Ecolodgical: Removing barriers to environmental building design in the hospitality industry

The global hospitality industry is in a unique environmental position. Tourism operators often rely extensively on locating near unique environments to attract tourists and generate income. Unfortunately, hotel developments that accommodate these tourists have become the nodes for environmental degradation due to inefficient building design and wasteful operating practices. Thus, hotel operators find themselves in the rote of damaging the resource that sustains their business.;The EcoLodgical Internet toot removes or at least minimizes these barriers by providing an accessible global venue for hotel designers, managers, and operators to engage in environmental building design and operation. The tool provides guidance through the entire environmental building design and operation process and allows the user to define their context and tailor content for their specific geographical design parameters. Using multiple media formats in combination with user-defining features, solutions are discovered and action plans are developed using an online interface. This provision of comprehensive environmental building design and operation information with participant contributed content in an accessible, interactive format sets a precedent in the industry.;Keywords. Environment, Sustainabitity, Building, Design, Operation, Management, Guide, Hospitality, Hotel, Internet, Tool;To date, the hospitality industry has provided only limited resources to assist their members in transforming hotel facilities into sustainable operations. The majority of information available focuses on the building operation and servicing of clients but neglects the significant environmental impacts related to and catalyzed by the hotel building. Moreover, significant barriers exist to accessing this information including limited geographical distribution, prohibitive economic costs, and language and cultural barriers.