W San Francisco, certified by the California state as a green hotel, commenced its green initiative in 2007. Moreover, the hotel won “Good Earthkeeping” award from the California Hotel & Lodging Association for its environmental leadership in 2008.
The hotel’s “Sensory Meetings” meeting experience offers beverage and food that is biodynamic, organic and local. W San Francisco’s parent company Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. has 67 hotels worldwide, which have either received LEED certification or seeking or registering for LEED certification.
Generally, the LEED certification recognizes the construction, design and function of green buildings with high performance. The rating system of LEED provides four different certification levels for novel construction, which are Certified, Gold, Silver and Platinum. The certification levels correspond to the total credits accumulated in various green design categories.
The LEED meant for Existing Buildings Rating System addresses complete building maintenance and cleaning concerns such as systems upgrades, exterior maintenance programs and recycling programs.