If you’re serious about operating a green hotel, you also want to let the world know about your efforts. A cavalcade of organizations—some national, some regional or local—provides a mix of programs that certify hotels as sustainable. The problem is choosing the best certification for you to pursue. Some questions to ask: Which one(s) carry the most clout in the marketplace? What resources do I need to devote to securing certification? How will greening my hotel and the resulting certification save me money and generate additional revenues?

“While some programs are better than others for different reasons, we advise our customers that any certification is a good certification,” says Ray Burger, president of Pineapple Hospitality, a long-time advocate of green hotel design and operation and the founder of EcoRooms & EcoSuites, an independent certification program and directory of green hotels. Burger believes the AAA rating model should be embraced by certification programs to be most effective.

“There are three parts to the AAA model: standards; an inspection or auditing component; and a marketing component,” says Burger. “Marketing is where the state programs are most challenged because, given the economic environment at present, I don’t see many states carving out bunches of dollars to market their green lodging programs.”

At least 16 states, a number of cities, a country (Canada) and several private organizations provide green certification to hotels and other businesses. The granddaddy of them is the Florida Green Lodging Program, a five-year-old initiative that so far has certified more than 400 Sunshine State hotels with nearly as many in various stages of application. The program has gained traction, and a lot more applicants, in the past two years since the governor’s mandate that only hotels covered by the program can house state workers and host state meetings.

Properties can achieve up to three levels (called Palms) of green to designate their level of commitment and achievement in sustainable hotel operations. The vast majority of certified hotels in the state have one Palm.

The Tampa Airport Marriott recently became the brand’s first Two Palm hotel in the state, a designation it achieved by showing year-over-year improvements in a number green benchmarks, such as water and energy consumption and waste generation. Led by Director of Engineering Derrick Sabialeash, the property’s Green Team implemented scores of low- and high-tech solutions to save money and increase the hotel’s sustainability.

“We just got the Two Palms designation so we’re not sure what effect it will have on our business but in the long-run I know it will be helpful, especially with groups,” says Brian Hilterbrandt, director of marketing. “Many customers don’t understand the difference between one or two Palms so we’ve launched an education program to let guests, especially group customers, understand our commitment to the green process and what it means for them.”

Florida and some other states are struggling to maintain funding levels for their programs even as lodging operators show more interest in the certification process. According to news reports, the Florida legislature is contemplating budget cuts that would eliminate more than half of the staff devoted to the certification program.

“Florida has a great model in that they use state employees and trained volunteers to conduct green assessments at hotels,” says Burger. “However, the governor issued his executive order (mandating the state do business only with green-certified hotels) but didn’t provide any more funding or people. Now, they don’t have enough assessors or administrators to work through the backlog of applicants."

Web resources: Florida Green Lodging Program, www.dep.state.fl.us/greenlodging; Green Seal, www.greenseal.org; Green Hotels Association, www.greenhotels.com; Hotel Association of Canada Eco-Rating Program, www.hacgreenhotels.com; EcoRooms & EcoSuites, www.ecorooms.com