For more information, contact:
Rober Hubler
(407) 718-4640 , RHubler@rosenhotels.com

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ORLANDO (March 21, 2013) – While Rosen Hotels & Resorts® prides itself on practicing green initiatives 24 hours a day with little fanfare or promotion, the company will be highlighting one of those hours this Saturday during the national Earth Hour celebration to help educate hotel guests about the importance of living as eco-friendly as possible.

Earth Hour is a global environmental initiative in partnership with WWF (World Wildlife Fund) in which individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday March 23, 2013 to show their support for environmentally sustainable action.

The seven Orlando Rosen Hotels & Resorts® properties will be turning off all non-essential interior and exterior lighting to include the rose garden and fountains at Rosen Shingle Creek®, Rosen Centre® and Rosen Plaza®. In addition, special activities such as candlelit dinners and glow drinks for guests will be served in hotel restaurants.

Rosen Hotels & Resorts® and its seven Orlando hotels will be joining hundreds of millions of participants in more than 7,000 cities and towns, in 152 countries and territories, and across seven continents in showing support for the importance of sustainable action around the world.

“We don’t claim to be the first hotel group to implement a green meetings initiative, nor do we claim to be the experts, but we can say that we have been practicing conservation efforts for many years and continue to look for ways to reduce, reuse and recycle wherever possible,” said Harris Rosen, President & COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts®.

Rosen Hotels & Resorts®’ three Orlando convention properties, the 800-room Rosen Plaza®, 1334-room Rosen Centre® and 1500-room Rosen Shingle Creek®, were each designated Two Palm Green Lodges in 2009 under the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s Florida Green Lodging Program. Launched in March 2004, the Florida Green Lodging Program establishes environmental guidelines for hotels to conserve natural resources and prevent pollution.

Long before Florida’s Green Lodging program was established, Rosen Hotels & Resorts® has made efforts to be responsible stewards of the area’s resources. For example, each of the hotels offers guests the opportunity to use linens and towels more than once, and each has water-efficient toilets and washing machines. Outdoor lighting and back-of-house lighting is operated by sensors. Programmable thermostats, Energy-Star appliances and paper and newspaper recycling programs are among the many ways the hotels lessen their eco-footprint. Rosen Shingle Creek® goes as far as to convert used cooking oil into bio-fuel to operate its golf course maintenance equipment. A website www.rosengreenmeetings.com shows meeting planners the ways in which Rosen Hotels & Resorts® is already working to help the environment, provides 10 meeting planner tips for holding a greener meeting and offers numerous links to learning more about “going green.”

Rosen Hotels & Resorts® also offers its associates the opportunity to conserve resources by offering Lynx bus passes via a payroll deduction program, posts a directory of associates interested in carpooling and offers alternate work schedules of four 10-hour days in certain departments to help reduce gas costs.

These energy-saving programs are imperceptible to hotel guests, proving that upscale accommodations don’t have to waste resources such as water and energy, to provide a superior guest experience. “Guests may never notice the small changes we’ve made to help save our planet, but we do them because it’s simply the right thing to do,” said Rosen. “Those guests who do take note applaud our efforts because they, too, are socially responsible citizens who are concerned about the effects man has on his environment.”

Over the past 38 years, Rosen Hotels & Resorts® has grown from 256 to approximately 6,300 rooms, approximately six percent of the total guest rooms in Central Florida. Today, the Rosen family of hotels includes three award-winning meetings properties — Rosen Shingle Creek®, Rosen Centre® and Rosen Plaza® — and four leisure properties — Quality Inn International, Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando, Rosen Inn closest to Universal and Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. All seven Rosen Hotels are located in the Orlando tourism corridor and remain committed to providing outstanding value for all guests. For more information, visit www.rosenhotels.com or call 866-33-ROSEN.