Tag: External

It’s a tale as old as time…unsolicited companies posing as your event’s housing bureau and actively pursuing your attendees and exhibitors to unknowingly book outside the official hotel block. At onPeak, we know first-hand how frustrating it can be.

While it might seem obvious to you and me, these poachers have perfected sophisticated techniques to deceive event participants. Many find these offers tempting and promptly hand over their credit cards, believing they have scored the best deal . Unfortunately, this often turns out to be the beginning of a long nightmare, ultimately resulting in hidden fees and sometimes, no hotel reservation at all.

Technically, it’s not illegal to operate a third-party housing company and solicit registrants to purchase discounted rooms for an upcoming conference or tradeshow, but sources argue that it is unethical to falsely claim to be an event’s official housing bureau.

If you’ve found yourself with a poacher problem, you’re in luck because onPeak is here to help! Here are five easy ways that you can actively combat room poachers.

 

1. The Power of Visibility Can Never be Underestimated

The primary resource for credible information about a show is the event website! Include information about the official hotel provider, the benefits of booking within the sponsored hotel block and warn event participants about the possibility of poacher situations. Reinforce this message by including prominent links to hotel information in every event communication so that the attendees & exhibitors can booking directly through official channels.

2. Education is the Most Powerful Weapon

First-time attendees and exhibitors present a great opportunity for education. Increase your reach and leave a lasting impression by clearly identifying the official housing bureau in educational materials such as welcome packets, freshman webinars or even by word of mouth from your group sales manager. The more people understand the value, not only to themselves, but to the event as well, the more likely they will be to want to book in the block.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Personal

If you become aware of a potential poacher, do not hesitate to make it clear that they are not affiliated with the event. List the names of suspected offenders on your website and issue email alerts of known solicitors, warning members of the financials risks they could face by booking rooms through any party other than the official housing bureau.

4. Sharing Isn’t Always Caring

Protect your data! Room poachers scour association websites and collect information about who is attending the event. The more information you make easily accessible online – exhibitor names, speaker bios, sponsors, and entertainment venues – the easier a room poacher’s task. Consider making registration required in order to view full details or password protect pages that may include important information.

5. Final Notice

Cease and desist letters are the first step in the legal process against unauthorized housing bureaus, claiming the poacher is intentionally interfering with contractual relations between you and the hotels in your block. It sends a warning to room poachers that the organization is aware of their activities and establishes that serious consequences will follow. If the poacher is infringing on intellectual property, such as using your logos, there is a clear case for legal action!

As event professionals, we are always searching for the next great idea to improve the overall event experience, from interactive displays on the show floor to ultra-convenient hotel rooms. But what is it that our participants find most appealing? What is it that they won’t live without? Here at onPeak, we have been keeping our ears low to the ground and speaking directly with our contracting experts to discover the top five most appealing amenities for your events.

5.  Complimentary Food & Beverage Options 

Who can say no to free wine and snacks? After a long day in sessions, treat your guests to a complimentary evening reception with cocktails and snacks. According to Jennifer Salerno, Director of Hotel Industry Relations at onPeak, food and beverage options are the fifth most contracted hotel amenities. Gone are the days of seeking solace over room-service dinners for one. A complimentary reception not only provides your event goers with much-needed relaxation, but it also fosters priceless networking and mingling opportunities.

As an alternative to offering an evening reception, breakfast is another important amenity. The fact remains that healthy humans perform better and are more engaged in what they’re doing1, so why not help your event participants begin each morning energized and equipped for the day ahead with complimentary or discounted breakfast? With out of town guests unfamiliar with their surroundings and international show-goers accustomed to having breakfast rolled into their hotel package, contracting complimentary or highly discounted breakfast should be a priority.

4. Fitness Centers or Other Healthy Activities 

Now more than ever, people are getting up off the couch (or hotel bed), lacing up their sneakers and releasing their stress through a basic workout at some point in their day.  According to MeetingsNet, exhibitors rank a hotel fitness center as one of the most appealing amenities when booking a hotel stay. At onPeak, bicycles or other fitness-related activities are the fourth most contracted amenities. Our Hotel Industry Relations team has strong relationships with a variety of properties that offer fitness-related activities, including The Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, which provides a yoga mat in each guest room and creates a simple yet memorable experience to promote health and wellness to their guests. If the hotels in your block don’t offer modern fitness centers, Jennifer Salerno, Senior Hotel Industry Relations Manager, suggests contracting hotels that offer free group classes on-site or partner with fitness studios nearby to serve as appealing alternatives.

