Green Groups Don't Have to Sleep on Dirty Sheets

Knowland finds planners can't enforce acceptance of environmentally friendly practices

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. April 22, 2009

SALISBURY, MD, April 22, 2009 - The Knowland Group, the world's leader in hotel group intelligence, finds that meeting planners do not actually require their attendees to accept hotel-offered green options! Practices, such as forgoing daily laundering, can not be individually enforced by planners, Knowland found, after calling environmental groups from within the extensive Knowland database of meeting and event planners.

An event planner for one of the nation's top ecology organizations (commenting anonymously), said his organization doesn't mandate the placement of "Do Not Launder" cards on beds by its members, though he would hear complaints if such options were not offered. He adds that supposedly green hotels vary wildly in their commitment to offer environmentally conscious options. "They're in it for the money, just like everyone else," he noted, although he credited Hyatt, Hilton and Starwood as being among the better hotel chains, in terms of their sincerity in providing green options.

Knowland contacted the Environmental Markets Association and found they typically choose environmentally conscious hotels for their meetings and strongly advise their attendees to eschew the daily laundering of sheets and towels. However, executive director, Lauren LeMunyan, acknowledges the group doesn't police their members individually. "We don't have to," says LeMunyan. Her members, she adds, would immediately inform her if such eco-friendly options weren't offered. LeMunyan's group is planning their upcoming conference in the week following Earth Day.

The Knowland Group, who speak to thousands of meeting planners every month (including the scheduling of sales appointments, booking events, conducting follow up interviews and much more), found that offering a comprehensive menu of ecologically conscious choices has become a "green" bottom line that can gain or lose hotels coveted "green" customers. Knowland also discovered that the state of the economy has caused many Earth Day celebrations to be scaled back or kept local this year, further impacting the hotel business in major markets.