Because it was my friend Kim Langmaid (the new President of EVAS) asking, and because the Antlers has been the Official Hotel of EVAS and largely because Bob Vanourek was facilitating (who’s at the very top of my all-time business heroes list), I said yes.  It turned out to be the best decision I’ve made in awhile.

Fifteen of the brightest people I know, led by a genius, in an incredibly valuable planning session.  What’s more, it was actually fun.  Bob’s alignment process addresses everything from Purpose, Vision, Values and Goals, to Strategy, Structure, Action Steps and Communication.  Much of that is covered in his book Triple Crown Leadership, plus a whole lot more.  

We spent the entire day on the initial “high-level” pieces.  As a sidebar, when we were talking about the Purpose of the organization (what many call a “Mission Statement”) I was particularly struck by one of Bob’s slides.  It reflected the stated purpose of the United States Humane Society … Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty.  Wow … how’s that for powerful?  It made me think that every Mission Statement ought to be limited to four or five words.

At the end of the day, I admitted to feeling somewhat guilty that I had only spent half the time thinking about the future of EVAS, and the other half applying it all to the Antlers. I can’t wait to put it into practice.  Happily, EVAS has already started to.

Rob

Left, Antlers at Vail hotel; right, photo by Jack Affleck

What does it take to create and sustain special places? The global symposium Elevate Vail 2012 brings together future-minded business leaders, developers, planners, architects, builders and travel professionals from September 25 – 27, 2012 for panel discussions, interactive workshops, site tours, seminars and other presentations about the thoughtful development and caretaking of special places.

The Antlers at Vail hotel is a sponsor and official lodging hotel for the event, which will be held at the nearby Sebastian Vail. ElevateVail 2012 participants will save 35% off standard room rates; studio suites are $156 per night; a one-bedroom suite is $182 per night and a two-bedroom suite is $273 per night, subject to availability.

“We’re excited to welcome our colleagues from ‘down under’ to the Vail Valley this year,” says Antlers General Manager Rob LeVine, who attended the inaugural 2011 Creating Special Places event in Queensland, Australia. LeVine will speak about Sustainable Tourism on September 27.

Elevate Vail 2012 is produced by Regional Breakthroughs/Australia, and features a faculty of international speakers and presenters. Registration is $1450, and includes priority access to all event sessions, special tours and activities, an exclusive gift bag and more. For additional information, visit www.elevatesymposium.com.

The Antlers at Vail offers condominiums ranging from studio suites up to four bedrooms, and each room includes a fully-equipped kitchen, fireplace, free Internet access and free parking in a heated indoor garage. The Antlers Vail is conveniently located with easy access to the ElevateVail/2012 sessions, and the free Vail town shuttle stops just footsteps away. For more information, call 1-800-843-8245 or visit the Antlers at www.antlersvail.com.

Media Contacts: Rob LeVine, General Manager, Antlers at Vail, 970. 476. 2471, RLeVine@antlersvail.com; or Darla Worden, WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations,darla@wordenpr.com, 307.734.5335.

“Going Green” in the lodging industry is not a trend anymore; it’s a way to do business.  Since the early eighties, the Antlers have been committed to green practices.  Recently we have introduced even more initiatives.  Our Sustainability Coordinator believes the new innovations available to all of us not only save energy and reduce waste, but often save the other kind of green ($) at the same time.  “There truly is a balance, sacrificing comfort or quality is not part of the equation anymore.”

A few examples that are now in place, or soon to be in place are the refillable amenities containers that are in all the guest condominiums. Standard globe lighting is being replaced with more expensive but longer lasting L.E.D lighting. Energy management systems are being installed in some of our condominiums which recognize when a room is not occupied and activates a “sleep” mode for energy consumption. We are investigating and considering the idea of “staging” the energy consumption in our building in order to not reach peak demand periods as other properties do.

Some of these ideas and many more are unique to the Vail Valley.  We have taken the lead once again and hope to continue to set an example for all others to follow.

They aren’t doing very well and I find myself  becoming more of a big pain the culo.

