Sustainable Travel

As more consumers look for eco-friendly travel destinations and hotels, one of the country’s leading travel guides will now include an “eco” icon to designate “green” hotels as more commercial builders aim for green building standards for their hospitality properties.

The AAA 2010 TourBook editions will now include an “eco” icon to indicate properties that promote environmental and energy conservation, reports Green Lodging News. The “eco” option will also be included as an advanced search option in AAA’s hotels section on its Web site. Only those properties that are AAA approved or Diamond rated will be eligible, reports Green Lodging. AAA’s 26 TourBook guides include detailed information for more than 31,000 hotels.

Properties must also be a certified green lodging site as part of a number of state or national green lodging programs, according to the article.

Builders and architectural firms are also working together towards sustainable building practices. Building on its “green” renovation of Sears Tower, the owners, for example, will build an environmentally-friendly hotel next to the skyscraper, reports the Chicago Tribune.

John Huston of American Landmark Properties, representing the partnership that owns Sears Tower, told the Chicago Tribute that the hotel, financed by private funds, will draw “net zero energy from the power grid.”

According to architectural firm Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture, the building will likely shoot for the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, reports the newspaper.

Several additional eco-resorts can now claim LEED certification. Advantage Fitness Products (AFP), a provider of green fitness solutions, commends three of its hospitality clients that have earned LEED certification. AFP says Orchard Garden Hotel, San Francisco; Intercontinental Hotel, San Francisco and Cavallo Point Lodge, Sausalito, Calif., were three of only 18 hotels nationwide that received LEED certification.