March 29th, 2011 by TRT Blog

We celebrated Earth Hour by going dark and hope you did as well. This month we’ll be taking a good look at the way various part of our country go green and will be speaking with those who make it happen. But for now we’re taking a look back at the unofficial Earth Day countdown kick-off known as Earth Hour. Here are some of our favorite images from around the world.

Earth Hour candles in Argentina

A firedancer during Earth Hour in Cancun

Dubai went dark during Earth Hour

The Eiffel Tower during Earth Hour

Earth Hour in the United Arab Emirates

The Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, United Kingdom

All images courtesy the Earth Hour Flickr page

Earth Hour was a total success with over 134 countries participating and an untold amount of business/city/state participation. We’re excited to take this momentum into the month of April and through Earth Day. Be sure to follow us @refinishtouch for updates and insights as we move through the month.

Earth Hour, visualized, worldwide

March 25th, 2011 by TRT Blog

In 2007, citizens and businesses in Sydney, Australia turned their lights off for one hour in support of energy conservation and awareness as a small part in the fight for global climate change. Over the next three years, this simple act would become an event of worldwide fame and importance with over 128 countries and territories participating. Earth Hour, which has become a flagship event in the green movement, is a call to each and every one of us as global citizens to do our part by shutting off our lights for just 60 minutes as a show of support for this shared cause.

Taking place tomorrow, March 26^th, at 8:30 pm local time, Earth Hour is expected to see a larger participation rate than ever before. Through the incredibly simple but effective act of going dark for a short while, we expect to see the message of change being embraced across the world. Globally recognized monuments like the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and even the Las Vegas Strip will be switching off non-essential lighting in a show of support. Of course, you can count on everyone here at The Refinishing Touch to participate as well!

Further to the message of Earth Hour, the program ‘Beyond the Hour’ has been developed to provide inspiration for others to commit to long term changes that not only better the environment, but our everyday lives. The message here is clear. The green movement isn’t just about the environment anymore, but the world we leave behind for generations to come. We’ve taken action to get involved on the Beyond the Hour site.  Check it out here: http://www.beyondthehour.org/#/Act/83820/

Will you be observing Earth Hour this weekend? Leave us a comment and let us know! We hope you join us this Saturday as we ‘go dark’ to support positive global change.

Earth Hour, Sustainability

March 22nd, 2011 by TRT Blog

Our TRT crew has arrived to the center of the “circle city”. Known for its National Historic Landmark – Indiana War Memorial Plaza, several major sporting events and small-town big-city culture, Indianapolis, Indiana is sure to entertain anyone who visits. In the heart of downtown’s Wholesale District, at 40 West Jackson Place, the AAA four-diamond Omni Severin Hotel boasts a magnificent attribute to the city’s skyline. Originally built as a luxury hotel in 1913 with 424 rooms and 17,000 square feet of event space, the Omni Severin has been completely renovated and continues to strive to be the number one hotel in the area with the help of The Refinishing Touch.

We know everyone who visits Indianapolis doesn’t just sit in their hotel room all day long, and rightfully so because Indianapolis has so much to offer.  The Omni Severin is conveniently connected by skyway to the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the 2007 Super Bowl champions – the Indianapolis Colts – and host of the 2012 Super Bowl. If you are in the mood for shopping, the hotel is also connected to the Circle Centre Mall. No matter how you spend your day though, when it’s time to call it a night and head back to the hotel, you won’t be disappointed by the serenity and cleanliness of the Omni Severin.

Our crews were on-site refinishing the case goods in each guest room and adding a little something extra to complete the transformation – new hardware! The Omni Severin took advantage of our expanded services which include an extensive selection of furniture hardware to convert ordinary furniture into an extraordinary expression its taste and décor. Our array of pulls, knobs, casters and drawer slides proved for the Omni Severin that the slightest detail can add so much more character to the ambiance of the guest rooms.

With the population growing 50 percent faster than the national average and home to the world’s largest Children’s Museum and the Indianapolis 500 it’s safe to say Indianapolis is drawing the attention of more and more people. If you travel to Indianapolis for business or pleasure, be sure to keep the Omni Severin Hotel in mind for your accommodations.

hospitality, Operational Update, Travel

March 18th, 2011 by TRT Blog

Travelers are savvier than ever. Websites that compare rates between leading air carriers such as Kayak, price monitoring services like Bing Travel and smartphone applications all connect travelers with airlines like never before. Word of mouth is much louder – and travels farther – thanks to the web and social media.

No tool is as useful as lately it seems than Twitter. In short 140 character bursts, airline companies and hotels are able to update guests on exclusive deals or unique events they’re sponsoring. It’s also useful for better customer engagement. Hotel companies are routinely ‘re-tweeting’(or in shorthand, RT) comments by its followers providing an engaging experience with former guests, which in turn demonstrate a willingness to be active encouraging people on the fence to become customers.