3.  Unique Meeting Spaces 

The needs of the typical business and leisure traveler are evolving.  More and more, hotels are revamping lobby and meeting spaces in support of these trends to foster more social, casual and interactive environments. The so-called “alternative” accommodation option has developed into a standard stay option as well, especially in the minds of Generation Y and Millennials.  We are learning that a growing number of today’s travelers appreciate the offerings of an alternative accommodations provider, like unique amenities, personalized services and high-end gathering spaces.  Contracting a variety of convenient and budget-friendly hotel rooms, along with hand-selected alternative accommodations properties for your event, makes your accommodation program highly appealing.

onPeak has partnered with Oasis, an alternative accommodations provider offering personalized service and hotel-like amenities in the comfort of a hand-selected home.  Do your guests travel more than 200 days out of the year?  Are there high-level executives or professionals in need of social entertaining space or off-site meeting space? Perhaps your group requires a kitchen or prep space for food or exhibit displays. Understanding the needs of your attendees or exhibitors and offering unique solutions will keep them happy and returning year after year.

2. Free Bottled Water 

According to the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University, free bottled water is an important amenity and ranked highest in prompting repeat hotel visits.  Hydration is extremely important for any traveler, especially when you consider the hectic schedule of an event participant. Contracting hotels that include free bottled water makes the guest feel cared for and 49% of guests take advantage this amenity.  Although this may seem like an overly simplistic ask, it’s one that shouldn’t be overlooked.  A little h20 can go a long way.

1. Wi-Fi 

We live in a world that demands endless access to the Internet around every corner, including in our hotel rooms. Offering hotel amenities such as complimentary in-room Wi-Fi is the number one most contracted amenity here at onPeak and the most appealing amenity to attendees around the globe.

With smart phones, smart watches, tablets and laptops fully integrated into our everyday lives, we can’t live without seamless access to them all. Event participants already have much to plan and purchase upon arrival. Allow them the basic need of working from their hotel rooms without having to purchase Internet access by the hour.

We believe that keeping your event participants top-of-mind throughout the entire event planning process is the key to providing memorable experiences year after year. By considering these top five amenities that we contract at onPeak, you’ll be well on your way to leaving your event-goers with a lasting impression.  Need help?  Our doors are always open to assist you with your hotel contracting needs.

1Tim Wackel, The Wackel Group. Stop Pitching, Start Solving. 

Paying employees to quit their position at your company, or taking an interviewee out to run errands are some unconventional tactics that might not make complete sense to the average person. Leave it to Colin Bunn to combine these obscure ideas to prove that a huge part of teambuilding is hiring and retaining the right people to fit your company’s culture.

Colin spoke at MPI-NEXT last week and it’s no surprise that he ROCKED his session, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”, by incorporating his passion of music and athletics to highlight how to successfully lead and work with others, because “building great teams will never go away.” A big portion of Colin’s session focused on the importance of hiring the right person off the bat, because there’s a big price to pay, both emotionally and financially, for hiring the wrong people.

Besides having the best-fitting people working for you, Colin says that being a part of a team is a lot like music: it’s all about listening. It’s a fundamental skill of music and effective communication, and we certainly trust Colin’s advice about music. Talk about a rock star! Attendees really enjoyed hearing Colin speak about his office communication practices and using group chat features like Skype and Hipchat here at onPeak to create a sense of community and, in turn, creating a bond among subcultures —  Like HipCat, a chat room where cat lovers post funny videos and images of their cats.

Colin enjoyed attending NEXT himself and left with some head scratching memories. “I really enjoyed Thad Lurie’s session on ‘Data: Jet Fuel for Event Performance.’” Colin said, “This one stuck with me – ‘If you ask the CEO, CFO and Meeting Director at an association, ‘How many attendees came to last year’s event?’ You’ll get 3 different answers. Because everyone sees the data a little differently.’”

Overall, different personalities and happy team members are better team members, and onPeak couldn’t be more proud of Colin for accomplishing his goals and spreading his passion for teambuilding. We’re so proud to work with you, Colin, and so many others that make the onPeak team and culture so awesome!

