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  3. Hotels eager to satisfy the growing desire of business travelers for eco-friendly lodging are finding that their environmental a

Hotels eager to satisfy the growing desire of business travelers for eco-friendly lodging are finding that their environmental a

admin2012-08-05  49
问题     Hotels eager to satisfy the growing desire of business travelers for eco-friendly lodging are finding that their environmental ambitions have run headlong into the harsh realities of the recession.
    When the economy was thriving, developers were promoting environmental flourishes like roof gardens, floors of reclaimed wood and solar panels. When the Orchard Garden Hotel opened in San Francisco in 2006, it featured furniture made from sustainably grown wood. But now, with reduced operating budgets, hotel owners are putting off the kind of sweeping projects that were common during the bull market and instead focusing on smaller environmental initiatives that don’t cost as much and may even save money at the same time.
    The lodging industry is still working its way through a prolonged slump. Hotel occupancy rates have recovered a bit from the trough (低谷) of 2009, especially at business hotels in big cities. But they remain depressed over all, and average occupancy for all domestic hotels in the second quarter was 60.7 percent, compared with the 69.3 percent the industry enjoyed in the third quarter of 2000, according to STR Global. This makes it extraordinarily difficult for hotels to pay for big-ticket green renovations, especially with a tight credit market. This curb on green projects comes even as a growing number of corporations are reviewing a hotel’s green credentials when they try to obtain bids for contracts. In a business climate where trips and meetings are subject to greater scrutiny, companies are "really trying to look like good corporate citizens," said Nancy J. Wilson, principal of MeetGreen, a company that plans events along eco-friendly guidelines.
    The technology company Cisco asks hotels about several areas of environmental awareness, like recycling protocol (协议), the use of eco-friendly housecleaning products and water conservation. Those with programs addressing at least five categories are identified on the company’s in-house travel booking tool with a green leaf symbol, said Pam Honeycutt, Cisco’s travel manager for the Americas and Europe.
    Evaluating a hotel’s operational impact on the environment is difficult given the lack of an industry standard, she said. "There’s not one definition of what a green hotel would be," she said. To address this demand without going into the red, hotels are looking at what Mr. Faulstick calls "low-hanging fruit". Lacking the capital to sink into big expensive retrofits (翻新), hotels are turning to small-scale conservation programs that will satisfy corporate buyers. As a bonus, many of these programs also reduce their energy and water bills.
The most important characteristic of the Orchard Garden Hotel was that the furniture were made from
选项
答案sustainably grown wood
解析 同义转述题。本题考查Orchard Garden旅馆最重要的特色。第二段介绍Orchard Garden旅馆时提到，OrchardGarden旅馆开业的一大特色就是使用由可持续生长的木材制作而成的家具。由此可知，该旅馆使用的家具的原材料为可持续生长的木材，故sustainably grown wood为本题的答案。
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