Sustainability
Sustainable Portland Hotels
In Portland, it isn’t important that businesses and people think and be green (environmentally speaking), it’s nearly a mandate. The fact is, the city of Portland’s substantial efforts at sustainability are evident everywhere. So, when Hotel Fifty proudly outlines its sustainable efforts, it understands it is part of something way bigger.
Even Travel Portland (Portland’s private non-profit destination marketing organization) on its Green Meetings website page encourages meeting planners to Meet Portland. Meet Green. Why, they even boast a Green Meetings Toolkit. To learn more, visit greenmeetings.travelportland.com. Not only that, they’ve posted a list of 142 Portland businesses listed as Green Resources!
So you see, environmental conservation is an essential element of Hotel Fifty’s mission and vision. The hotel embraces green practices across all departments, acknowledging that green initiatives are not only environmentally responsible, but economically beneficial too.
Kermit the Frog was oh so wrong when he sang, “It ain’t easy being green!” It can be when an organization chooses to be. And management and staff at Hotel Fifty, in proud Portland, Oregon tradition, continue to work toward decreasing its hotel global footprint by implementing the following environmentally sustainable features, products and practices (by hotel division):
Accommodations
- Offer water saving options for sheets and towels in guest rooms
- Repurpose gently-used hygiene products for distribution in impoverished communities worldwide
Featured in all Hotel Fifty guest rooms are Green NATÜRA bath products. They are environmentally friendly amenities featuring bottles made with PCR (Post Consumer Recycled) material and containing the proprietary ECM BioFilms’ bio-additive. This revolutionary additive renders the bottles 100% biodegradable in permitable environments including landfills and compost piles. These plastic products made with ECM BioFilms’ bio-additive are fully biodegradable when disposed of in aerobic or anaerobic environments, which include landfills, compost facilities and agricultural or erosion-control settings.
- Paperless guest check-in and check-out
- Key cards made from recycled corn products
- Environmentally safe, certified green cleaning products for guest rooms and public areas
- Low-flow toilets and shower heads
- Access to public transportation
****Hotel Fifty is mere steps away from MAX Light Rail service, Portland’s highly touted transportation solution… itself widely renowned for reducing the city’s carbon footprint. TriMet’s MAX (Metropolitan Area Express) Light Rail connects downtown Portland with Beaverton, Clackamas, Gresham, Hillsboro, North/Northeast Portland and the Portland International Airport.And one of several conveniently accessible destinations from Hotel Fifty via MAX is the Oregon Convention Center. Talk about “near-total greenness.” Why, in September 2008, the OCC was recertified with the LEED-EB Silver rating from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), making it the first convention center in the nation to achieve recertification at a higher rating!
Engineering
- Implemented internal policy to turn off lighting and HVAC when guest rooms are not occupied
- Recycle programs for cardboard, paper, aluminum, plastic, toners and printing ink
- Purchase recycled paper and related products
Sales and Marketing
- Sales and Marketing’s salute to sustainability comes through its use of paperless, online promotional sales tools such as eMeetings & Events Guide and Weddings eBrochure. Once paper-trail staples, no more!
Human Resources
- Associate training on hotel ‘green’ practices
Even one of our guest room special offers (Go Green) is all about social responsibility. View it here.
