Hyatt Key West Resort and Spa recently began using all-green chemicals to clean its 118 luxury guest rooms. The hotel also plans to participate in the Global Soap Project, a donation program for recovering discarded toiletries, early next year. The property has maintained its green reputation after receiving the One Palm Award from the Florida Green Lodging Program in 2008, making the resort the first green certified resort on the island. Environmentally conscious planners can utilize the three meeting rooms at the hotel, including the 448-sq.-ft. Harbor Boardroom, which opens onto a gulfside balcony.

Marriott International has integrated its internal inventory system with the Cvent Supplier Network to better connect meeting and event planners with hotels and other special event venues. Leads sent by planners through the network will route to the Marriott sales team, streamlining the RFP process. CSN was launched in 2008.

The international hotel chain also has signed an exclusive multi-year deal with the National Football League: The Courtyard by Marriott brand will be the “Official Hotel Sponsor of the NFL,” and Marriott brands will be the preferred choice for the league’s business travel and meetings. Courtyard by Marriott has more than 900 locations in 35 countries.

The decision comes after years of questions about safeguards against younger viewers, as well as the appropriateness of offering pornographic entertainment. From a business standpoint, the revenue stream these films once commanded has waned, and in the case of Marriott, old video systems that included adult entertainment are being replaced with Internet-based, video-on-demand systems.

The story was different in 1999, when Omni hotels eliminated in-room adult entertainment. At that time, it was a measurable moneymaker, and the hotel’s decision was based on morality. The decision, however, introduced Omni to a market it hadn’t previously courted. USA Today reported that within six months of barring pornography from its rooms, Christian meetings began noticing Omni, and since then Omni has actively pursued this market.

Carlton Hotel in New York City is upgrading its meeting rooms. After a $60 million transformation by architect David Rockwell in 2008, the hotel has now hired the W+CO firm to redesign its meeting rooms. Each room is equipped with advanced audiovisual systems that include ceiling-mounted projectors, mechanized screens, new speaker systems and wireless microphones. Customized speaker platforms host both PC and Mac laptops for presentations. The Grammercy and Flatiron rooms have had new lighting and Eames-style conference chairs.

Marriott International begins offering free high-speed Internet access globally next year to its top reward program members, who previously only received the perk at North and South American properties. Gold and platinum elite members of Marriott Rewards can use the service at JW Marriott, Marriott, Renaissance and Autograph Collection hotels worldwide.

Wyndham Hotel Group has agreed to a deal with Planet Hollywood Resorts International to franchise the Planet Hollywood Hotels brand globally. Wyndham will offer developers the choice of entertainment-based concepts when developing new hotels and resorts based on the size and geographic location. Wyndham hotels and resorts will feature the famous Planet Hollywood restaurants as well as other available Planet Hollywood International restaurant concepts such as Buca di Beppo, Earl of Sandwich and Planet Dailies.

Hyatt Regency Buffalo unveils its new full-service Spa Alexis and indoor rooftop pool, completing its $15 million renovation. The renovation added guest rooms and more than 21,000 square feet of function space. The adjacent Buffalo Niagara Convention Center and Buffalo Conference Center, which has 4,800 square feet of conference space, was also recently upgraded. The hotel’s new saltwater pool has panoramic views of Lake Erie and the city skyline.

Located on the Strip between the Bellagio and the new CityCenter, the luxury Cosmopolitan is a 50-story, 2,995-room property (roughly 1,000 rooms won’t open until July 2011) with 13 restaurants, three pools, nightclubs, boutiques, a spa and 150,000 square feet of meeting space. Guests can easily get from one area to another because the hotel and amenities are situated on just 8.7 acres, compared to up to 85 acres for some competing casino resorts. The guest rooms have private terraces and the pool complex can host large outdoor events.

Tysons Corner Marriott in Vienna, Va., planted a garden at the Northern Virginia Ronald McDonald House in honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The hotel’s “Spirit to Preserve” program aims to make the hotel eco-friendly in all operations aspects, including its meetings where you can request organic flowers, pens made from recycled materials and paperless billing.

Hotel Andaluz, a historic hotel in downtown Albuquerque, received this year’s New Mexico Achievement Award from the New Mexico Recycling Coalition for its efforts to go green during its recent $30 million renovation. The hotel added low-flow toilets, LED interior lighting, bamboo furniture and a 73-panel solar thermal system on the roof.

The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte, N.C., added two beehives to its living rooftop garden that will produce fresh honey to be used at the hotel. The chef already uses organic herbs and vegetables from the roof in his menus. The hotel is the first LEED-built hotel in the city.

Marriott International announced earlier this month that within five years, 300 of its 3,300 hotels worldwide would receive LEED certification, up from just 40 today.

Kimpton Hotels, based in San Francisco, announced late last month that it plans to earn Green Seal certification for all of its 50 American hotels, become the first boutique hotel company in the country to do so.

“It’s a new revenue stream for us,” says Marriott, about the technology he believes could exceed the cost of a hotel room in some markets.

The New York Marriott East Side recently made the $75,000 investment to build out a Go There Virtual room in the hotel. Each room features six chairs arranged around a curved conference table facing several large flat-screen panels. The executives who appear on the panels are sitting at an identical table, so it looks as if they are seated at a large round table. The cameras are voice activated and follow whoever is speaking, allowing people to make eye contact. It costs $500 per hour to book a Marriott conference room with the equipment.