SXSW 2012: Going Green--Habitat Suites

Austin, Texas in March turns into "a theme park for music geeks." I'm talking about the annual South by Southwest festival. The city boasts a robust music scene and an environmental consciousness to match. The Metro train stops right outside the Austin Convention Center. From there, it's a 15-minute ride to the award-winning, eco-friendly Habitat Suites Hotel.

Here, SXSW guests can enjoy the lovely organic gardens and cool off in the salt water pool. Long before "sustainable" and "eco-friendly" entered the national lexicon, this hotel demonstrated that gracious service and green business practices can co-exist.

Below, general manager Vanessa Gelvin gave us a history of the hotel.

Some photos of the hotel and its accoutrements follow:

View of a balcony

Habitat Suites's salt water pool

Habitat Suites uses solar panels like these