What's new along The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel

Sanibel Harbour Resort joins Marriott International

Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa has joined the Marriott International family, bringing the first full-service Marriott Hotels & Resorts brand to Lee County. The 347-room resort is owned and managed by Columbia Sussex and will operate under a franchisee agreement with Marriott International Inc.

In its transition to a Marriott, the resort will offer an upgraded bedding package and installation of flat screen high-definition televisions in the Sanibel Tower and Captiva Tower. Along with a number of other upgrades, the total resort renovations are expected to be complete by the end of 2011.

“We are thrilled to have the Marriott Hotels & Resorts brand in the Sanibel Island area with such a pristine product,” said Rob Steigerwald, COO of the southern region for Marriott International. “We see a tremendous opportunity for growth in this area, and we look forward to welcoming new guests to southwest Florida.”

As a franchise partner of Marriott, the property will have access to Marriott’s global reservations system, as well as its sales and marketing engines targeting both group and leisure customers. The resort also will participate in the Marriott Rewards program, Marriott International’s guest loyalty program through more than 3,000 properties in 67 countries.

“Marriott brings so much strength in small groups. We will now have access to 5,000-6,000 group rooms, which have never met in Sanibel before,” says Cory Clark, Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa general manager. “As well there are at least 8,000-9,000 room nights of Marriott Reward redemption each year so that will add around 3,000-4,000 new tourists to the area each year.”

For more information, call 1-800-Marriott or visit www.marriott.com.

Cape Coral City Council member joins TDC

The Lee County Board of County Commissioners has appointed Cape Coral City Councilman Chris Chulakes-Leetz (r) to the Lee County Tourist Development Council (TDC).

Chulakes-Leetz has been a Cape Coral resident since 1997. He attended Chemeketa College in Oregon and Governor’s State University in Illinois earning his bachelor’s degree in business and psychology. For 20 years, Chulakes-Leetz served as a paramedic and firefighter. He currently works as a residential real estate associate and is involved in several not-for-profit organizations including Pets are Working Saints (PAWS), Compassionate Friends and Grace Methodist Church.

Chulakes-Leetz replaces Cape Coral Councilwoman Delores Bertolini.

In addition, Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall has been reappointed as TDC chairwoman. The nine-member TDC was established in 1983 to increase tourism to Lee County.

Florida Parks Service launches Twitter page

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Florida Park Service has launched a Twitter account designed to connect Floridians, visitors and businesses with information about the Sunshine State.

One of the fastest growing social media networks, Twitter allows individuals and organizations to share information about news and happenings.

www.Twitter.com/FLStateParks  highlights Florida’s 160 state parks, events and contests as well as featuring photos and questions of the week, exclusive dicounts, free admission coupons, links to podcasts and Web cam footage and emergency weather conditions and closures.

The Florida Parks Service includes several parks in Lee County, including Lovers Key State Park, Cayo Costa State Park, Estero Bay Preserve and Koreshan State Historic Site.

For more information, visit www.Twitter.com/FLStateParks or www.floridastateparks.org.

New employees join “Ding” Darling team

Stewart

Wertz

J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge recently welcomed two new staff members.

Ivy Stewart has joined the team as the wildlife refuge specialist and assistant manager. Stewart arrived from National Key Deer Refuge in Big Pine Key where she started as a Student Career Experience Program intern in May 2007 and later moved up to wildlife refuge specialist.

Filling the position vacated by Joyce Mazourek in March 2009, Tara Wertz has stepped in as refuge biologist. The move follows her 4,200-mile trek from Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she shared an office with former "Ding" Refuge Manager Rob Jess. Wertz, who has clocked 25 years of work in the field, looks forward to the change in climate, habitat, species and public use.

Environmental restoration project starts on Lighthouse Beach

On Jan. 4, the city of Sanibel began the Lighthouse Beach Sand Placement Project, a $175,223 initiative that includes the placement 5,000 cubic yards of sand on the Lighthouse Beach Park. Due to the dangerous nature of the sand placement work, The Lighthouse Beach Park and portions of Lighthouse Road will be closed intermittently during the project. Motorists and pedestrians should adhere to closure signs and flagger instructions in construction areas. The fishing pier, fishing pier parking lot, gulf side parking lot and beach will remain open for the duration of the project. Work is expected to take 20 days to complete with construction taking place 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with some Saturday work. The project is fully funded through a Lee County Tourist Development Council grant.