These techniques are standard for both airlines and hotels, however when HotelChattter brought it to the attention of their readers, many described what they look for in a hotel’s Twitter feed. Almost all loved the special deals that are associated with a hotel’s tweets while a few wanted simpler messages put out by the chains. Surprisingly, many didn’t appreciate the amount of RT’s done by hotels. Maybe it’s because they weren’t mentioned by the hotels?

Despite commenters not completely sold on the concept of hotel’s re-tweeting messages, the fact is it’s effective and helps hotels reach customers in a way the once never could: individually. The greater promise here is that by reaching the customers directly hotels and airline companies can direct market to those who will potentially spend money on them while those same customers can have a more direct impact with a company’s image. No amount of corporate spin can silence a angry mob of Twitter users who feel your brand isn’t what it claims to be.

It’s nice to find that control is shifting back to consumers thanks to the power of 140 characters

hospitality, marketing, Travel, twitter

March 15th, 2011 by TRT Blog

It’s a sentiment we hear more and more of. The hotel industry is recovering and making money again.

We view the hospitality glass as half full here at The Refinishing Touch so we never doubted what we heard from our friends in the industry, however it’s heartening to see data to back up hope.

According to data from STR, occupancy across the industry was up close to six percent this January from last year, and the average rates of rooms around the country increased by nearly three percent. What was most surprising and uplifting was that Detroit saw the largest increase in occupancy at 14 percent. It’s still too early to say for sure, but if these rates continue, Detroit may finally be picking itself off the ground and re-establish itself as a major travel destination.

As always there is an opposite end of the spectrum. In Miami, occupancy rates dipped by a mere 0.8 percent year-over-year, representing the biggest decrease in the country. For an area as active as Miami, the drop should hardly be noticed. Additionally, the biggest average daily rate decreases were minimal as Virginia Beach and Tampa saw drops of under three and one percent respectively.

We say it all the time, but there is still work to be done for hospitality to return to prominence. Thankfully the task doesn’t seem as daunting when we see results such as this, especially concerning areas such as Detroit – places hardest hit during the recession across all industries – experience revivals. We will  continue to view the cup as half full and are excited to see not only hospitality but the country in general get back to where it belongs.

hospitality, hotel occupancy, recession

March 11th, 2011 by TRT Blog

More and more schools are taking advantage of grants and extra funding to undergo green renewal and repair projects. It’s the pursuit of the ideal green school that everyone is after.  A school building or facility that creates a healthy environment that is conducive to learning while saving energy, resources and money.

Schools that were not necessarily set up or built as green operations, or do not have the funding to build new are adapting their facilities through repair and revitalization programs which see areas such as roofing, boilers, windows and lights being given facelifts or even replaced for more energy efficient counterparts. A positive side effect of this work is that learning environments will be much improved for students and staff through the re-use, regeneration or replacement of existing fixtures and fittings – a theme very close to our hearts here at The Refinishing Touch.

In Washington and Massachusetts schools, work is already underway to upgrade to more sustainable and energy efficient methods. In California, planning is underway to spend over $100 million on upgrades and refurbishments for the Sacramento City Unified School District courtesy of the three-year green schools fellowship program of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Administrators are fast recognizing that the benefits of the work stretch much further than enhancing the green credentials of the school and the aesthetic surroundings.  Over time, greater energy-efficiency means running costs are lowered and money can be saved within the school budget and re-directed to other resources. In difficult economic times, these small to medium building and improvement projects are also providing a much needed boost to local construction industries.

Saving energy, resources and money is at the core of every one of our projects. It is reassuring to see schools adopt these initiatives not just for the long term financial benefit. Seeing our children learn in a more sustainable environment allows them to absorb these practices and apply them as more environmentally aware and enabled adults.

education, green, USGBC

March 8th, 2011 by TRT Blog

Many students assess a potential college based upon the content of the curriculum, the prestige or reputation of the school and the employability of graduates. The College Sustainability Report Card allows them to consider schools based on criteria that is quickly growing in importance.

This independent evaluation of campus endowment and sustainability activities (now in its fifth year), surveys and grades environmental sustainability efforts at 322 schools in the United States and Canada. In contrast to academic focus on sustainability in research and teaching, the report card examines colleges and universities, as institutions as a whole through nine main areas:

Administration

Climate Change & Energy

Food & Recycling

Green Building

Student Involvement

Transportation

Endowment Transparency

Investment Priorities

Shareholder Engagement

We’ve talked about how these schools have addressed sustainability through climate change and energy as well as administration practices. The rest of the report card sheds similarly bright light on sustainability matters equally important to prospective students and their families.

