Being environmentally friendly is very popular these days, even in India, where they will soon have their first green hotel. The Park Hotel will be located in Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state Andhra Pradesh. This 280 room hotel should start its operations in mid 2009. It cost approximately $70 million, which is approximately fifteen per cent more than the cost of a regular hotel. It is necessary to distinguish a green hotel from an eco-friendly hotel. The first one is build so it saves energy whereas the letter is constructed using recycled materials. As mentioned before the Park Hotel cost is approximately 15 per cent higher but it is supposed it will save some 34.7 per cent of the energy costs. Another interesting thing about the facility is that it will have air-handling systems for smoking and non-smoking areas. Ninety per cent of the hotel will be non-smoking. Officials from the Park Hotel want the Hyderabad property to receive US Green Building Council"s (USGBC) certification and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) gold rating for this hotel. Another facility is planed for Pune. The group has gained here 90,000 sq ft and wants to build another green facility. This hotel is planned to acquire “only” a LEED certificate.
In India there are approximately nine eco-friendly hotels that have the ECOTEL certification. Among them is for example Lotus Suites in Mumbai and Uppal"s Orchid in New Delhi. ECOTEL certification is given to those who lead the hospitality industry in environmental protection and preservation. There are 17 green buildings and some 170 facilities are registered with Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), awaiting LEED certification. All round the world there are not many green hotels. There is for example the San Francisco-based Orchard Garden Hotel but according to experts the amount of such facilities should rise in the future.
