hospitalitystyle.com

(September 2008) posted on Tue Sep 09, 2008 EDT

Eco-conscious entrepreneur Wen-I Chang channeled his passion for a greener world into development of the first gold LEED-certified hotel.

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Eighty-seven change orders and 12 to 15 percent cost overruns weren't enough to stop Wen-I Chang from delivering the world's first gold-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified hotel, Gaia Napa Valley. Fortunately for him, being green got a lot easier between the long development track that led to the 2007 opening of that breakthrough property and the 30-month ramp-up to the 2008 debut of its California sister, the $18 million, 122-room Gaia Anderson Hotel & Spa.

"Now I want to go further," he says.

Chang, the eco-passionate president of Atman Hospitality Group, clearly likes being in uncharted waters. That's why he left a close-knit, comfortable family in his native Taiwan to settle in San Francisco and why, after years of developing Holiday Inns and Hiltons, he exited the safe structure of big-brand hotel franchise development to launch his own green chain. "Franchising is about conformity and conformity is always boring," he says bluntly. 

On the other hand, he also admits that the one step forward/two steps back process that made Gaia Napa Valley a reality wasn't always pretty. "I was ready to abort it several times," he says, recalling examples like the parking lot surfacing materials that consultants said would cost 25 percent more than asphalt--but which actually cost twice as much. He was constantly frustrated by the lack of luxury green products and the price of those that had come to market. "But then we'd get past whatever the particular hurdle was and carry on," he says.

As the premiums for green-ness come down (Gaia Anderson's costs were no more than 6 percent over average; his first urban hotel, now ready to start construction in downtown Merced, Calif., should be even less), Chang's designing projects with "deeper ecology." Examples: While big chains are shifting to compact fluorescents, he's installing solar lighting tubes in every guest bath room. Worldwide chains have embraced soy ink, but Chang has moved on to Do Not Disturb signs made from recycled tires and uniforms reincarnated from recycled bottles.

There's something of the thrill-of-the-hunt when he finds a new product with an inventive streak. His favorite new thing? "Marmoleum [a flooring made from linseed oil, rosins and wood flour]. It's totally biodegrable. If we want to redesign, we can just throw it out with no negative environmental impact," he says.