LAS VEGAS—Las Vegas Sands Corp., a leading international developer of multi-use integrated resorts, launched its custom Sands Eco 360° Meetings program. The program extends the Las Vegas Sands’ award-winning sustainability efforts to its large meeting and convention customers, giving them the opportunity to host gatherings in the largest LEED building in the world in a more environmentally friendly way.

SAINT CHARLES, MO.—FreshStay.com now has more than 5,000 reasons for hotels to go smoke free. With the addition of nearly 200 new hotels, including numerous Comfort Suites hotels, FreshStay.com now has more than 5,000 properties that are committed to being 100 percent nonsmoking. “Reaching 5,000 hotel partners is a milestone that we are not only proud of, but it speaks to the growing commitment throughout the hospitality industry to the health and comfort for frequent breathers everywhere,” says Ray Burger, founder of FreshStay.com, which was launched in 2006. “Eliminating smoking isn’t just a trend, or isolated in a few geographic regions anymore. It’s proven to improve guest satisfaction and increase profitability. We truly believe that it should be standard operating procedure for all hotels, motels, inns, and B&Bs everywhere.” As the world’s leading online directory of smoke-free hotels, FreshStay.com now has partners in all 50 states, Canada and around the globe. Among those properties are more than 640 Comfort Suites hotels within the United States. The Comfort Suites brand made the decision to go smoke free in 2007.

TORONTO—Being a good corporate citizen is more than a policy or a program; it’s about putting ideas into action and making the world a better place, one step at a time. Now, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts offers a new, complimentary program that makes planning a green meeting or event easier than ever. Greening Meetings, now available at every one of the company’s 85 hotels and resorts around the world, is a menu of flexible options to conserve energy, reduce waste and support sustainability at events large and small. The new program is available at no additional cost. Available options cover a wide spectrum of initiatives from food and beverage to meeting services and accommodations. Examples include paperless planning, opportunities to donate used decorations and display materials, local printing services to lower transportation impact, local and seasonal menus, reuse of guestroom linens, on-site recycling and composting, and more. Every Four Seasons property has a Green Team dedicated to developing and expanding sustainable practices at the hotel or resort.

PARK RIDGE, N.J.—Hertz and Marriott are introducing electric-vehicle (EV) car sharing at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront and the first EV car rental program in downtown San Francisco. This new hotel amenity enables guests and local area residents to drive a wide range of new EV models made available on an hourly or daily basis through Hertz On Demand car sharing. EVs are available at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront 24/7 with Hertz self-service technology enabling guests and area residents the luxury of signing up for Hertz On Demand car sharing on the spot and using an EV immediately. In addition, Hertz is the first car rental company to introduce EVs into its downtown San Francisco fleet which can be rented from Hertz Rent A Car’s Mason Street Location. “Hertz is excited to partner with Marriott to bring EVs to car rental customers in the city of San Francisco,” said Mark P. Frissora, Hertz chairman and CEO. “Hertz has a 30-year relationship with Marriott and we can be found in more than 100 Marriott hotels nationwide.”

OTTAWA, ONT.—Delta Hotels and Resorts is the first national hotel chain to commit its Canadian portfolio of properties to the new Green Key Meetings program developed by the Hotel Association of Canada and MPI Foundation Canada. In addition to being Green Key Certified, all 46 Delta Hotels and Resorts have now been given the Green Key Meetings Certification, which provides meeting planners a guarantee of Delta’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

SAN DIEGO—HD Supply Facilities Maintenance, a distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products, announced the launch of its mobile-enabled e-commerce website, hdsupplysolutions.com. The new mobile e-commerce enabled website has been developed with ease of use as its primary design philosophy, ensuring users have the same positive experience they’ve come to expect on the company’s traditional website.

LAS VEGAS—For the third consecutive year, Caesars Entertainment Corp. is sponsoring Dartmouth College’s Big Green Bus tour across America. The converted Greyhound bus, operated by students, will run on recycled waste vegetable oil (WVO) as it travels the country educating individuals on best sustainability practices. The 11-week, 12,000-mile journey will take the 13 students through 31 states and will make refueling stops at Caesars resorts including Harrah’s New Orleans (July 23), Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino (August 3 in Las Vegas), Harrah’s Rincon Hotel and Casino in North San Diego (August 5), and Cleveland Thistledown (September 3), among other scheduled locations.

CHICAGO—Protect-A-Bed recently released the only guaranteed way to kill virtual bed bugs—a fun, interactive iPhone game called Bed Bug Plague. Bed Bug Plague is a new addition to Protect-A-Bed’s free Bed Bugs 101 iPhone application, a comprehensive and easy-to-use reference guide on bed bugs, including how to recognize them, details on their appearance and the symptoms they cause.

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. ECPAT-USA offers TassaTags, luggage tags made by women at The Regina Center in Nongkhai, Thailand. A TassaTag (Travelers Against Sex Slavery and Trafficking) is a 4" x 6" bright, hand-woven cotton, fair trade luggage tag that helps one spot one’s luggage more easily.

PORTLAND, ORE.—Saving Green by Going Green, a new book from MeetGreen, focuses on the business case for green meetings and then digs into the step by step process to put a sustainability framework into action. Nancy Zavada, Amy Spatrisano and Shawna McKinley, the authors, have spent years fine-tuning the processes necessary to create sustainable, cost effective meetings that go beyond the “doing the right thing” stance.