Not Your Average Cup of Joe

We’re excited to announce a collaboration with Columbia College of Chicago and Nespresso in celebration of Earth Month! From April 13-15, we’ll display a Columbia College student designed 3-D art installation created entirely out of recycled Nespresso capsules in the hotel’s mezzanine level of the lobby. The display will be available from 7-10 a.m. with complimentary coffee brewed fresh by Nespresso baristas. Stop by for your morning java fix and take in some creative student artwork made locally in Chicago.

The mezzanine where Columbia College student artwork will be featured.

Hit up Hotel Felix for your morning java fix this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Exclusive Earth Day Rate

We have an exciting Earth Month announcement!

To celebrate our favorite day of the year we’re offering an exclusive Earth Day rate of $4.22 for the next 10 people who book a room for April 22 online.  This rate is only available to stay on April 22 (Earth Day!) and the promotion is based on availability and does not include sales tax. You may book now at this link. Good luck!

A Green Queen Arrives This Week

What stands at 8-feet tall, has a heart of tin, a hard booty and makes doughnuts in the morning?  Doreen!  She’s the perfect “woman” and the newest, interactive sculpture from reclaimed materials.  Doreen will be unveiled at Hotel Felix at 11 a.m., April 22 (Earth Day), where she’ll then have her permanent home. Allen Christian, the sustainable artist behind the sculpture, will unveil this new masterpiece.  Doreen joins “Loren the Doorman,” who stands at 7-feet tall, as the newest addition to Hotel Felix’ staff.  Doreen and Loren are two hard-to-miss sustainable sculptures, both created by Christian of House of Balls

(www.houseofballs.com).

Earth Hour 2011: Going Beyond the Hour

We’re happy to share a guest post from Maureen Meehan of Earth Hour Illinois. At Hotel Felix, we’re turning off all our non-emergency lights for the hour.  Elate Restaurant, the delicious hot spot adjacent to us, is doing the same plus adding extra candles in honor of Earth Hour.  Let us know what are you doing to celebrate Earth Hour and the environment.

Chicago’s skyline will be going dark this Saturday, March 26th from 8:30-9:30 p.m. The city’s skyscrapers will join millions around the world in turning off their lights in honor of Earth Hour. Hosted locally by ComEd, Earth Hour encourages citizens to take simple steps — turning out the lights — in a symbolic gesture of solidarity to create a more sustainable future for our planet.

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007, when two million people switched off their lights in an effort to raise awareness about climate change. By 2010, Earth Hour had created history as a landmark of environmental action, with participation across 128 countries and throughout every continent. Last year, some of the world’s most recognized landmarks participated in this historic event, including China’s Forbidden City, the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Great Pyramids of Giza, Table Mountain, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and Sydney’s Opera House.

This year, Earth Hour organizers are encouraging supporters to go “beyond the hour.” In addition to turning their lights off for one hour, participants are asked to take additional steps in their daily lives to help conserve energy. This could mean biking to the office once a week, starting a recycling program at school or at work, or simply being more mindful of electricity usage.

Once again, Chicagoans have taken Earth Hour 2011 to a creative level. Restaurants are offering specials prepared using minimal energy, bars are mixing up “green” and Earth Hour-themed cocktails and families are hosting lights-out game nights. For more ideas on how you can get involved and go beyond the hour, visit BeyondTheHour.org or ComEd.com/SmartIdeas. Be sure to share your participation stories with Earth Hour Illinois on Facebook and Twitter. For additional resources, check out EarthHour.org.

DON’T MISS OUR GREAT EARTH DAY EVENTS

The Hotel Felix is excited to wish everyone a Happy Earth Day! We hope you take the time to stop by this afternoon and enjoy several of special Earth Day events.

• 360SEE Gallery display in the lobby
• Allen Christian’s Elmer the Art Car & Loren the Doorman
• Tesla Roadster on display and ready for a test drive
• TreeTini -portion of this cocktail’s proceeds goes towards planting new trees

check out what's happening at the Hotel Felix!

HAPPY EARTH DAY

photo by flaivoloka

The Hotel Felix isn’t just committed to being green on Earth Day, we are green every day, all day!

The words green, eco-friendly, and sustainability are tossed around casually by some, but at the Hotel Felix, we take being green seriously!  Sustainability isn’t just a word to us, it’s a choice and one we are proud to make.

But what does sustainability and being green mean? As Chicago’s first Silver LEED certified hotel, that means the U.S. Green Building Council inspected the hotel structure and rated it based on several categories: water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, and indoor environmental quality. We are also one of fifteen hotels in Chicago to be awarded the Green Seal Environmental Standard for Lodging – Silver.  The Green Seal certification process reviews several procedures: waste management, energy conservation and management, pollution prevention, and organizational commitment.

At the Hotel Felix you will find:

• compact fluorescent & LED lighting
• natural northern exposure which brings in sunlight and help keep our guests warm in the winter
• use of recycled carpet
• bamboo flooring
• revamped plumbing system
• low flow, high pressure shower heads
• on site recycling program
• organic and/or recycled artwork

You can read more about the green initiatives at the Hotel Felix here.

EARTH DAY IS ALMOST HERE!

We’re bursting at the seams, we’re so excited for Earth Day tomorrow.  If you’ve been proactive (and we know you have been!) and already sipped a TreeTini while admiring the 360SEE Gallery art in the hotel lobby and taken the Tesla Roadster for a spin, you may be wondering what else you can do for Earth Day?  Well, the Hotel Felix has got you covered, covered in paint that is…OK sort of!

Elmer the Art Car will be on display outside the hotel starting tomorrow April 22 until April 24.  Elmer is 1966 pick-up truck decorated in recycled materials and uniquely painted by sculptor Allen Christian.  Once you’re outside, go enjoy the sunshine and check out some of the other Earth Day events in the neighborhood.  You can find a listing of local events here.

High-End, Sustainable Art a Highlight in Earth Month 2010

Earth Month 2010 is underway and the Hotel Felix is happy to have 360SEE Gallery’s art on display in the lobby.  Check out what’s on display at 111 W. Huron or take a sneak peek here….

Hotel Felix in the News

Chicago Chef Week Diary – Hotel Felix’s Elate:

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2010/03/chicago-chef-week-diary-elate.html

Hot Tesla Test Drive Package at Cool Hotel Felix Chicago:

http://www.examiner.com/x-11782-Destinations-and-Lodging-Examiner~y2010m3d24-Hot-Tesla-Test-Drive-Package-at-cool-Hotel-Felix-Chicago

Check it out and hope to see you soon!

Earth Day Celebrated

When we decided to celebrate Earth Day & partner with GoGreen Management, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Opening an eco-friendly hotel has been exciting to say the least. And while Earth Day has been around since 1970, would others celebrating the day with us at LePassage be just as enthralled with the Hotel Felix? I’m happy (naturally) to report they were indeed.

The biggest question of the night; how can a hotel say they are eco-friendly? Sure, they said, you recycle in the office & you don’t change linens unless asked….but doesn’t everyone do that? The answer…..yes, we do all that but so much more. We encourage staff to live a healthy life by walking, biking to work (we have an indoor bike rack & showers for the staff) or taking public transportation. We don’t use bleach at the property & all of our cleaning chemicals are Green Seal Certified. Our rooms have motion-sensored thermostats so that fossil fuels are not burning to heat/cool the room when no one is there. While many places just recycle in offices, we have an in-room recycling program and ask our guests to sort their trash as well. After cleaning, all “trash” is placed in our recycling room until pick-up. So we aren’t just made from sustainable, recycled materials, we walk an eco-friendly lifestyle by making every day Earth Day.

(JB)