My cousin Tim, who I dearly love, owns and operates the Cleats Restaurants in Ohio.  He recently started to recycle cardboard after I hounded him about it last time I traveled to the Great Middle East.  Metro Waste is the local hauler and I told him “I’m not eating any more of your free food if you don’t start doing something.  These guys pick it up and all you have to do is throw it in a different container.”  Trust me when I say there is a lot of cardboard going into those bins from the everyday operation of 14 restaurants.

Now I’m on him about the glass and aluminum.  “You’ve got to be kidding?  You can put it all in one container, it’s called co-mingle, and you cut back on a tremendous amount of waste and…. the general public will finally begin to respect you.

 He said “I wish you weren’t my cousin. Would you please leave me alone?  The girls (waitresses) wouldn’t take the time to separate things and I wouldn’t ask them to do it”.

So I asked them. “I’m not going to drink any more of your free beer if you don’t consider this.”

They said “Good.  We need your table”.

I will continue to be his pain until I make him understand that he, and countless other business operations, are needlessly throwing away millions of pounds of reusable products.  When he starts to recycle, and I’m sure he will, I can’t wait to tell him about the Food Service Technology Center in San Fransisco that studies energy and water efficiency in commercial kitchens.

Greg

Rob.  If you read this you might want to send me to Paris, Rome, etc so I can explain and convince others of the practices in the Western World (or maybe I should just focus on The Antlers).

I 70 looks a lot brighter today.  That’s because the Antlers Staff cleaned it up for the 22nd year in a row.  It’s gotten to where we feel that our 2 mile stretch of highway atop Vail Pass is an extension of the Antlers property, or maybe even like a very lazy employee that can’t clean up after himself.  Either way, we know when this extra piece needs to get polished.

There were 18 of us this year and we even had a few guests help out (thank you Katie, Bob, Linda and Tim for joining us).  These are some smart people.  They saw the ad for the Highway Special and took advantage of the “Stay one Night and Get one Night Free with a catered Lunch afterwords and you get to keep any Valuables you may find if you help Us clean up on Highway Special Day”.

Together, we managed to leave 40+ orange bags of trash along our 2 mile stretch of highway.  That may seem like a lot (and it is), but those of us that have been doing this for awhile observed that it wasn’t as much as last year.  This means one of two things;  1. Either there is less traffic on I70…or… 2. People are actually conscience of the fact that throwing garbage out your windows at 65mph is really not a cool thing to do anymore.  I don’t think it’s number one, so I choose number two.  (Just an aside to throwing things away in the wrong place; Darwin, one of our houseman extraordinaires, who joined us on our “walk”, didn’t mind at all that someone; 1. consciously or 2. unconsciously, threw away a $100 bill.  I don’t think it was number one, so I’m going with number two).

Lots of sunshine, a great lunch, a bunch of laughs, and a good feeling about getting all that junk out of the gutter.  It was a great day and thanks to everyone that helped out including our buddies from CDOT that follow up and the other buddies we work with that stayed behind to run the “ranch”.

I Guess a Little Green,

I need to pick up this milk carton and I can’t get this stupid bag to open.

Greg

If you’ve never participated in a highway clean-up, you don’t know what your missing.  The Antlers is offering a free nights vail lodging if you would like to join us for a couple of hours in the morning to “pick up” our adopted stretch of I70 at the top of Vail Pass.

All you need to do is join us around 9:30 AM on Saturday the 21st of August.  We will be transporting all the lucky participants to the promised land, we do our deed, and then enjoy a BBQ lunch afterwords.  We have been doing this since 1988 and the party gets better every year.  The best part is you get to keep anything of value you might find along the road ( money, tires, sweatshirts, un-opened pop cans, to name just a few things ).

Check out the SPECIALS tab at the top of our web page for the greatest deal in August ever offered.

I woke up this morning and as 300,000,000 other Americans or so do, I brushed my teeth.  Big difference though on this particular morning; I turned the water off while I moved the Johnson & Johnson, soft bristle, blue handled Flintstone toothbrush from side to side.  For 30 or 40 seconds I didn’t waste water.

