Even luxury hotels are giving the green light to green travel.
The all-new Omni Fort Worth Hotel will be driving guests around in the all-new Cadillac Escalade Hybrid SUV when the hotel opens in January 2009. The SUV will be a 2009 model, manufactured at the nearby General Motors plant in Arlington, Texas. It will be available to taxi guests to meetings, shopping or attractions such as the Fort Worth Opera, the world-class Amon Carter Museum of art, or one of the world's best honky tonks, Billy Bob's Texas.
Yes, the Escalade Hybrid is Texas-big. But it also has an EPA-estimated 50 percent improved city fuel economy over the traditional model. And it's just one of many environmental efforts built into the the hotel design. These include --
- motion-sensor lighting system to conserve energy during non-peak hours
- revolving doors to help reduce heating and cooling consumption.
- more than 20,000 square feet of landscaped rooftops that conserve energy, filter rainwater and help mitigate the Texas summer heat.
So, I'm giving a hats off salute -- my cowboy hat, of course -- to the Fort Worth Omni for going green without compromising luxury.
