By Kevin Shalvey
PBN Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE – The first honorees in the Rhode Island Hospitality Green Certification Program were announced in a ceremony today at the R.I. Convention Center.
The 32 organizations and facilities from the local hospitality and tourism industry – mostly, restaurants and hotels – completed workbooks charting their energy and water conservation, waste and recycling practices, which were then reviewed by R.I. Department of Environmental Management officials.
“The overwhelming response proves that going green is not only the right thing to do for our environment, but is good for the bottom line as more business and leisure travelers make buying decisions based on a company’s environmental footprint,” Dale J. Venturini, president and CEO of the R.I. Hospitality and Tourism Association (RIHTA), said in a statement.
The completed workbooks will now be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis by the DEM.
The Green Hospitality Certification Program was launched in January through a partnership of the DEM, the RIHTA, the R.I. Division of Tourism, the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, the R.I. Airport Corporation, the R.I. Convention Center Authority, the R.I. Resource Recovery Corporation, The Proccacianti Group, New Harbor Corp. and the Warwick Division of Tourism, Culture and Development. (READ MORE)
The organizations receiving awards were, by category:
Lodgings:
• Bay Voyage Interval Owner’s Association
• Hilton Garden Inn Providence/Warwick
• Hilton Providence
• Holiday Inn South County/Newport
• Hotel Viking
• Hyatt Regency Newport Hotel & Spa
• Inn on Long Wharf/Wyndham Properties
• Inn on the Harbor/Wyndham Properties
• Long Wharf Resort/Wyndham Properties
• Newport Onshore/Wyndham Properties
• Providence Marriott Downtown
• Radisson Hotel Providence Harbor
• Renaissance Providence Hotel
• The Newport Harbor Hotel & Marina
• The Hotel Providence
• Vanderbilt Hall
• The Westin Providence
Restaurants:
• 10 Prime Steak & Sushi
• 22 Bowen’s Wine Bar & Grille
• Boat House Waterfront Dining
• Chinese Laundry
• Citron Wine Bar and Bistro
• Gregg’s Restaurant
• The Mooring Restaurant
• Pranzi Catering
• Rick’s Roadhouse
• Rue De L’Espoir
• Ted’s Montana Grill
• Eleven Forty Nine Restaurant
• XO Steakhouse
Other:
• Newport Hospitality Inc.
• The R.I. Convention Center
Additional information about the Rhode Island Hospitality Green Certification Program, including the Hotel and Lodging Self-Certification Workbook, is available from the R.I. Department of Environmental Management’s Office of Technical & Customer Assistance
at www.dem.ri.gov.
