Sunday, January 27, 2008

Free Parking for Hybrid Vehicles


As part of its on-going program of Green Initiatives, the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess is giving free valet parking to guests who arrive in a hybrid vehicle.

That's a saving of $23 per night, over and above the savings drivers get at the gas station.

The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess joins five Fairmont Hotels in California and one in Quebec offering this hybrid perk. The hotels are the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, the Fairmont San Jose, the Fairmont Miramar Santa Monica, the Fairmont San Francisco, the Fairmont Newport Beach, and the iconic Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City.

The free parking perk is just one part of Fairmont's award-winning environmental program. It was the first major hotel chain in North America to go green, before it became fashionable, with programs for waste management, energy and water conservation, and a strong program to involve the local community.

In Scottsdale, Fairmont has helped create an eco tour called the Sonoran Trail, adopted a rescued Desert Tortoise, which is a threatened species in the Sonoran Desert, and instituted a recycling program that generates more than 200 tons of recycled products each year.

Preferential parking for fuel efficient vehicles definitely is a trend -- check my recent post on the Lake Tahoe ski resort doing something similar.