 

 

If you’ve been following along, we kicked off Earth Day with a spotlight on sustainability and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is taking shape in hotels and convention centers across the U.S.  We began the series highlighting New York and Chicago, discussing urban ecosystems and agriculture, and how to get started partnering on a food recovery plan.  But what does sustainability look like in a vastly different environment, like the desert?  Let’s hop on over to Las Vegas and take a look!

Environmental concerns are taken to heart in Las Vegas, and as the city’s fueled by tourism and events, hotels are a key player at the table.  For Vegas properties, it’s not just about a single green act and then wiping their hands clean.  Some hotels have adopted complete sustainability programs, paving the way for this desert city to become a seriously green city.

Bellagio Las Vegas is highly committed to conservation efforts, through an array of traditional and unconventional practices.  The hotel’s furniture is made from fast-growing, renewable eucalyptus (how cool!).  Grocery vendors are committed to delivering 90% of all items through two distributors, reducing fuel consumption.  And Bellagio has over 1,500 employees involved in the Club Ride carpooling program, the highest participation in Vegas.  Bellagio even hosts Internal Green Fairs, engaging employees on how to adopt sustainable habits in their own homes and personal lives.

¹But let’s talk water.  Two of the most iconic performances in Vegas are the Fountains of Bellagio and Cirque du Soleil®.  How can opulence also go hand-in-hand with saving the planet?  Are the hotel’s sustainability efforts just smoke and mirrors, a slight of hand like a showy Vegas illusionist?  Nope.  Lake Bellagio and the aquatic, acrobatic production “O” by Cirque du Soleil are both replenished with non-drinkable well water.  On top of that, the hotel’s upgraded water treatment system saves 24m gallons of water annually.  And the towel/linen reuse program?  Another 15.5m gallons conserved.

Who else is making a splash in towards a more sustainable city?  ARIA Resort & Casino.  Simply by installing low flow shower heads, this hotel saves 50m gallons of water each year, providing enough clean water for over 45,000 people.

All cooking oil used in ARIA restaurants is also repurposed and converted into biofuel, serving as a renewable energy source and reducing the resort’s dependence on water.² The Las Vegas Sands Corp—which includes The Venetian, The Palazzo, and Sands Expo & Convention Center—is celebrating 11 years of dedication to the environment.  “Sustainability is an ever-evolving conversation, and so are high-performance building strategies…Since 2007, we’ve made it a strategic priority to become a more sustainable company,” says Sheldon Adelson, Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.³

Sands has a comprehensive CSR plan, which include some pretty cool measures!  Things that fit in the palm of your hand, like equipping 2,000 housekeeping staff with iPods instead of paper for assignments, takes the company “from paper to pixels.”⁴  Zooming out, Sands runs one of the largest rooftop solar-thermal systems in the U.S.  It provides hot water for all swimming pools, spas, and an area of The Palazzo tower.  Plus, the company’s nano-filtration system allows The Palazzo to care for all plants without accessing the municipal water grid. ⁴Conservation efforts like this are huge.  From 2008 to 2016, Las Vegas reduced its water consumption by 20%⁵, not only by changing out shower heads.  Grass in new developments is replaced with synthetic turf, and drought-tolerant plants are being used in landscaping and public art.  Combined, these city-wide practices are evolving Vegas into a model, eco-friendly city.

It’s evident that CSR has been prevalent for some time, but “with the current volatile social and political climates and widening divides, CSR is being pushed to the next level…Consumers are also responding, demanding more of the businesses with which they interact. In an age where people are overwhelmed with choices, the brand that stands for the social justice issues consumers care about is often the one that wins their dollars.”⁶

Our goal with this series on sustainability and social responsibility is not only meant to highlight your screen a little greener this Earth Week.  We want to shout from the rooftop gardens that the hospitality and events industries are recognizing their ability to reform their sustainable practices, increasing transparency and decreasing their footprints.  We want you to be inspired, because as a traveler, a meeting planner, a hotelier or other participant in the events industry, your voice and values are essential to making progress.  Thanks for joining us on this journey!

