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OBMI CEO Doug Kulig, spoke about the hospitality industry’s movement toward sustainability in order to gain a competitive edge. Boutique hotels, which are known for their unique, flexible designs, and socially active, aesthetically interesting, ecofriendly, health-oriented environments; appear to be the new guidepost for hotel design and programming.

“Everyone has to do it now,” noted Doug Kulig, Chief Executive Officer of OBMI, the luxury architecture firm based in Coral Gables, Florida. “But it’s what level you go to and where to draw the line that’s a little gray.”

Larger brands are monitoring the market to understand the next generation of corporate business travelers, which is accelerating the interest in developing green properties. So much, that today it’s hard to find a developer that doesn’t want as a minimum a LEED Silver rating. Also, hotel owners and operators are asking for green elements that reduce operational costs, such as efficient lighting and HVAC.