San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
YOUNTVILLE’S BARDESSONO IS STILL DEEPLY GREEN — JUST LESS VOCAL ABOUT IT.
When Bardessono, the ultra-high-end hotel and spa in Yountville, opened its doors in 2009, it announced itself as “the greenest hotel in America.” But scan Bardessono’s home page now, and the slideshow of images casts a luxurious spell, with phrases such as “one indulgence at a time” enticing you to book a stay in the lap of Napa Valley luxury.
Except for the ambiguous phrase “Exceptional by nature,” there’s not an eco-green adjective to be seen on the home page. What happened? Did Bardessono ditch its environmental efforts in lieu of luring ultra-high-end travelers with dreams of incomparable pampering, even toilet seat covers that automatically lift when you step into the hotel
restaurant restrooms? (Yes, they really have them.)
Not so, says Sileshi Mengiste, the hotel’s polished vice president of operations. “It’s not the lack of commitment,” he notes, sitting on a shaded banquet next to the hotel’s main reflecting pond. “We remain true to our brand and to ourselves.”
According to Mengiste, Bardessono still has its
LEED platinum certification, meaning the hotel has achieved the highest rating for its energy and environmental design — a term sometimes referred to as “deep green.”
But Bardessono’s ecofeatures are largely behind the curtain. Most of the hotel’s hundreds of solar panels are hidden out of sight (though you can spy some from the hotel’s rooftop outdoor pool). And unless you ask, you’d never know that a sophisticated underground system heats and cools the hotel’s guest rooms, spa and hot water.
Keeping the green out of sight is intentional, says Mengiste, strolling to the hotel’s kitchen garden. “It’s much easier for a consumer to be interested and drawn to a luxury hotel rather than an eco-hotel,” he says. “It’s a marketing tool to draw more people and more traffic than ever before.”
Traffic, it should be noted, that’s willing to plunk down $800 a night on weekdays, and $1,500 a night on weekends, with a two- to three-night minimum.
Mengiste turns to walk along a gravel path flanked by beds of fresh herbs and pineapple guava bushes in bloom. “You come for the luxury,” he says. “But then you find out that you are in an environmental hotel, and you are pleasantly surprised.”
Bardessono’s marketing shift from eco-messaging to uber-pampering isn’t surprising, some experts say.
“Bardessono is still a very green hotel,” says Bob Massaro, CEO of Healthy Buildings Companies in Napa. “There just not waving the flag about it.” In Massaro’s view, it’s partly because efforts like recycling and shower dispensers replacing teeny-tiny shampoo bottles are becoming the norm, rather than uniquely intriguing features.
“Bardessono’s guests don’t really care,” he says. “What they do care about is luxury. Guests appreciate green buildings, but, because being green has become more mainstream, it’s not as critical a marketing angle as it used to be.”
Even if the guests don’t really notice, the hotel sure does. That’s because environmental features can make sense financially. For example, water conservation methods can reduce costs over time, as can
solar and geothermal power. “The pendulum has swung from altruism to economic benefits,” Massaro says.
While it’s true that Bardessono’s alternative power sources can reduce operating costs, other environmental steps can be pricey. An upgrade to the geothermal system — projected to cost roughly $100,000 — is in the works, as is the installation of more solar panels.
The hotel also works closely with the city of Yountville to avoid environmentally damaging options on the property whenever possible.
“If they want to spray chemicals to kill weeds, we say we can’t do that on our property because it doesn’t follow our environmental initiatives,” Mengiste says. Instead, he notes, management opts for less harmful methods, like controlled burning when conditions are right, even if it’s more expensive. “The city honors our commitment and supports us.”
Switching to green products can also run up the tab. Buying alternative plastics, such as trash bags made from recycled materials, “is the most expensive thing we do,” he says.
Sometimes, though, Bardessono’s green initiatives get bent a bit. While bathrooms normally feature low-flow shower heads, if a guest wants a water-guzzling style that drenches like a monsoon, “we’ll make it happen,” Mengiste says. “Ninety-five percent of what we are doing is green, but 5 percent of the time we’ll make an exception, because it’s for the comfort of the guest.”
The approach of wrapping green features in a veil of luxury was the wish of Bardessono’s original developers, says David Moore, chief operating officer of WATG, the firm that planned Bardessono roughly a decade ago. (The original developers sold the property to a Dallas hotel group in 2015.)
Moore says the original owners “weren’t going for LEED certification. They wanted a luxury resort that was environmentally conscious, using various environmental initiatives to reduce its impact to the site and the Yountville community.”
Bardessono’s original vision is even more relevant now, as evidenced by the worldwide demand for WATG’s sustainably responsible designs for luxury resorts and hotels. WATG’s recent sustainably designed projects have opened in Malaysia and the Serengeti, and on Hainan Island in the South China Sea, with more slated for Turkey and Panama.
“We would suggest that sustainable design and development is at the forefront of our client’s minds today,” Moore says.
In the United States, LEED ratings for hotels continue to rise. According to a 2016 report from the U.S. Green Building Council, the organization behind LEED awards, “LEED-certified hotels of all sizes are found in more than 40 U.S. states, 31 countries, and five continents.”
Glenn Hasek of Green Lodging News, which covers environmental news and trends in the hotel industry, points to another reason sustainable construction is on the rise: Guests want it.
“People have an increasing level of consciousness about energy, water conservation and waste. If guests get a plastic bottle of water at a hotel, they’re increasingly aware that the bottle could end up in the middle of the ocean or on a beach somewhere,” Hasek says. “Travelers are making the connection between what they buy and what that might mean on the environmental quality of local and global environment.”
A survey from Hilton, which has pledged to reduce its environmental footprint in half by 2030, also suggests that many consumers are making the connection between where they stay and what it might mean to the global environment. Of nearly 72,000 respondents, 33 percent said they seek out a hotel’s environmental and social efforts before booking (some admit they’d only do it if the information was easily accessible).
For now, Bardessono keeps booking rooms, regardless of whether or not it touts its greenness. Perhaps we’re merely marking a new phase of environmental awareness, one that isn’t based on marketing, but that just makes sense.
“Fundamentally, creative and responsible design creates a better vision for the world,” says WATG’s Moore. “Living in balance with the environment is good for us as individual travelers, and it is good business for our clients.”
Harriot Manley is a freelance writer and photographer. Email: travel@sfchronicle.com