of business
development, who spearheads the association's green hotel
effort.
Kudos for Starwood
"I was very happy
to see what Starwood did. That is really exciting. That could
generate an awful lot of interest," he added.
Michael Roberts,
head of the Roberts Hotel Group, which owns several properties
including the Mayfair Hotel in St. Louis, believes going green "is
the way to go, and it is the right thing to do from a future
standpoint."
His company is
currently developing a residential/lodging tower adjacent to the
Mayfair that will be "a green building."
Roberts' company
also owns hotels in Atlanta and Houston, among other cities, and
intends to "begin to converting them, wherever possible, into green
buildings. It is the wave of the future."
Green hotels take
extra steps to "use sustainable product," Roberts said. "For example, you use carpets made from
recycled materials. You also might use flooring from recycled
materials. You would use bamboo as opposed to hardwood. Almost 40%
of the world's consumption [of hard wood] into commercial and
residential development is right in the United States, even though
we are a fraction of the world's population."
Green properties
also take steps to minimize water consumption, Roberts
said.
"If we have
landscaping and areas like that, we try to capture rainwater or
non-toxic water and reuse it for gardening," he said. Lighting
elements throughout the properties, meanwhile, are designed to use
more solar energy and less fossil fuels.
"It is better for
the environment, which is our driving force," Roberts said. "But
the way it works, it is actually [cost effective] because you are
recycling."
A report,
"Sustainable Hotel Business Practices: A Surface Examination,"
published this year by HVS International, a hotel consulting firm,
contended that with an ever-increasing number of people traveling,
hotels will have to take on "the responsibility to minimize the
impact [that large numbers of travelers] have on the environment,"
adding that failure to do so could lead to the "destruction of the
[hotel's] surroundings and therefore their business."
The green hotel
trend also dovetails with growing efforts by major brands to create
healthier environments for their guests.
For instance,
Westin banned smoking at its North American properties earlier this
year, and Marriott soon followed, prohibiting smoking at all of its
hotel brands.
America's Best effort
In May 2000,
America's Best Inns and Suites introduced Evergreen
rooms.
At least 10% of
the rooms at all America's Best Inns and Suites' 110 properties
across the U.S. are designated "Evergreen."
The rooms are
specially designed with special water- and air-purification systems
to eliminate virtually all allergens, along with "allergen barrier
bedding" and bathroom showers enhanced to provide softer
water.
To contact reporter Michael Milligan, send e-mail to [email protected].