Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark Hotel

Guests at the Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark Hotel are all about the experience and discovering new things – including ways to be more environmentally friendly. The hotel is continually in development to find new and better ways to leave a smaller carbon footprint on the environment without impacting the guest experience.

The hotel’s newly renovated fitness center is a shining example of being eco-friendly. The floors throughout the gym are made from recycled rubber tires while the ribbon-patterned artwork, which hangs from floor to ceiling, was made from recycled water bottles. While working out in the fitness center guests can drink complimentary water — which they can pour from pitchers rather than disposable plastic bottles — and snack on organic apples. The swimming pool uses salt rather than chlorinated water.

Meetings at the Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark are also green. The hotel does not use linens on the tables to cut down on water use in the laundry; pitchers of water are placed on the tables unless bottled water is specifically requested; all of the rooms offer natural light to cut down on lighting; the meeting rooms feature energy-efficient lighting; and all meeting rooms are climate- and lighting-controlled by computer so as to not waste energy on vacant spaces. The hotel also offers green menu items for meeting planners who want to serve organic foods that are still reasonably priced.

The environment is also reflected in the hotel’s décor — which features blades of grass in a ribbon pattern on the carpeting, doors, elevators, and throughout the hotel. This design element, as incorporated in the renovation by Charlotte design group LS3P, is in homage to Queen Charlotte of Germany for whom the city of Charlotte (nicknamed the Queen City) is named after. The Queen had a love of botany, hence the grass elements.