Blog Post

Allie Belgiovine March 28, 2010
Smart brief #5 Dr. Miller HRIM 380

Title of article: Planting Seeds of Sustainability

Source: Hotel Online

Date Published: June 17, 2009

Link: http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2009_2nd/Jun09_PineappleAHLA.html

Summary:

This article was about Pineapple Hospitality and the American Hotel and Lodging Association pledge to donate $1 for each of the people who attended the 2009 Summer Summit to plant trees through the Nature Conservancy. It takes a lot of the earths resources to plan such a large event. From traveling and paper waste, to garbage disposal, these companies joined together to offset the carbon footprint of the event, which was held last June in Chicago Illinois.
The Nature Conservancy has created a ‘Plant A Billion’ program in which companies such as AH&LA work to raise money to help the reforestation of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. They want to complete this project within seven years and after its completion it will be as if 2 million cars were taken off the road. Marketing Manager at AH&LA, Netanya Stutz said they were drawn to the progam because of the simplicity of it. 1 person=$1=1 tree. She also says that they wish to engage their eco-conscious members to help with their goal and donate extra money towards their efforts.
Education is key to promoting sustainability and Pineapple Hospitality is work with different parts of the industry to promote sustainability in all fields. They are also helping increase awareness of new environmentally friendly products. There are many other events being hosted this year and years to come in which Pineapple Hospitality and the American Hotel and Lodging Association are planning to continue to help the Nature Conservancy reach their goal of planting a billion trees to improve the earth.

Reflection:

I think that this was such a great idea. You don’t realize until you sit down and think about how many resources are wasted while people travel. I chose the keyword “going green” in the Hotel Online web page because the hotel my group and I have proposed, the Four Points by Sheraton, has been taking significant steps to providing a comfortable stay for its guests while attempting to be as sustainable as physically possible. It is impossible however to make all guests go along with a hotels environmentally friendly ways. When some people pay for a room they feel that they are going to get their money’s worth. If that means getting a new towel every day and taking long showers then they are going to do that and not think about the environment. It is difficult to change these customers’ views on ‘going green’ but it up to hotel managers to make their best effort for the good of our earth. The pledge to donate $1 per attendee seems like nothing but in actuality it’s the little things like that which add up to make a difference. Planting more trees, although not completely, but helps counteract the resources which were used and wasted during the summit. I feel this will also help others make similar donations to such organizations because “going green” is one of the current trends in our industry.