The Refinishing Touch Blog

Hospitality was among the hardest-hit industries in the economic recession. Yet despite declines in hotel operating profits, property values and mortgage capital, both hotel buyers and brokers stand to benefit in the near future in several ways.

One way buyers benefit is that they can purchase properties for bargain prices. Past recessions have demonstrated that hotel values typically drop to between 30 and 40 percent of their replacement cost. HVS, a global hospitality consulting organization, conducted a sample of transactions involving U.S. branded hotels in 2009, and they found that current hotel room prices appeared to be close to the bottom-out range and room prices were significantly less now than they were in 2007.

In addition, many highly discounted hotels are located in neglected areas and markets that have halted or slowed development until the economy recovers. This creates a barrier will help prevent buyers from overbuilding in the future.

Most hotel owners are steadfastly clinging to the hope of economic recovery before putting their properties up for sale. According to HVS, the number of hotel transactions that took place in 2009 were roughly one-quarter the number that took place in 2005. On the bright side, private equity funds have raised billions to purchase deeply discounted hotels with equity capital once they’re put up for sale, which means the funds could provide much-needed financing once mortgage debt becomes available again.

Hopefully the combination of private equity capital, a limited number of transactions and slowly improving occupancy rates will result in increased room rates and an improved market, and with any luck, these efforts will only drive the hotel industry to an even more rapid recovery.

Labels: 2010, economy, Hotel Industry, HVS

Making a difference in the environment doesn't always have to mean creating an eco-friendly hotel or using solar cells for energy. By making just a few changes to the way you live, you can help the planet in your own small way. The EPA's Pick 5 campaign shows just how easy this can be.

The idea is simple: put into practice any five of the EPA's tips, and we'll all be better off. Keep helping out and convince your friends and family to do the same.

We chose five of our own—try them out for yourself:

• Save water: start turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth or shave, and take showers, not baths
• Reduce electricity: use programmable thermostats, fluorescent light bulbs, and Energy Star products—and don't forget to unplug things when not in use
• Recycle old electronics: bring TVs, old computers and other obsolete or broken electronics in for proper recycling, keeping hazardous e-waste out of landfills
• Rethink your commute: walking and riding a bike are both great ways to get exercise and reduce air pollution, and riding public transportation or carpooling help reduce emissions
• Use chemicals safely: compare products and check labels to make sure the pesticides, paints and cleaning agents you use don't hurt the environment, and remember to dispose of them properly

You’ve seen our choices, now pick five of your own and spread the word.

Labels: energy saving tips, EPA, pick 5

On Saturday, March 27 at 8:30pm local time, hundreds of millions of people will, for one hour, turn off their lights. They won't be going to bed or leaving their houses, but taking part in Earth Hour 2010.

Created to encourage people worldwide to consider their effects on the environment, Earth Hour drew over 80 million American participants in 2009, and nearly one billion worldwide.

Earth Hour has been attracting participants on more than the household level: a number of local governments, businesses and landmarks all have taken part in Earth Hour before. If the Las Vegas Strip and Sydney Opera House can go without light for an hour, your hotel probably can too.

Taking part in Earth Hour is a powerful way to show that you’re engaged in environmental issues, but remember to stay involved after the hour ends. Turn off your lights not just at 8:30, but when you're not using them. Switch to energy-efficient bulbs, drive less, recycle and reuse. The effort doesn’t stop when the clock hits 9:30.

Labels: Earth Hour 2010, green hotels

One thing that we continue to see in the hospitality industry is that hotels attract customers by meeting consumer demands, and more and more, guests are looking to stay at environmentally responsible hotels.

It seems Expedia agrees. Working in conjunction Green Key Global, Expedia will implement the Green Key Eco-Rating Program into its website. By incorporating the ratings into its website, Expedia users will able to search for green hotels by destination and know that their choices are certified by a third party as environmentally sound.

The Green Key Eco-Rating Program is a system that rates hotels, motels and resorts on a scale from 1-5. These ratings come as the result of an in-depth assessment of the hotel’s business and environmental goals in areas such as corporate management, food and beverage operations, energy and water conservation, hazardous waste management and community outreach. Green Key also conducts on-site evaluations as part of determining a hotel’s rating.

We at TRT have seen firsthand how more hotels are going to great lengths to appeal to the eco-savvy traveler. Now Expedia is making strides in simplifying how these travelers find the hotels that provide exactly what they want.

Labels: Expedia.com, green hotels, Green Key Global, Hospitality

One of the keys to environmental education is making it standard, rather than supplemental. The Department of Education took a step towards making that happen by including environmental literacy in its budget for the first time this past February.

"Advancing the environmental literacy of our students is key to addressing today's increasingly complex environmental and related economic, social, natural resource, and energy issues," said Don Baugh, Director of the No Child Left Inside coalition.