Smith Travel Research sees U.S. hotel recovery in 2011

Smith Travel Research predicts the U.S. hotel industry will begin its recovery of rates, revenues and occupancy in 2011. The company recently announced the current construction pipeline is expected to be mostly complete by 2011, and predicts 0.8 percent growth for the year.

In addition, demand is expected to grow by 3.2 percent in 2011, according to BusinessTravelNews. The growth will lead to a 2.4 percent, year-over-year increase in occupancy, a 3 percent increase in average daily rate and a 5.5 percent increase in revenue per available room, according to the report.

"For the first time since 2007, occupancy will improve in 2011," Smith Travel Research president Mark Lomanno said in a statement. "With that, we think that finally the industry will have the ability to raise room rates. It won't nearly come close to getting back to 2007 levels but will at least be the beginning stages of improvement."

Winging It: Airlines are taking some green steps
By Tom Belden, philly.com.

Airlines know there is no point denying it: They are substantial contributors to the carbon dioxide emissions responsible for global warming.

An estimated 3 percent of emissions worldwide and 2 percent in the United States are generally attributed to airline operations. That makes the industry an easy target for those who would limit flying, or make it much more expensive, as a way to help offset aviation's impact.

But after monitoring a series of industry initiatives this year, it looks to me as if both some individual airlines and aviation as a whole are taking seriously their responsibilities to be better, less-wasteful corporate citizens.

Among the efforts, airlines are investing in the development of aviation fuel made from renewable resources such as algae instead of petroleum. The industry is pushing for replacement of the World War II-era radar system for air-traffic control with a satellite-based system that will save fuel by enabling airlines to fly more direct routes.

The International Air Transport Association, the trade group for carriers worldwide, has called for a coordinated effort to steadily reduce airline carbon emissions, with a United Nations agency setting the standards rather than having each nation set its own rules.

For individual carriers, the latest example of the efforts came when Southwest Airlines staged its annual media day at its Dallas headquarters. Some other carriers, including US Airways, hold similar annual events, which are a series of briefings for reporters by airline executives about new developments at the company.

This is the first event of its kind I've attended at which an airline devoted several hours to detailing its "green initiatives" and to boast a little about what it's doing to save fuel and cut its emissions.

The briefings started in a Southwest hangar, where looming over us was one of the airline's 737 jets that has had its interior overhauled into what has been dubbed "The Green Plane." The plane was scheduled to make its first flight in October, from Dallas to Seattle, and will move around Southwest's route system in coming months.

While the cabin of the Green Plane looks similar to any of Southwest's 500-plus 737s, it's different in key ways, using lighter-weight, recyclable materials that will also help reduce fuel consumption.

On the floor of the cabin, a new type of carpeting called InterfaceFLOR is laid in squares - with no seams showing - so that large sections, such as the aisles that wear out first, don't have to be completely replaced at once. When the old carpeting does need to be replaced, it's recycled into new carpeting.

Two types of leatherlike seat covers were installed for testing, one on each side of the cabin. One side got e-Leather, which is made from recycled material discarded by the leather industry. On the other side is Izit Leather, which isn't leather but a synthetic material that looks and feels like the real thing.

My guess is, once Southwest customers realize they're flying on the Green Plane, they will want to move around the cabin if there's room, trying out both types of seats. The e-Leather has a little more nub to it, and the seats are a little firmer than those covered in Izit Leather.

Southwest is also making an effort to do more recycling of all the trash that is generated on board from drinks and snacks. Already, Styrofoam coffee cups are out, replaced with paper cups.

How will you know if you're flying on the Green Plane? There will be a card in the seat-back pocket - it's green - with the headline "Doing the Right Thing." It describes the new material used in the cabin and the airline's other initiatives.

Of course, airlines, like other industries, will have to do more than adopt good recycling programs if they are going to really help slow down global warming. But the Southwest program looks like a good-faith effort.

Many of the world's airlines have pages on their Web sites where you can learn more about what each one is doing. The International Air Transport Association (www.iata.org) and the U.S. equivalent, the Air Transport Association (www.airlines.org) also have lots of information on their sites.

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