Harrah's Lake Tahoe and Harveys Lake Tahoe Recognized for Sustainability Efforts by Travelife and the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber
LAS VEGAS, January 15, 2013 /3BL Media/ - As the world's most diverse casino-entertainment company, Caesars Entertainment Corporation continues to lead the way in environmental stewardship with its properties. Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Casino and Harveys Lake Tahoe Casino received the Gold Certification for commendable environmental sustainability practices from the prestigious international certification program Travelife, a program that certifies and assists hotel properties in managing social and environmental issues. The properties also received the “2012 Blue Ribbon Award” in the category of “Large Green Business” from the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber and Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority (LTVA).
“Since the inception of CodeGreen nine years ago, our Tahoe-based properties have made great strides in conservation practices including reducing energy consumption, water conservation, and reprocessing and reusing post consumer waste,” said John Koster, Regional President at Caesars Entertainment. “It is exciting to see our commitment to environmental sustainability and social policy celebrated by members in our community and recognized by world certification bodies like Travelife.”
By fulfilling Travelife’s robust sustainability criteria, Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys Lake Tahoe have been awarded its highest commendation, the Travelife Gold Certification. In 2009, seven Las Vegas properties also received the two-year Gold certification. In 2013, only four U.S. based hotels (three of which are Caesars properties) are currently gold certified out of 400 worldwide. The robust criteria requires applicants to undergo extensive auditing processes that focuses on environmental sustainability components such as supply chain, energy and water use as well as social impacts (i.e. treatment of employees and community outreach).
During the certification process, the properties’ staff demonstrated their commitment to sustainability by encouraging guests and local residents to get involved and actively seeking out new opportunities for improvement. The properties adhered to planning procedures for new developments and produced regular progress reports related to their local community relation initiatives.
“Over the years, Caesars Entertainment properties have displayed a strong commitment to sustainability and in meeting Travelife’s comprehensive requirements,” said Sören Stöber, Travelife Business Manager. “These properties’ history and dedication to sustainability initiatives continue to profoundly benefit the community they serve.”
Caesars Entertainment properties that have been recognized by Travelife with the Gold Certification standard include: Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort, Bally’s Las Vegas, Bills Gamblin’ Hall, Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Flamingo Las Vegas, Harrah’s Las Vegas Casino, Paris Las Vegas, and Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. The Quad, formerly known as Imperial Palace, was previously awarded with a Travelife Silver Certification.
Now in its fifth year, the Blue Ribbon Awards were created by the Chamber and LTVA as a way to recognize individuals and member businesses (especially those directly or indirectly related to tourism) for outstanding achievements in eight categories: Geotourism, Tourism, Experience, Entrepreneur, Customer Service, Public Agency Service, Small Green Business and Large Green Business.
When asked about the meaning of the Blue Ribbon Awards, Chamber CEO Betty “B” Gorman explains, “The Awards were conceived as a mechanism for highlighting and honoring the creativity, persistence and contributions of local businesses and their people. The Chamber and LTVA wanted to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of outstanding individuals and businesses, especially those directly or indirectly related to tourism.”
CodeGreen, the comprehensive environmental sustainability strategy at Caesars Entertainment, is the key driver to Caesars forward progression in meeting its sustainability goals. It focuses on critical issues of energy, waste, water and carbon emissions at all of its properties and seeks to positively impact the environment and communities in which it is privileged to operate.
For further information about the CodeGreen strategy, its accolades and its employee-driven programs visit http://www.caesars.com/codegreen or the CodeGreen Blog at www.codegreen.harrahsblogs.com.
ABOUT CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION
Caesars Entertainment Corporation is the world's most geographically diversified casino-entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, more than 74 years ago, Caesars has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions, and now operates casinos on four continents. The company's resorts operate primarily under the Harrah's®, Caesars® and Horseshoe® brand names. Caesars also owns the World Series of Poker® and the London Clubs International family of casinos. Caesars Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. Caesars is committed to environmental sustainability and energy conservation and recognizes the importance of being a responsible steward of the environment. For more information, please visit www.caesars.com.
ABOUT CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT SUSTAINABILITY
Caesars Entertainment's resorts are committed to making positive environmental and social impacts by engaging their employees and investing in programs and large-scale energy efficiency upgrades. As a global entertainment company, guests receive first-class experiences while Caesars’ more than 50 resorts reduce water, energy and waste consumption and implement low carbon practices. Caesars’ CodeGreen sustainability initiative continues to aggressively evolve its strategy and advance its programs and environmental targets. The company’s efforts promote healthier, cleaner communities around the world. More than 300 of the company's employees have completed its one of a kind its kind, Caesars’ CodeGreen Meetings & Events Certification training program.
Caesars has achieved "industry firsts" in transparency and establishing aggressive carbon reduction goals around environmental and social metrics; earning them nearly 50 prestigious environmental awards and certifications. For further information on Caesars’ CodeGreen efforts and its sustainability report visit www.caesars.com/codegreen or visit the CodeGreen blog at www.codegreen.harrahsblogs.com. Be a part of the conversation on Twitter by following @cetcodegreen and using the hash tag #caesarscodegreen, and on Facebook by ‘Liking’ the Codegreen page – https://www.facebook.com/CaesarsEntertainmentCodeGreen.
ABOUT TRAVELIFE
Travelife is a certification system, dedicated to achieving sustainable practices within the tourism industry. It aims to provide companies with realistic sustainability goals, tools and solutions to implement positive change within their businesses and supply chains. The system is a wholly owned subsidiary of ABTA – The Travel Association in the UK.
The Travelife Sustainability System for Hotels and Accommodations is a certification system helps hotels and accommodations manage their social and environmental impacts and communicate their achievements to customers.
The sustainability system provides a framework that is based on European and International standards, to help properties to manage their environmental and social performance. Once subscribed, properties undergo a third party audit where a full environmental and social assessment of their property is conducted against the sustainability system criteria. If properties demonstrate that they meet the requirements of the sustainability system, they will achieve Bronze, Silver or Gold Travelife certification awards which can be displayed in brochures and on websites. In addition, properties also feature on the Travelife Collection at www.travelifecollection.com.
To date nearly 17,000 properties have registered with the Travelife Sustainability System for hotels and accommodations, 1,500 have completed a full third party audit and more than 500 properties have achieved a Travelife award. The System is the only certification scheme that works in partnership with some of the largest tour operators in the world as well as smaller independents, who all use Travelife to manage their contracted hotels and accommodations.
For more information about the Travelife Sustainability System please visit: www.travelife.org.
