Back Of House Heroes

Another champion we met during our hotel back of house tours in San Francisco is actually a team of them! The Stewarding Team at The Palace Hotel.

The Palace Hotel composts, recycles (with an amazing 75% diversion rate) and is working hard to develop new strategies to be more sustainable. Meanwhile, this Stewarding Team has taken the initiative to pull out all plastic they find, put it aside and resell it. They save all the money and identify worthwhile local projects to donate to. Projects are usually brought forward by a fellow employee and are wide ranging in scope.

Steven Shapiro, Associate Director of Conference Services, calls them, "my heroes." Now, Steve is one of my heroes as a champion for green meetings at The Palace Hotel for many years. He never gives up and figures out how to have the right conversations (ie including using the savings to their pocketbook) to make it happen. So when Steve calls Robert "Romano" Romano, Stewarding Manager and team his heroes, you know they are extraordinary!

This is such a great example of how individuals are making a difference--one piece of plastic at a time.