Mr. Laginia

Eco-Friendly Practices

The InterContinental San Francisco: An Education in Green

By Juan Pablo Laginia, Director of Operations, InterContinental San Francisco

The InterContinental San Francisco opened its doors in February 2008 to much excitement and anticipation. Since then, guests have enjoyed four-star accommodations throughout 550-rooms, fine dining, a luxury spa, top service and more. These services and standards are something our guests expect when they check in to our hotel so when we made the commitment to be an environmentally sustainable hotel destination, we took great steps to find a balance between the two. Since our debut, we have committed ourselves to integrating as many green and sustainable practices as possible into daily operations and upkeep of the property without changing the way our guests experience the hotel. We are addressing our environmental challenges through technology, partnerships, and process improvements. We are also dedicated to protecting our guests’ health and safety, our communities' natural resources, and the global environment through progressive green programs and policies.

In late 2008, we started working in conjunction with the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council), the organization that sets the standards and categories for LEED® (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification, to pursue “existing building operations and maintenance” (EBOM) category. We were evaluated on every facet of the property from construction and design elements to the types of amenities used in hotel guestrooms. In early 2011, the hotel received its LEED EBOM Gold certification making it one of the largest green LEED EBOM hotels in the country and the first property in the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts portfolio to achieve LEED certification for an existing building.

Having received this third party verification from the USGBC, we have shown our dedication to being environmentally responsible while delivering the same level of service and luxury associated with the city’s top business and leisure destinations.

However, we are not stopping there. When it comes to being a green hotel property there are always new things to learn – new innovations, new practices and new ways to go about conducting business that make for a more eco-friendly experience for our guests all the way to back of house operations.

Our Guests and the Green Experience

The green hotel experience is much more than linen and towel reuse programs or recycling bins in rooms. For the InterContinental San Francisco, one of the top priorities of being a green hotel is the ability to educate our guests and invite them to participate in green activities during their stay, making them part of the overall green movement. A few examples include:

• Waste Diversion – Each meeting and event space at the InterContinental San Francisco features a three-bin waste management system. There are designated spaces for trash, recycling and compost. Should groups choose to, the hotel is able to provide an estimated waste diversion rate illustrating how much trash was redirected from landfills by having their meeting at the InterContinental San Francisco.
• Energy Use – Guestrooms are equipped with the patented INNCOM ecoMODE® thermostat, inviting guests to choose the extent to which they want to be eco-friendly. By selecting the ecoMODE, the guest allows for greater temperature fluctuation before the heating or cooling system automatically turns on. Most thermostat systems have a plus or minus two degrees variation and the ecoMODE allows for three degrees. To further illustrate, if the room temperature is set at 68 degrees it will go into cooling mode at 70 degrees and heating mode at 66. By using the ecoMODE, this becomes 71 degrees and 65 degrees. The feature allows guests to choose to be green minded during their stay while saving energy at the same time.
• Alternative Transportation Site – The InterContinental San Francisco provides it guests with an alternative transportation website inviting them to find the most eco-friendly way to explore the city. Guests can select a destination and receive a calculation on price and use of CO2. For example, a trip to the Ferry Building by foot uses zero CO2 and costs nothing. By public transportation, the trip uses .39 pounds of CO2 and costs a few dollars. The website also features a carbon footprint calculator.
• Electric Vehicles – In spring 2011, the InterContinental San Francisco announced a partnership with Zipcar, Inc., the world’s leading car sharing network, to introduce a Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) to its guests. The vehicle, which will become commercially available in 2012, takes up to three hours to charge and can travel on electric-only power at speeds of up to 62 mph for approximately 13 miles, after which it shifts to operate as a conventional Prius hybrid, averaging an estimated 50 miles per gallon.
• Green Partnerships – The InterContinental San Francisco’s looks to introduce its guests to other like-minded green partners during their hotel stay. For example, we are currently partnered with San Francisco-based Lemnis Lighting to introduce their new Pharox 300 light bulb to our guests. The bulb uses up to 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs and is more energy-efficient than a CFL lamp while giving off a warm white light. Because of this partnership, guests are able to learn about and experience a new eco-friendly lighting technology that they may want to incorporate into their own home.