When all young people are learning how to take care of the environment, it will become expected, not the exception. Students need to make environmentally responsible practices part of their everyday routine, using it to help consider their lifestyles, product choices and careers.

Environmental change can happen on a personal level or on a classroom level; now we get to see it happen on a national level.

Oftentimes we like to discuss “Sustainability around the world” and look at how different companies and organizations in different countries apply sustainable ideas and ideals to their work. Our favorite posts are, of course, the ones about hotels—we’re always excited to see when a hotel on another continent adopts new energy-saving practices or uses recycled materials in innovative ways, which is why this article on Treehugger around design-savvy eco-hotels caught our eye.

The hotels themselves are visually striking: in one case, a geodesic dome blends into its Swiss Alps surroundings, and in another, picture windows frame rooms overlooking an English cliff. But these designs stand out even more because the level of thought extends beyond aesthetic appeal.

For example, the ALT Hotel in Quebec, Canada uses a green heating system recovers heat from laundry water and exhaust, helping to save 7 kg of CO2 per room every day. At the 968 Park Hotel in Lake Tahoe, California, denim from blue jeans are used for insulation and an old pool fence was recycled to make furniture for its lobby.

A number of hotels go the extra mile to stand out design-wise and, increasingly, sustainability-wise. When the two work in combination, the best-looking hotels look even better.

Labels: Eco-hotels, Environment, Green, Hospitality

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve expanded our Touch Textiles upholstery fabric collection to include a new line of weatherproof upholstery fabrics, durable enough for both indoor and outdoor use.

We first launched Touch Textiles in 1990, and since then we’ve seen the market for sustainable upholstery grow. In addition to function, our customers want great fabrics with rich textures and bold patterns and palettes –that don’t cost the earth in any way.

The new additions to the range are, as you’d expect, in line with our core values: they’re made with an environmentally responsible manufacturing process with low chemical emissions and a dyeing process that creates no harmful wastewater, and they’re built to last, with durability that lasts up to ten times longer than standard fabrics, with resistance to UV rays, sunlight and cleaning agents. And, of course, they look great.

For more on Touch Textiles, read some of the first press coverage from our friends at Askmando.com, and of course, check out the Touch Textiles website.

Labels: Fabrics, Green, Touch Textiles

Hong Kong, one of the world's biggest financial centers, attracts an estimated 30 million travelers each year as part of a thriving hospitality industry. A huge urban center, Hong Kong is not necessarily considered a green place.

However, amidst the bustle of the most densely populated city in the world are signs of green life. Two major Hong Kong hotels have earned significant sustainability accolades. The hotels, the Eaton and the InterContinental, both in downtown Kowloon, each received certification from Green Globe, a program managed by EC3 Global.

The Eaton Hong Kong in downtown Kowloon earned a Green Globe Benchmark Bronze award, hiring a full time environmental manager to ensure the hotel maintains green standards. To date the hotel has earned best practice ratings in energy consumption, potable water consumption, water savings rating, community contributions and pesticide products ratings.

The InterContinental received Silver Certification, ensuring that its staff complies with Green Globe standards in energy and water conservation, harmful substances management, solid waste management and green purchasing. Like the Eaton, the InterContinental has committed to sustainability on a staff level, forming a Green Globe Committee of representatives from major departments, and appointing Green Globe Ambassadors to help other workers follow procedures.

To paraphrase a Hong Kong proverb: 'As long as we have hope, we have direction, the energy to move, and the map to move by. We have a hundred alternatives, a thousand paths and an infinity of dreams. Hopeful, we are halfway to where we want to go; hopeless, we are lost forever."

Hong Kong is headed in the right direction as its hotels embrace green practices. Hope must not be in short supply.

The 1600-plus public schools in New York City include schools of all different shapes and sizes, with areas of study ranging from language-immersion programs to schools for the sciences and academies for the performing arts. Recently, these have been joined by green schools, or more specifically, schools that have involved environmental education into all subject areas.

The “green” in the name of the Green School in Brooklyn or the Growing Up Green Charter School in Queens isn’t a buzzword, but an essential part of the curriculum. How schools apply their environmental focuses varies: some high schools teach vocational skills, like how to install solar panels and insulation. Elementary schools take a different approach, teaching students introductory lessons about recycling and habitats.

Even with a well-designed, scalable curriculum, these schools face the challenge of appealing to a broad range of students. To do so, they tap into local resources, investigating contamination of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal or the ecological implications of razing homes. Through the development of practical skills and conceptual frameworks, students are meant to about more than the environment, but that their choices make an impact in the world around them.

Parents and teachers are part of a generation that is learning how to become environmentally conscious. These green schools are part of a larger movement: fostering the growth of a group of young people who already are.

Labels: Education, Environment, Green, New York, Schools