Meeting Planner's Questionnaire

P. O. Box 420212, Houston, TX 77242-0212
713/789-8889,  Fax 713/789-9786
green@greenhotels.com

How Green Are Your Meetings?

Free Meeting Planner's Questionnaire

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Press Release - Houston, Texas - "Green" Hotels Association® is offering a free Meeting Planner's Questionnaire to all meeting planners, convention coordinators, tour guides, travel agents and individuals who are interested in saving water, saving energy, reducing solid waste and SAVING MONEY. Anyone who is interested in our environment and spends money with hotels can do more by choosing green hotels for guest stays, meetings, conventions and family events.

The Meeting Planner's Questionnaire for "Green" Lodging Establishments asks 43 pertinent questions which will reveal the greenness of a hotel, lodging establishment or convention center. Areas covered by the questionnaire include recycling, purchasing of recycled or recyclable items, food and beverage service, bottle deposits, leftover food, meeting materials, guestroom amenities, guestroom linens, water and energy conservation. Each question may be answered Yes or No and examples or further information may be inserted.

"When planning meetings or conventions", "Green" Hotels Association®'s President Patricia Griffin suggests, the questionnaire can be faxed to four or five hotels. When the planner is making a final decision between perhaps two hotels, the planner should call or fax again to ask management if there is one further green accomplishment the hotel will offer to obtain this business. The hotel can perhaps install low-flow aerators on one floor of rooms, add a recycling bin for aluminum by the pool or in a public area, stop using paper doilies on serving trays, delamp vending machines or even contact "Green" Hotels Association® for further information."

Any environmentally-interested group can walk their talk by choosing a green hotel for meeting and convention sites. Meeting planners heavily impact hotels' bottom lines by spending millions of dollars each year with hotels. These meeting planners can very easily and simply influence the environmental awareness of the whole lodging industry by the careful placement of their meeting dollars with hotels that are green. Demands by environmentally-aware meeting planners will help green the lodging industry by making lodging management aware that conservation by hotels is required and appreciated.

Individuals interested in our environment can have an impact by choosing green properties when planning weddings, family reunions, church events, bar mitzvahs, association meetings, etc.

Patricia Griffin further suggests that hoteliers use the form to their benefit in order to obtain environmental organizations' meeting and convention business. Hoteliers should fill out the form, keep it updated and make the "green" information a part of their meeting-planner package so that all environmentally-interested groups will be immediately aware of the property's "greenness".

This questionnaire was adapted from one developed by the National Recycling Coalition, Alexandria, Virginia, with their generous permission.

A free Meeting Planners' Questionnaire for "Green" Lodging Establishments along with a list of "Green" Hotels Association® members--hoteliers who are committed to helping save our planet--may be obtained by contacting "Green" Hotels Association® (please see questionnaire below).

"Green" Hotels Association® encourages, supports and promotes ecological consciousness in the hospitality industry through its trade association and its Catalog of Environmental Products for the Lodging Industry. Because general managers, chief engineers and executive housekeepers generally do not have time to seek out all the ideas and suggestions for conserving water and energy and reducing solid waste, "Green" Hotels Association® has devoted itself to that task. For further information, contact "Green" Hotels Association® at P. O. Box 420212, Houston, TX 77242-0212, 713/789-8889, Fax 713/789-9786 or green@greenhotels.com.

Meeting Planner's Questionnaire for
"Green" Lodging Establishments

Item/Question	Yes	No	Example(s)
Does your property regularly purchase reusable and durable products?
Does your property regularly purchase products that can be recycled?
Does your property regularly purchase recycled products?
Does your property have an in-house recycling program? If yes, what materials are collected for recycling?
Does your property have a recycling program which allows guests to participate? If yes, what materials are included?
Does your property recycle any other materials (linens, phone books, oil, pallets, batteries, etc.)?
Will your property provide recycling bins for our meeting? Circle which materials we will have recycling bins for: aluminum, glass, newspaper, white paper, plastic, steel cans
Will your property commit to seeing that the above items collected from our meeting are actually recycled?
Does your property have a contract with recycling hauler/s or business/es?
Does your property donate, sell, or recycle old "durables" (i.e., furnishings, etc.)?
Will your food and beverage services use reusable items such as cloth, glass, ceramic, etc. rather than disposable items such as styrofoam or plastic for our meeting?
Will your property serve food buffet-style? One large plate? Without garnishes?
Will your property use cream pitchers, sugar pourers and washable spoons rather than individual creamer and sugar packets, etc. for our meeting? Jelly servers rather than individual packets? Other?
Will your kitchen purchase fresh rather than packaged produce?
Are vegetarian or vegan menus available?
Does your property purchase and serve beverages from a dispenser or in returnable refillable containers?
Who pays for bottle deposits--the client or the property?
Does your property donate leftover food to a local non-profit organization?
Will you provide cloth rather than disposable table drapes for display tables?
Will you provide meeting tables WITHOUT tablecloths?
Does your property have props, decorations, foliage or centerpieces that we can use?
Will your property use chips or coins rather than disposable paper tickets for coat checking and auto parking?
Does your property have guestroom dispensers for soap and shampoo?
Is your property willing to remove all small plastic amenity bottles from the guestrooms which our participants will occupy?
Does your property give guests a choice on having bath linens exchanged?
Does your property offer guests a choice on having bedsheets changed?
Do guestrooms have low-flow showerheads? Low-flow sink aerators?
Will pitchers of water be placed on the tables rather than prepouring glasses of water?
Will you use insulated water containers to keep the water cold longer?
Will you use water from a cooler rather than using ice?
Will you use leftover water and ice to water plants and replenish fountains?
What other water conservation measures have been taken?
What are you doing to reduce dry cleaning and laundry paraphernalia?
Does your property offer double-sided copying at a reduced rate?
Do doors to your meeting rooms open and close silently, without any sound?
At the close of our meeting, is your property willing to distribute meeting materials and sample products left behind to a local charity that can put them to good use?
What percentage of your property's lighting is fluorescent?
Do meeting rooms have dimmers on lights?
Do meeting rooms have windows for natural lighting?
What other energy conservation measures have been taken?
What other conservation measures have you incorporated?
Is your property a member of "Green" Hotels Association®?
Has your property contacted "Green" Hotels Association® (713/789-8889, green@greenhotels.com) for information regarding being "green"?
Is there anything further in regard to being "green" that your property will offer us?
Property Name:
Address:
Contact:		e-mail:
Phone:		Fax:

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(c) 2003"Green" Hotels Association®