---

1 “Environmental Commitment” MGM Resorts International, last modified 2018.
2 “Behind the Scenes of Las Vegas: how ARIA guests experience green” MGM Resorts International, last modified 2018.
3 “SandsEco360: 2016 Environmental Report” Las Vegas Sands Corp, last modified July 31, 2017.
4 “A Sustainable Path Forward” Venetian Meetings Las Vegas, last modified 2018.
5 “Sustainability” City of Las Vegas, last modified 2017.
6 “2018 Experiential Marketing Trend Report: Top 10 Trends to Transform Events in 2018” AgencyEA, last modified 2018.

 

 

Yesterday, we continued to embrace Earth Day with open arms, talking about how sustainability in the hospitality and events industry is not just a trend, but rather a socially-responsible business model taking shape across the U.S.  If you’ve yet to read the post, check it out here!  We talk Bears, Beets, and Battlestar Galactica…ok not quite, but just as cool, there’s mention of birds, bats, and Bill de Blasio.  The series started in NYC, but now let’s migrate west to Chicago.

Chicago is no stranger to sustainability.  With the most Green Seal certified hotels in the nation,1 Windy City hotels are working hard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The Chicago Climate Action Plan (CCAP) revealed 71 percent of emissions were coming from buildings (and my whole life I thought cars and hairspray were the culprits), so the city created a task force to reduce these levels 80 percent by 20502.  “With its 24 hour operations, the hotel industry has a large environmental impact, and Chicago’s hotel industry has proved its environmental leadership,” says the CCAP.

Chicago has a number of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and Green Seal certified hotels which appear regularly in event hotel programs: Aloft Chicago City Center, Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, and Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, to name a few.

Hotel Felix, compromising neither luxury nor comfort, became the first Chicago accommodations recognized with LEED Silver certification, and practiced “structural preservation during development to avoid landfill,”³ installed energy efficient lighting, and sustainable art.  “The hotel employs natural heating sources…reclaimed building materials and artwork and earth friendly cleaning supplies.”⁴

With a cheeky sense of humor, Hotel Felix commissioned an artist for Earth Day to construct a seven-foot-tall sculpture of completely found and recycled materials.  “Loren the Doorman”—
crafted from recycled pipes, an umbrella stand, drill bit, and milk-bucket head—then received two additional sculptures “to keep [him] company,” “Madeline” and “Scrappy” the metal dog.⁵

Swissôtel Chicago uses a different approach to making guests feel happy.  The hotel takes the linen card program to the next level, rewarding guests who opt out of housekeeping during a 2-or-more-night stay with a $10 food & beverage credit for each day housekeeping is declined.⁶

It may not be glorious, but getting green also means getting down and dirty.  Waste reduction certainly includes familiar efforts like a recycling program, serving water in pitchers or spring water coolers, and eliminating the use of plastic straws.

But let’s talk excess food.  “By donating edible surplus food, you can help support the local community, preserve the resources that went into making the food, and reduce the amount of edible food sent to compost, landfill, or other end of life solutions.”⁷  The World Wildlife Fund has great tips on finding a food rescue and recovery organization and creating a donation program.

In addition to ensuring food recovery partners can accept hotels’ commonly overproduced food items, WWF advises hotel staff to establish regular pick-up schedules, safe food-handling practices, obtain appropriate documentation for tax incentives, and benchmark program success.  Did you know President Clinton signed the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act into law in 1996, protecting donors from liability?  The act is meant to encourage companies to donate food that would otherwise go to waste.

Guests aren’t the only ones taking notice.  SAVOR…Chicago, the exclusive food and beverage provider at McCormick Place, commits to corporate social responsibility in the convention center industry. SAVOR…Chicago was recognized four times by the EPA for its sustainability solutions and received the Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Award for 2014.  As well as providing locally sourced menu choices, the organization has established food recovery partners in the community, donating over 37 tons of food to local charities since beginning its work at McCormick Place.⁸

The USDA actually invited McCormick Place to present at USDA Market Summit – Tomorrow’s Table, “to better understand the resources needed for the next generation in agriculture…and the best practices that innovative players are using.”⁹  Kevin Jezewski, Sustainability Director for SAVOR…Chicago, presented the need for “local purchasing and urban agriculture,” illustrating how McCormick Place, the largest exhibition and meeting facility in North America, has fully embraced such practices and allowed sustainable solutions to come to fruition.

