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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  61
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.
Due to the lower occupancy rates, hotels can’t afford to undertake______.
选项
答案big-ticket green renovations
解析 细节归纳题。本题考查旅馆较低的入住率引发的后果。第三段第二句提到，旅馆的人住率较2009年有所恢复。第三句进而指出，尽管人住率有所恢复，但整个行业仍然不很景气，并提供了具体的人住率。第四句用This承接上文，指出了旅馆入住率低的后果：旅馆很难承受得起费用高昂的绿色革新。故答案为big-ticket green renovations。
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