Socially Responsible Hotelier Rests Easy
by July 13, 2009 12:00 am 176 views
T.J. Angeleno never considered himself a recycling kind of guy. Then he moved to Fayetteville.
That was prior to the opening of the city’s Courtyard by Marriott in October 2007. Now Angeleno runs the greenest hotel in Northwest Arkansas, oversees the sustainability efforts of its management company, and even takes the cost-cutting, energy-saving lessons he preaches every day home with him.
What sparked the transformation?
“Primarily just being in this area,” Angeleno said with a smile.
Guests at the Courtyard find a laminated sheet detailing the hotel’s green practices on top of the hospitality guides found in every room. It’s a subtle prod meant to get guests to join the hotel’s efforts.
“We can encourage our guests to recycle, we can encourage them to turn off the lights,” Angeleno said, “but it’s our procedures that are going to make the biggest impact on our reduction of waste.”
Those procedures are abundant. From energy-efficient light bulbs to key packets and business cards printed on recycled products, from environmentally friendly cleaning agents to the practice of running only full loads of linens and dishes, the hotel thinks sustainability in almost every practice. All of it, Angeleno said, started with a simple idea.
“We said, ‘Let’s look at recycling, let’s start small,'” Angeleno recalled. “Then when you turn over one stone, you find so many more things that you can do.”
Courtyard also benefited from Flintco Inc.’s involvement in the construction process. After starting the recycling program, Angeleno brought in a consultant to help make the hotel more energy-efficient, only to hear he had no suggestions.
Angeleno took the combination of good fortune and practical application and ran with it. Now Courtyard has roughly half its employees either carpooling, biking or walking to work, and is in the process of becoming LEED-certified.
The result is a business that has mixed cost-cutting and marketing benefits with a desire to be socially responsible.
“We’d be foolish not to do it at all of our properties,” Angeleno said.