Happy 40th, Earth Day!

April 22 marks the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day, and this year Joie de Vivre will be celebrating by treating employees at its more than 30 hotels and corporate office to educational films about different aspects of environmental sustainability, from water conservation (“Flow”) to industrial agriculture (“Food Inc”) and fossil fuel production (“Fuel”). Joie de Vivre recently announced that it has the most green certified hotels in San Francisco, and we are committed to greening all of our properties with an emphasis on recycling, energy and water conservation, and other conservation measures. For more information about Joie de Vivre’s environmental initiatives, check out our Green Dreams program.

Here are just a few of the environmental conservation practices Joie de Vivre’s hotels, restaurants, and spas have in place:

• In-room recycling in all guest rooms
• Biocompostable bath amenities from Lather
• Hotel recycling and composting programs
• Use of recycled paper products and soy-based inks
• Donate leftover food to local charities
• Energy efficient lighting
• Water efficient toilets and faucets
• Towel and linen reuse program
• Reduce use of harmful products (paints, cleaning products)
• Reuse grease/oil, paint, and toner cartridges
• Recycle electronic equipment, light bulbs, and batteries
• Hazardous materials disposed through various hazardous waste vendors
• Organic, fair trade food and beverage available
• Encourage employees and guests to use public transportation

Green Meets Glam at the Galleria Park Hotel

Paul Frentsos, general manager of San Francisco’s Galleria Park Hotel

Yesterday we featured an interview with Hotel Del Sol general manager Gary Sterman on the challenges of greening an entire hotel. Today we’re excited to hear from another of our San Francisco hotels to achieve green certification, the Galleria Park Hotel. The Galleria Park, located in downtown San Francisco, has all the glamour of old Hollywood. Housed within a 1911 building, the hotel faced a daunting task in greening the structure, having to replace old fixtures with energy-efficient ones while keeping its vintage style. Paul Frentsos, general manager of the Galleria Park, kindly offered his insights on why it was important for the hotel to go green and simple things people can do to lessen their carbon footprints.

Why did you decide to pursue green certification for your hotels?
The employees of the hotel expressed a lot of concerns and enthusiasm for becoming green and felt strongly that it was the direction we should go as a hotel to help with the environment.

What were you required to do to achieve certification?
The city of San Francisco has extremely diligent and detailed list to achieve the status of a San Francisco Green Business.  We spent quite a bit of money replacing all the toilets, faucets, shower heads, fluorescent lighting, and waste receptacles to mention just a few things.  Chemical usage and storage were also a big change as well.  Composting and recycling were also a huge part.  Asking hotel guests if they wanted fresh linens or if we could remake beds without changing the linens and getting fresh towels to help save water usage was a big change as well.

(Sweet) Green Dreams at the Hotel Del Sol

Gary Sterman at the Hotel Del Sol in San Francisco

Earth Day celebrates a big birthday this year as it enters its 40th year. Amidst the messages of environmental doom and gloom, there are countless inspiring stories of people who are working toward positive change on a grassroots level - in their cities and towns, at home and at work. Joie de Vivre has long been committed to sustainability via our Green Dreams program. We’re working hard to green all of our more than 30 hotels across California, and recently learned that we have the most green certified hotels in San Francisco, a worthy distinction in a city long known for its progressive social and political ideas.

One of our five green certified hotels in San Francisco is the Hotel Del Sol, located in the city’s Marina District. General Manager Gary Sterman and his staff shepherded the greening of the Del Sol according to rigorous standards put forth by San Francisco Green Business. The process took more than two years, and as part of our celebration of Earth Day we spoke with Gary to learn more about the process. Tomorrow, we will speak with Paul Frentsos, general manager of the Galleria Park Hotel, to learn about his hotel’s green certification efforts.

What is “Local” and Why Should We Care?

Great post on capturing and defining the essence of what “local” is and why we should care at our friends’ companiesandme. Companiesand me features firsthand stories from “inspiring brands” in the Bay Area, and we are proud Joie de Vivre is part of the conversation!

SF Green Festival

Every year, San Francisco is one of the hosts of the Green Festival, the largest sustainability event in the world.  This year, it will be held in the Concourse Exhibition Center on 8^th and Brannan in the SoMa district.  If you are interested in Free Trade Chocolate and coffee, organic beer and wine or just shopping at eco-friendly businesses then this is definitely the place for you next week! 

The Green Festival brings together more than 350 eco-friendly businesses, 125 authors and educators as well as a countless amount of ideas for you and your family to take home with you.  My father and brother have made it a tradition to attend this event every year and always end up being very happy with the sample selection.  They also always end up learning something new such as how solar technology works or some simple trips on how to save water on a daily basis.  This will be my first time attending the Fest and I must say I am very much looking forward to it. 

I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Bamboo.

Sonoma County’s become quite the cycling mecca over the last few years.  A few weeks ago I met 22-year-old national cycling champion Nick Frey there after he finished the 103-mile Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo (along with 3,499 others out for the fun ride).  A cyclist friend of mine had recently bought one of Nick’s bamboo bikes; it’s a gleaming golden showpiece (and workhorse), and was the first Boo in California. I wanted to hear more about Nick’s new boutique bicycle company because in the green design realm bamboo-anything is hot right now, and Nick seemed the perfect individual to begin our “Joyful Entrepreneurs” series.