Green Lodging

Green Resources for Hotels

The State of California is recognized throughout the nation for its environmental beauty and its environmental leadership. Each of us has an important role to play in protecting this beauty and helping to conserve California's precious natural resources to ensure that its residents and businesses continue to thrive.

The CIWMB has developed the California Green Lodging Program, in part, to help the hospitality industry minimize their waste, conserve energy and natural resources, and provide the industry with practical, real-world suggestions for sustainability practices that will improve their bottom line. The program also provides well-deserved recognition for those facilities doing their part to help to keep California green.

To apply for consideration in the California Green Lodging Program, please fill out and return the Hotel Survey (PDF, 154 KB). See also Hotel Survey Instructions PDF, 34 KB). Once you complete the survey, CIWMB staff will follow-up by contacting you. The next step will be to perform a Field Survey (PDF, 335 KB) at your facility. Once the field survey is completed, program evaluation and scoring will be conducted.

Facilities that qualify for the program will be rated at one of two levels as noted below. (Also see the list of participating hotels.):

Leadership Level. This is the highest level of program participation. Leadership level hotels achieved a minimum field survey score of 300. They have a written environmental policy in place and meet all seven of the program's criteria:

• Waste minimization.
• Reuse/recycling.
• Energy efficiency.
• Conservation and management.
• Waste management.
• Freshwater resource management.
• Hazardous materials management.
• Environmentally and socially sensitive purchasing policies.

Participation Level. This is the entry level for the program. Participation level hotels are building their environmental green lodging programs. They achieved a field survey score of 250 to 300, and they might not have a written environmental policy in place. Participation level hotels meet some of the seven program criteria, and have three years from their date of enrollment to demonstrate continuous improvement and elevate their rating to the Leadership Level.

CIWMB will assist hotels and conference centers with marketing their facilities to state employees traveling on state business. CIWMB will issue a program certificate to be displayed in the lobby, at the registration desk or any other prominent location at your hotel. Additionally, we will provide you with printed marketing materials: bookmarkers, decals and a comment card (PDF, 116 KB) so that we may receive feedback from the travelers about your facility.

Thank you for your participation in this program. We look forward to your support and commitment to reducing waste, saving energy, water and California’s other valuable resources through environmentally friendly practices in the hospitality industry.

Tools of the Green Lodging Program to Help You "Green" Your Hotel

• Hotel Survey—Hotels should fill this out to apply for apply for green lodging program consideration. (PDF, 154 KB)
  --Hotel Survey Instructions (PDF, 34KB)

• Field Survey—To verify the Hotel Survey. (PDF, 151 KB)

• Application for listing in the Department of General Services, State of California Travel Guide—Hotel that want to apply for listing in the travel guide should print, complete, and fax this form to the Department of General Services.

• Comment Card—Feed back tool for hotel guests. (PDF, 116 KB)

• Food Donations—Information about food waste management and donating food.

Other CIWMB Resources

• Waste Reduction in Hotels and Motels—From the Business Waste Reduction part of this Web site.
• Waste Prevention Information Exchange (WPIE)
  • WPIE Cleaning and Custodial Supplies
  • WPIE Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
  • WPIE Hospitality

Other Resources

• Benchmark Hotel—A tool to help hotels improve environmental performance and make cost savings.
• Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions—The Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions (CERC) was formed in late 2002 to promote environmental best practices for large conventions, starting with the 2004 national Democratic and Republican political conventions in Boston and New York. CERC is a project of the Center for Economic & Environmental Partnership, a non-profit located in Albany, NY.
• Holding a Green Conference—From SustainableBusiness.com.
• International Hotels Environmental Initiative (IHEI)—A program to promote the benefits of environmental management as an integral part of running a successful, efficient hotel business. 
• Green Hotels Association—Bringing together hotels interested in environmental issues.
• Greening the Lodging Industry—From Green Seal. Green Seal is an independent, nonprofit organization that promoting practices and products that cause less waste, conserve resources and habitats, and minimize global warming and ozone depletion. They develop suggested environmental standards for a variety of industries. See their standards for lodging properties.
• Green Meetings—From U. S. EPA.
  • Greening your Meetings and Conferences