Hospitality's 1st Carbon-Neutral Event to Reduce Greenhouse Gas

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. October 14, 2008

CLEVLELAND, OH / ST. Charles, MO / BOULDER, CO, February 9, 2007. Cleveland-based Lodging Hospitality magazine, Saint Charles-based Pineapple Hospitality and Boulder-based Sustainable Travel International (STI) are pleased to announce that the Green Hospitality Conference (www.greenhospitality.net) - being held March 14 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas - will be the first carbon-neutral lodging industry event. "Carbon neutral" represents the point at which greenhouse gas emissions have been identified, measured and, where possible, reduced, and remaining emissions have been offset through high-quality renewable energy, energy-efficiency and/or reforestation projects.

"A number of tourism-related events and conferences have offset greenhouse gas impacts associated with event facilities and others offer attendees voluntary opportunities to offset greenhouse gases, but the Green Hospitality Conference will be the first carbon-neutral event of its kind," says STI President Brian T. Mullis. "As an educational-based event, we collaborated with Lodging Hospitality and Pineapple Hospitality, organizers of the Green Hospitality Conference, on how they could take a leadership position in addressing the issue and offer best practice ideas and options to the industry - and they rose to the occasion."

Green Team

Lodging Hospitality and Pineapple Hospitality, a leading "green" hotel supplier, are taking a leadership role in lodging by sponsoring offsets of all carbon emissions produced during the event, including attendees' travel to and from Dallas, hotel stays, electricity consumption associated with the Anatole, and waste generation associated with the event. Offsets will help fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the U.S. and in developing countries through STI's partners Bonneville Environmental Foundation and MyClimateTM and will reduce carbon emissions elsewhere.

"We believe that elevating awareness about green hotel design, construction and operations is the single strongest thing we can do to get hoteliers involved in environmental issues and sustainable hospitality," says Lodging Hospitality Publisher Gary Dietz. "We also understand that hotel stays and air travel contribute significantly to global warming. Demonstrating that carbon impacts can be offset sends an important message to hotel owners, operators and major hotel brands."

Ray Burger, President of Pineapple Hospitality, concurs,"Taking a leadership role in the lodging industry means recognizing our responsibility to the world we live in and supporting programs that make it better," Burger adds. "Pineapple, in conjunction with our suppliers, who represent many of the world's best green companies in the hospitality industry, recognizes the value of acting on initiatives such as this. We commend STI for taking such significant steps to combat global warming."

Lodging Hospitality Editor Ed Watkins says collaborative efforts being taken to organize lodging's first carbon-neutral event mark a big step in the right direction.

"Travel is a significant contributor to global climate change," Watkins says. "Though voluntary carbon offsetting is not a solution in and of itself, it is an important part of a comprehensive strategy for addressing the problem. By encouraging hoteliers and the travel industry at large to take a responsible approach to combating global warming, together we can become part of the solution."