“The amazing community work supported by venues is so inspiring,” says Amanda Simons, program manager at a sustainability consulting firm, Greenview.  Greenview’s 2016 Green Venue Report revealed that of surveyed venues, “Seventy-seven percent of centers help event organizers donate leftover conference materials, and almost 60 percent of centers regularly donate food from events to local charities in need.”¹⁰

These continued efforts from our event and hospitality partners truly embody the heart of corporate social responsibility. Join us for our next post, which will wrap up this sustainability min-series.  We’ll fly even farther west and take on water conservation in an arid region and how small steps make a big impact.

Helpful Links:

Good Samaritan Food Donation Act

Find a Food Bank

---

1 Michaels, Stephanie. “Chicago—The City with the Most Green Seal Certified Hotels in the U.S.” The Huffington Post, last modified May 25, 2011.
2 “Chicago Climate Action Plan” City of Chicago, last modified 2010.
3 “5 Best Green Hotels in America” Huffington Post, last modified Dec. 6, 2017.
4 “13 Eco Friendly Hotel Blending Luxury & Sustainability” The Good Trade, last modified 2017.
5 “About Hotel Felix: Learn How Our Chicago Hotel Aims to Make You Happy” Hotel Felix, last modified 2018.
6 “Green Program” Swissôtel Chicago, last modified 2018.
7 “Hotel Kitchen – Donation: The Second Line of Defense” World Wildlife Fund, last modified 2018.
8 “Sustainable Management of Food” Environmental Protection Agency, last modified Feb. 19, 2017.
9 Marquisos, Mary Kay. “McCormick Place Sustainability Efforts Presented at White House Symposium” Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, Feb. 22, 2016.
10 Durso, Christopher. “The State of the Art in Sustainable Venues” PCMA Convene, Nov. 20, 2016. 

About the Author

As a Marketing Account Manager, Niki embraces the Marketing team’s fresh approach to collaboration, adaptation and campaign creation to connect with the multitude of onPeak’s clients and event goers in a fun and cheeky way. Despite her 5’2” height, Niki’s desire for adventure knows no bounds. When she’s not writing, you can find her atop the highest of heights, backpacking the Great Smoky Mountains or parasailing along the Atlantic.

Follow on Linkedin

In our Chicago office, company-provided dishes were randomly disappearing. Plates, silverware, it was the funniest thing that the kitchen seemed to be this Bermuda Triangle sucking down ceramics. Last fall, one of the designers, Kyle, got hitched and graciously donated his old dishes and flatware to our office. Since then, not a bowl has bounced nor a fork fled. It appears everyone is taking great care to wash and return each dish used and treat this new collection with gentle maintenance and respect. There’s a sense of duty that comes with something on loan to us, to nurture it and return it in the same condition as it was received.

This parallels the social responsibility companies are facing now. As consumer behavior shifts—realizing our environment and resources are also on loan…and that money talks—shoppers are now advocating for businesses whose values align with their own. Consumers have the flexibility to be discerning while competition grows and companies increasingly vie for their attention.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) isn’t a trend, it’s a business model redefining how companies are evaluating, spending, building, and flourishing. A 2017 CSR study1 of 1,000 Americans revealed that 88 percent are more loyal to companies that support social and environmental issues, and 89 percent would switch brands to those associated with a good cause, given similar price and quality. “Americans expect companies to not only improve their business practices…but to be a force for change in broader society.”¹

”When it comes to reported actions, consumers see their wallets as the most effective way to drive change – whether that’s making a donation, buying a product with a social or environmental benefit or boycotting a company that steps out of line,” the study points out. Organizations dropping the ball on CSR will simply fall behind.

As a celebration of Earth Day, but also an industry introspection at a time when change is in our hands, we’ll be highlighting by region how some of our partners are manning up and landing CSR on the map.

Focusing on event space, totaling more than 85 million square feet in the U.S.,² and hotels—which account for more than five billion square feet³ and, unlike most commercial properties, consume resources 24/7—and there are countless opportunities for them to reassess and reduce their carbon footprint.

Let’s start with New York. “New York City is one of the largest and most diverse travel and tourism markets in the Western Hemisphere, and demand for hotel rooms has historically kept up with supply.”⁴ Visitors to NYC grew from 47m to 60.7m from 2007 to 2016—an increase of nearly 30 percent!—and the number of hotels have jumped from 350 to 630 in that same period. Whoa, right?

