Green Hotel Opens in San Antonio

The new Holiday Inn Northwest/SeaWorld, just a stone’s throw from SeaWorld San Antonio, is helping lead the way on providing environmentally responsible meeting facilities.

The hotel, on track to get a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, boasts:

• Solar panels that heat hot-water heaters to save 20 percent in gas use.
• Water cisterns to collect rainwater and air conditioning runoff to irrigate the property, which cuts water use by half.
• Bicycle storage and preferred parking for van pools, car pools and low emission vehicles.
• Low-flow faucets and shower heads, and duel-flush toilets
• Sensors that turn off lights and adjust heating and cooling when rooms are unoccupied.

As a full-service hotel that opened in October, Holiday Inn Northwest features 6,000 square feet of meeting space, a 24-hour business center and 194 guest rooms, including 10 suites and 20 ADA rooms. Also, there are three food and beverage outlets, including Sporting News Grill — a high energy bar and grill with 19 plasma televisions tuned to major sporting events.

In addition, the hotel offers golf packages to  Hill Country Golf Course, and has four water areas: an indoor pool, outdoor heated pool, a hot tub and children’s pool.

John O’Connor, Director of Operations for Hospitality Management Corp., says the Holiday Inn Northwest/Sea World is the first LEED project for his company.

“We have taken certain elements and best practices from the project and will implement them at some of our other properties,” he said.

Guests can learn more, such as how much energy the building is using at any time, by using an interactive Green Touch Screen in the lobby.

Meeting professionals can find out about many other green efforts in San Antonio by visiting "Green" Meetings.