I’m not usually a breakfast person, but on this day I felt like eggs and maybe a slice of watermelon.  I look into the bowels of my refrigerator and no eggs or watermelon or anything else that wasn’t in a beer can.  I need to go to my local grocer and restock.  I gather my car keys and some currency.  I start the car and have no gas.  Leaning against the wall in front of the car is my bike.  “Why not”, I say to myself.  I peddle to the City Market, purchase what fits it my back pack and proceed home for what is now a well deserved breakfast.  Didn’t have to buy gas, drive the car, use those plastic grocery bags and I got some excersise.   

When I’m at work here at the Antlers, I move around the building quite a bit.  I also wait alot for an elevator.  Today I decide to take the steps rather than stare at the floor looking stupid while I waste precious minutes of my life wondering if the cable car will ever come to my floor.  “Walk the steps” I tell myself.  “I’ll get there faster, help preserve my girlish figure and I can save the Antlers a dime”.  Those elevators use a lot of energy.

I get home from work and want to eat again.  The few dishes I have are dirty.  I wash them by hand.  Everything tastes better on the BBQ grill.  No reason to use 4 stove tops and an oven.  I need music when I eat (blues for BBQ, Sinatra for Italian sausage, etc), but the light bulb burned out over the stereo, so I replace it with a flourescent. I check my e-mails before I go to bed and then turn my computer off.  Now it’s time to brush my teeth again.

Nothing is really happening to me.  It just all seems to make sense.

The landscape of this part of the country is absolutely unique and beautiful. I don’t mean to fashion a scenario that paints Northeast Ohio as a filthy wasteland where trash is pilled along the street curbs, the dumpsters are oozing goo over their edges and the rivers are still burning. I only know the people I know, and they just don’t bother with recycling. A friend of mine hosted a BBQ and I asked him the simple, commonly asked question “Where’s your recycle can?” I was almost made fun of with such an odd inquiry. “Hey guys, the Colorado kid wants to know where to put his beer bottle.” Most restaurants I was treated to had the same type practice. Everything in the dumpster out back.

This is not to say Waste Management doesn’t offer the service of single stream recycling, it’s just that nobody I know uses the service.

The point of my observation while visiting is the difference in lifestyles. What is totally accepted behavior here has barely caught on there. We all have a long way to go. It’s just that some have a further road than others. Anyone out there see the same thing when they travel, or am I totally off base here?

Greg

May 16, 2010 – Vail, CO – The Antlers at Vail, a condominium hotel and conference center, has named Greg Ziccardi to the newly-created position of Sustainability Coordinator. Ziccardi is responsible for researching, maintaining and improving the resource conservation, energy efficiency, recycling and sustainability practices at the Antlers at Vail hotel.

“This is new era in the Antlers’ longstanding commitment to sustainability,” says General Manager Rob LeVine. “I’m confident that Greg will do a great job. He’s excited and passionate about the growth opportunity – both for himself and the Antlers.” Ziccardi has been with the hotel since 2000, and also lives on site as a property manager. 

The Antlers is a 90-room condominium hotel with 2600 square feet of meeting space, conveniently located in the redeveloped Lionshead area near the Vail Gondola. Named the ‘Green Business of the Year’ in 2009 by the Vail Valley Partnership Success Awards, the Antlers Vail condominiums is also proud to be a Green Star-rated business. With condominiums ranging from studio suites up to four bedrooms and plenty of space to spread out, each room at the Antlers includes fully-equipped kitchens, fireplaces, outdoor balconies, free Internet access and free parking in a heated indoor garage. There are numerous restaurants, galleries and shops within walking distance, and the free Vail town shuttle stops just footsteps away. For more information, call 1-800-843-8245 or visit the Antlers web site at www.antlersvail.com.

Media Contacts: Rob LeVine, General Manager, The Antlers at Vail, (970) 476-2471, RLeVine@antlersvail.com or Darla Worden, WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations, (307) 734-5335, darla@wordenpr.com.

###