Hotel occupancy in New York was the highest occupancy in the nation’s top 25 lodging markets, at 85 percent. That means “eight out of ten rooms are being sold every night for 11 months in a row,” says Jan Freitag, of the hotel research firm STR.⁵

How is the hospitality industry effectively becoming leaders of change, starting with its impact on the environment? Linen cards—reminding guests to reuse their towels or hang that Do Not Disturb sign a little longer—are fantastic first introduction to going green, but there’s so much more going on under the hood.

Seventeen hotels have taken up Mayor Bill de Blasio on his NYC Carbon Challenge, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their buildings by 30 percent over a 10-year span.⁶ As a whole, the program would reduce citywide emissions by 515,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to removing 100,000 cars from the road.

The Grand Hyatt New York is installing exhaust controls in its kitchens to minimize energy expended when stoves are not in use and 16,000 LED bulbs throughout the property. Additionally, the hotel’s investing in a new HVAC system, operating on demand-based ventilation. These three modifications will cut down the hotel’s carbon emissions by 2,400 metric tons annually.7 That’s over 450 cars, gone!

The Westin New York at Times Square is also retrofitting the entire building with LED bulbs and sensors, low-flow showerheads and energy-efficient boilers and coolers.

Hudson, a boutique New York hotel, calls itself Glamorously Green. “Now is the time for us to be daring and innovative as we embrace a greener lifestyle…Gone are the days of a typecast granola green.”⁸ This is demonstrated by such initiatives as donating mattresses to charity organizations worldwide; maintaining environmentally responsible practices in its F & B outlets, including evaluating seasonal menus, featuring locally-sourced ingredients and not offering over-fished species; and donating unused soap and toiletries to Clean the World’s soap recycling program, supplying children in need with amenities to keep clean and become less susceptible to infection.⁸

So where are these travelers going? Well, the Javits Center, located on Manhattan’s West Side, attracts 2m visitors annually. The space hosts more than 175 events, 40,000 exhibiting companies, and 5,000 employees each year. “At the Javits Center, sustainability has become a critical focus in an effort to improve the quality of life for our employees, visitors, the surrounding neighborhood and its ecosystem.”⁹

The Javits Center installed a 7 acre green roof, sustainable pest management, and facilitated a post-show donation program, among other practices. Talk about initiating change! The green roof is the second largest of its kind in the U.S., and has actually created a new ecosystem of birds, honey bees, bats, and butterflies! The roof has also prevented nearly 7m gallons of storm water run-off annually, significantly reducing heat gain and energy consumption, because puddles don’t just affect your favorite Vince Camutos.

These industry leaders are not our only meeting and hospitality partners in New York, or nationwide, making changes in their sustainability practices. Swing by again on Tuesday, April 24th, to hear how the Midwest lands on the map! Maybe you’ll recognize a familiar name or uncover new ways to embody CSR with poise. See you again next week!

About Clean the World
Clean the World is a nonprofit organization, partnering with 5,000 hotels internationally to recycle soap from nearly one million hotel rooms daily, distributing them to families, schools, and organizations in need.¹⁰ Meeting planners and travelers frequently consider sustainability practices when booking a hotel. Recycling with Clean the World is a great way to achieve corporate social responsibility goals and attract more guests. Learn how to become involved with Clean the World.¹¹

---

1 “2017 Cone Communications CSR Study” Cone Communications, last modified May 15, 2017.
2 “Convention Center Directory” Cvent Inc., last modified 2015.
3 “LEED® In Motion: Hospitality” US Green Building Council, last modified Feb. 2016.
4 “NYC Hotel Market Analysis: Existing Conditions and 10-Year-Outlook” New York City Department of Planning, last modified 2017.
5 Jones, Charisse, “Hotel building boom bringing 100,000 new rooms to U.S cities” USA Today, Jan. 10, 2016.
6 “The New York City Carbon Challenge” NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Green Buildings & Energy Efficiency, last modified 2018.
7 Vora, Shivani. “New York Hotels Make a Green Pledge” The New York Times, Jan. 19, 2016.
8 “Glamorously Green” Morgans Hotel Group, last modified 2018.
9 “Sustainability Report 2017: Greening America’s Busiest Convention Center” Javits Center, June 6, 2017.
10 Springer, Kate, “The company cleaning up the world’s biggest hotels,” CNN, May 1, 2017.
11 “Recycle Soap. Save Lives. Protect the Environment” Clean the World, last modified 2018.