While our leisure and independent business travelers have a number of opportunities to “opt-in” and get further educated on green practices, we find that our larger corporate groups are drawn to our hotel as a result of our sustainable operations. Because we are located in the Bay Area and close to Silicon Valley, we are surrounded by a number of clean technology and green companies that hold the same green standards and corporate responsibility policies that we do at the InterContinental San Francisco.

Behind the Scenes Green

The success of any green hotel property goes beyond the guest experience. At the InterContinental San Francisco, our green programs are a true success because everyone who works on property is involved in the programs. We first started with the introduction of a “Green Committee” bringing together executives from nearly every department on property to talk about what we wanted to accomplish and how we wanted to go about it. This committee was really responsible for paving the way to our LEED certification and is also crucial to our continued green efforts on property. In addition to our committee, we actively share news about our green successes throughout the hotel team. Each year, we host an Earth Day celebration inviting all of the hotel’s employees to meet our green vendors and participate in green activities. Together, we all see the benefits of our actions and are better suited to talk about our successes to our guests. If the entire team from executive management to housekeeping wasn’t part of our promise to deliver a luxurious yet green hotel stay, then we would not have a successful program.

What’s Next

While there are many ways in which the InterContinental San Francisco hotel is already participating in conservation and green programs, we also understand that there is more that can be done. We are constantly looking to improve and evolve our green policies while continuing to set the standard among premium green hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Starting this fall, we are introducing a couple of leisure packages that will invite guests to enjoy both a green hotel stay and San Francisco experience. As a leading green city in the United States, there are a number of activities for guests to enjoy from the Farmers Market to a bicycle ride across the Golden Gate Bridge – we want to be able to create something all encompassing for our guests that also value eco-friendly and sustainable practices.

We are also currently working to give our guests the tools to further their green education when they are visiting. The InterContinental San Francisco is exploring ways to digitally highlight the results of their sustainability efforts. Whether on tablet, digital reader boards or the green television channel in each room, the InterContinental San Francisco will further educate guests on overall energy use and share our unique achievements. Highlights will include:

• ecoMODE Statistics: The hotel will be able to inform guests in real time the number of rooms on property utilizing the ecoMODE in-room thermostat. The information, found on the hotel’s green channel on the televisions, will also illustrate the amount of CO2 emissions saved by opting in to the program.
• InterContinental San Francisco Sustainability Reports: The hotel will offer real time reports on electricity, gas and water usage as illustrated in meters showing the average use of the day as well as current use.
• Transparent ENERGY Star and Waste Diversion Rates: To highlight the hotel’s ENERGY Star rating of XX and its 80% waste diversion rate, the InterContinental San Francisco will illustrate the savings in icons such as trees or cars to showcase the positive environmental impact of the hotel.

Being a green hotel property is something that is clearly on its way to becoming an industry norm. Of course, how hotels choose to have an impact on guests and employees is really up to them. The green building movement does provide challenges but is also an excellent opportunity to become innovators, educators and set the tone for other hotels to follow suit. Here at the InterContinental San Francisco, while we’ve come a long way, we are really just getting started.

Mr. Laginia first joined the InterContinental Hotels Group in September 2000, assisting with Front Desk and Front Office operations and management at the InterContinental Tamanaco in Caracas, Venezuela. In 2006 Mr. Laginia joined the team at the InterContinental Miami and subsequently trained to become the Assistant Director of Front Office in 2008. Upon his move to the InterContinental San Francisco in 2009, Mr. Laginia was appointed as the Director of Front Office Operations, followed by two years as the Director of Rooms Division. In this role, he was responsible for day-to-day operations and overseeing the Front Office, Housekeeping, Security and IT departments. Mr. Laginia was also instrumental in the creation of the hotel’s Innovation Committee and has worked on several projects associated with InterContinental San Francisco’s LEED certification, all of which contribute to increasing guest satisfaction. His newest role at the InterContinental San Francisco is as Director of Operations, overseeing not only the Rooms Division but also supporting the Food & Beverage and Accounting divisions. Mr. Laginia can be contacted at 415-616-6500 or juan.pablo@ihg.com Extended Bio...

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