What not to miss at Greenbuild: Hospitality

For professionals in the hospitality sector, it’s imperative to keep up with green building and maintenance strategies that can make your hotel or event venue appealing to consumers, as well as reduce its footprint and save on energy costs.

At Greenbuild 2015, taking place Nov. 18-20 at the Washington Convention Center in DC, you’ll find educational sessions, speakers, networking opportunities and tours designed for hospitality professionals like you.

Here’s just a sampling of the up-to-the-moment learning opportunities at this conference:

Hospitality and Venues Connect and Learn (Wednesday, Nov. 18, 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.)

Green building practitioners in the hospitality and venues sector will come together for this session to discuss key industry topics. A panel of owners and design specialists on the cutting edge of more efficient hotels, public assembly spaces, arenas and more will discuss the business case for green buildings in a market of competing priorities, effective performance metrics and benchmarking and what to expect with LEEDv4. Small-group discussion and networking time will follow.

Sustainable Hospitality by Design (Thursday, Nov. 19, 3:00-4:00 p.m.)

Hotels and resorts face complex challenges in embracing sustainable building design, construction and ongoing building operations. This interactive panel discussion will engage with three experts in the hospitality sector, from Wyndham Worldwide, Hersha Hospitality Trust and Urban Fabrick, Inc. The session will address how to integrate and balance the drivers behind hotel design, brand identity, guest experience, owner/operator agreements and staff training with first-cost and long-term operational value.

Tour: Comfort, Culture and Country (Friday, Nov. 20, 2:00-6:00 p.m.)

Join this 1.6-mile walking tour that start with the upscale Hotel Monaco, once the U.S. General Post Office. All energy efficiency improvements in the hotel were required to meet a triple standard of GSA requirements for mechanical design, NAFTA compliance and historic preservation. Next, you’ll don a hard hat at the in-progress National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall. This new building is seeking LEED Gold with an active chilled beam system, a radiant floor system with mass air displacement and rainwater harvesting. The last stop is the Embassy of Finland, where visitors will learn about Finnish energy-efficient practices and how this embassy became the first diplomatic mission in the United States to gain LEED and Energy Star certification.

Browse the many other exciting course offerings at Greenbuild.