When the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina got a $65 million facelift in 2008, hotel management decided it was the right time to include improvements that would make its operations environmentally-friendly. That friendship was rewarded earlier this month when the Mission Bay Hyatt was designated a “green” hotel by the California Department of General Services’ Green Lodging Program and awarded the program’s top Leadership Level for the extent of its recycling, conservation and energy efficiency operations. Hotel management believes going green will contribute to a healthier bottom line. Aside from reducing energy costs, management anticipates more foot traffic because the program encourages state and local government travelers to give preference to certified green hotels not just for stays, but for conferences, seminars and other events. With the public becoming more environmentally-conscious, Rachel Kirsch, a sales account executive at the hotel, is confident the momentum will carry over into the private sector. “Their company is going green, so (visitors) want to know that the hotel they’re staying at is going through the same thing,” said Kirsch. Meeting the criteria for the state’s green label was as simple as following the guidelines listed on the application form, said Michael Connolly, the hotel’s director of rooms. With some guesthouses older than the hotel tower built in 1971, the needed renovation made it easier for workers to add features such as low-flow toilets and shower heads to each of the hotel’s 430 rooms as well as recycling bins for paper, plastic and even for recycling cooking oil at appropriate spots. The overhaul included the construction of the hotel’s eco-friendly Blue Marble Spa, which was listed in Organic Spa magazine’s “Top Ten Green Spas” in the world, Connolly said. To promote recycling among the hotel’s more than 300 workers, the hotel instituted its own program that paid the monthly San Diego Gas & Electric bill of any employee who recycled the most material in that period. “There was some training initially, but it made it easier that everyone already has recycling at home,” Connolly said. “It was a matter of getting resources in the hands of the employees because they’re already willing to do it.” While supported by Hyatt’s corporate office, Connolly said the decision to go green made sense in a community that organizes activities such as beach clean-ups on a regular basis. “It definitely played a part by being in the area we’re in,” Connolly said. “There’s a very large awareness of eco-friendly businesses.”