Marketing itself as the creator of the country’s first major “eco chic” luxury hotel, Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:HOT) this week opened the doors of its first Element brand hotel in Lexington, Mass.

White Plains-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts is seeking certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program for the building, the first of many planned under the company’s new Element brand.  

While not cutting-edge, the hotel’s “green” features include paints with low volatile organic compounds (VOC) and bulk shampoo and soaps. Guests driving hybrid cars receive priority parking. Starwood plans to use the hotel as a testing ground for these and other environmentally preferred hospitality measures, according to company spokesperson Angela Bliss.

“Just like the W hotel was our design incubator, the Element hotel will be a test lab for eco chic,” Bliss says of the new Element hotel brand. Starwood plans to use information gained through customer research to implement environmentally preferred measures into the company’s other nine brands.

The company, which grew into a global hospitality enterprise under the leadership of Starwood Capital Group’s (a separate company) Barry Sternlicht, plans to open more than 20 Element hotels in the United States by 2009. The company has sealed deals in Orlando, New York City, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Chicago, Toronto, Irving, Tex., and Tempe, Ariz. 

Meanwhile, Starwood Capital Group’s “1” luxury, eco-friendly hotel brand, launched at the same time as the Element brand, hasn’t opened its lobby doors just yet. The first “1” Hotel and Residence, scheduled to open in the fall of 2008 in Seattle, is on hold. The owner of the property, Avalon Holdings Corp., sold the property to Starwood and a new opening date has not been confirmed. The company intends to complete the project, according to Starwood spokesperson Laura O’Hare.

Starwood Capital plans to open “1” hotels in New York City, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. by 2010. The company also announced in June plans to build a 1 Hotel and Residence on Vancouver Island. It is working with the Natural Resource Defense Council on the brand’s environmentally preferred measures and claims to be aiming for LEED certification for all “1” hotels. Starwood has also committed to donating 1 percent of all profits from “1” hotels to nonprofit environmental organizations.