IH&RA Award for Emerald Green Hotelier

During the Annual Congress of the International Hotel & Restaurant Association, the President, Dr. Ghassan AIDI, introduced two new hospitality awards, to be offered, every year, starting 2008 : the Emeraude Hotelier of the Year, an award destined to an hotel which follows these criteria:

• Hotel Energy management saving strategies and approaches
• Hotel environment friendly operation
• Hygienic, Healthy Management and Food services
• Water saving policies
• Use product that are manufactured locally

This award is considered as recognition for any independent hotel or a hotels chain for their commitment to exceed their expectation in protecting our environment and reduce the output of CO2.

This year, the Emeraude Hotelier Award was given to Mr. Richard Duvauchelle, General manager of Hotel Palais Stephanie in Cannes/France.. “it’s a great pleasure for me to give this first award to Richard who has been working very hard to achieve the criteria of Sustainable Development and will serve as an example for his colleagues that when we decide to do it we can succeed“, said Dr. Aidi.

The second award is to honor a worldwide personality of the hospitality business with a minimum of 25 years of services rendered to the hotel Industry, the Hospitality Industry, a person who dedicated his/her life and career to improve the hospitality sector with a lot of sacrifices and efforts, and this first Hotelier of the Century award was given proudly to Mr. Joseph Giacoponello, who received his award as a recognition for years of performance work in the sector of hospitality, spending in particular 27 years with the HRI company, which is known now as The Leading Hotels of the World.

At that time, Luxury and Service had one world LEADING and Leading had one World Joe Giacoponello, where he change the name from the revered HRI to The Leading Hotels of the World in April 1976.

During his Presidency, the company grew from a hotel membership of 65 hotels all in Europe to over 300 judiciously selected five-star luxury hotels in 72 countries throughout the world. From one office in New York with a staff of 11 employees the company grew to 17 offices in capital cities throughout the world with a global staff of over 400 employees. Processed reservations surged from 65,000 in 1972 to
1.1 million at the end of 1997, his last year as President and CEO, before being appointed Chairman of HRI Companies and a member of the Executive Committee of The Leading Hotels of the World.

During his career, Mr. Giacoponello served on the Board of Westin Hotels and Resorts; The Algonquin Hotel in New York City and Baccarat Inc. In 1984, he was selected as Personnalité de l’année in the hotel industry., recently he join the Board of The Crown Collection of Luxury Travel.

“I am proud that since its creation 65 years ago, IH&RA first award as THE HOTELIER OF THE CENTURY was given to Joe, with a strict selection between 48 Personalities Worldwide, Joe is exceptionally talented, has great experience, with great skills for Management and Marketing” said Ghassan AIDI, President.