With the work we’ve done in universities around the country we were particularly interested in the findings associated with green building. Overall the grades weren’t as high as other categories but there was still plenty to be optimistic about. More than half the schools surveyed either had a LEED certified building on campus or are in the process of building one. While we’re hoping that number will grow in the coming years it was still promising to see that over three quarters of schools have adopted green building policies.

Much of the decision making process is handled at high levels within the university hierarchy. However student involvement is still crucial. To that end, nearly three-quarter of schools have received a grade of ‘B’ or higher for their student involvement practices. Over two in five schools had student representation on its board of trustees with close to the same amount providing green residences, described as: “A living space where students work to reduce their resource use and/or a dedicated green residence for eco-minded students is offered by 45 percent of the schools.”

This report is designed to identify colleges and universities that are leading by example on sustainability. The aim is to provide accessible information for schools to learn from each other’s experiences and establish more effective sustainability policies. An additional goal is to create a culture of green competitiveness between institutions in much the same way as the publication of academic results. This can only be good news. As schools strive to improve or maintain their report card grade, standards in sustainability will be raised across all participating colleges.

grading, green, Universities

March 4th, 2011 by TRT Blog

As more and more evidence is provided that shows climate change is a very real threat to our environment and creatures within those environments, we must admit, we’re still puzzled as to why there has been such a strong resistance to change. Evidence such this page from NASA seem to paint a very clear, irrefutable image of what is taking place on our planet. However, the Economist says 42 percent still don’t see climate change as a serious problem.

Much of the same argument is made in the article that we’ve seen before; citizens are distrustful  of a topic so polarizing in government, the cost to make sweeping changes are too much for the US, especially as we’re still not fully recovered from the latest economic depression and how can we believe evidence that could be created by scientists out to push their own (or certain political) agendas. Unfortunately it’s going to take some time before the US as a whole sees eye to eye with this matter and by then it may be too late.

Other factors listed move away from the same tired reasoning why Americans don’t believe in global warming. Psychological thoughts about denying a problem to terrible to comprehend border on childish, while the metaphysical can take a strong hold of many whom firmly believe that their God wouldn’t let a disaster take place. Isn’t that what everyone said to Noah?

There won’t be a clear answer to why climate change isn’t taking off the way we feel it should but at least what’s written now is less about the problems and slowly turning to how to find a solution. In the Economist piece, a proposed way to satisfy both economic and psychological concerns was to link the debate for climate change and renewable energy into one. Marrying interests of two different groups would allow America to shine as a progressive nation with regard to climate change when it’s clear we’re being lapped by other countries mostly because of in-fighting.

awareness, climate change, higher power

March 1st, 2011 by TRT Blog

There was an interesting piece in Stateline’s ‘Education Beat’ which looked at how some states  are looking to, if not increase spending to schools, to at least maintain it.  It’s an interesting challenge – states are under enormous pressure to cut spending in light of the slow paced economy recovery, reduced federal spending, and the impact on state budgets.

Yet there are pockets of resistance to cut K-12 education spending – from the President’s statement that education is critical to America “”winning the future” to policymakers in states such as California and Connecticut which will not cut K-12 school spending (though cuts are planned for higher education); and states such as Illinois and Iowa, which are proposing to increase K-12 education funding from 3.2 percent and 2 percent respectively.

It’s not all rosy. Consider Illinois which is at the center of a debate following a proposed consolidation of its 868 school districts into 300, and the potential closure of 45 education offices.  Illinois Governor Pat Quinn says this would save an estimated $14 million in the next year.  Though with strong local opposition, time will tell if these cuts will happen – the state has previously abandoned both proposed education consolidations and regional office closures.

Yet cuts need to be made – even in the face of popularity.  Idaho is a dramatic example, with hundreds protesting in the state capital last week.  The state has already made school cuts to the tune of $200 million –  with the knock-on effect of teaching initiatives being canned, salaries being frozen and a number of local district schools going to a four-day week.  And $200 million is not enough – the state needs to another $35 million worth of cuts.  It’s not alone – Texas is planning to cut $4.8 billion from school over the next two years – in total 35 states have made cuts in K-12 funding and 43 states have cut higher education funding.

With high unemployment, oil prices being driven up, and stimulus money drying up, it’s a tough call for education policymakers, decision makers and budget holders – both at K-12 and higher education.  How do you invest in America’s future when you have less to invest?

But there are ways that the budgets can be balanced.  One area that we think is an obvious start is to save on asset spend and protect existing investments through reuse.  At The Refinishing Touch we complete projects where budget spend is cut by up to 80 percent through practical and sustainable refinishing projects – a figure we see not only in the education sector but in the government and hospitality markets as well.  Any institution that has a sizeable spend on furniture can not only limit unnecessary landfill, they can limit budget spend.

Refinishing and reuse may not be a complicated lesson, but it’s a simple action that shows strong results.

budgets, education, Universities