Leading Hotels Rolls Out Green Initiative
MAY 23, 2007. The Leading Hotels of the World is launching Leading Green, a carbon neutral programme whereby The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. will directly absorb the cost to offset guests' energy consumption for stays at any of its 440 hotel members worldwide.
Guests will be encouraged to make a conscious decision toward greener travel by supporting Sustainable Travel International (STI), the foremost non-profit organisation in responsible tourism.
Paul M. McManus, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd said: "We are extremely proud to be the first luxury hotel company to provide a carbon offset program with STI. While many companies offer the opportunity for customers to make voluntary donations, we feel strongly about taking a leadership position in environmental responsibility and setting the example. We are, therefore, delighted to be making the financial contribution on our guests' behalf. The Leading Green Initiative is entirely underwritten by The Leading Hotels of the World - and prices have not been increased to support this effort."
The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. will make a donation of 50c to STI for every night of a guest's stay when their reservation is made through www.lhwgreen.com , or when 'Leading Green' is mentioned to any one of the company's worldwide voice reservations centres.
The investment per guest represents 29.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity supplied by new wind and solar power, which equates to 33.7 pounds of greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Brian T. Mullis, President of Sustainable Travel International stated, "We are very excited to be partnering with The Leading Hotels of the World to educate their guests and hotels to reduce their environmental footprint by the efficient use of energy and minimization of waste."
"And we were especially delighted to see how seriously Leading Hotels' executives are taking this partnership, when they committed to offset the energy consumption at the annual Sales & Marketing Conference held in Stockholm this month. A corporate donation will be made to STI to offset the energy consumption of all nearly 200 attendees, not only their accommodation, but also their flights, meeting rooms and common areas," Mullis concluded.
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