The Green Lodging Program was launched after stakeholders from industry, government, and the environmental community helped to identify “best practices” across the core areas of the program. These best practices are reviewed periodically to ensure that leading practices and technologies define environmental leadership in the program.

The Green Lodging Program was one of the first programs, run by a third-party environmental group, to address environmental performance in the lodging industry. Thanks in part to the program’s leadership, today there are numerous local, state, and regional eco-certification and ratings programs in the travel, tourism, and lodging sectors. Many of these programs are focused more on compliance with environmental laws and regulations, rather than environmental excellence. While each has value in helping to spur environmental leadership, the Green Lodging Program is unique in that it is international in scope, uses a standardized checklist for evaluating environmental performance, includes environmental education and hands-on staff assistance (as needed), and requires a site visit by a trained individual to verify eco-rated practices.

Yes. The program pricing listed is for individual property registration only. Please contact Fred Realbuto: fred@auduboninternational.org to learn about discounted rates for multiple facility enrollment.

The Green Lodging Survey is a questionnaire designed to give us a detailed environmental profile of all functional areas of your hotel. It’s easy to follow and has questions requiring simple responses. By providing you with a list of well-established “best environmental practices,” developed with industry and outside stakeholder input, you can tell us where and how you have been using eco-efficiency. The Survey’s four main sections – Energy Efficiency, Resource Conservation, Pollution Prevention and Environmental Management –cover issues ranging from energy efficient equipment to indoor air quality to water conservation to environmental policies and communication. It takes about three or four hours to complete.