Non-profit launches free Beach Toy Rental program in Texas - Visitors and residents making a trip to San Padre Island in Texas now have the option to rent beach toys instead of buying them, reports the Valley Morning Star. In an effort to combat harmful effects to marine life caused by abandoned toys on the beach, Sea Turtle, Inc., a local nonprofit, is taking steps to help lessen this type of plastic pollution. Each rental package includes a drawstring bag, a garbage bag for trash collection and 10 beach toys. A $5 cash deposit is required to rent the beach toy package. All toys in each rental package were found abandoned on the beach by Sea Island interns while patrolling the beach for nesting turtles and nests. The deposit is refundable upon return if all items in the rental package are returned unbroken. A prize is given if renters collect trash from the beach and return it to the kiosk in their provided garbage bag.

Reinventing hotel guest books for modern times - A number of hotels are putting a creative spin on a centuries-old tradition of a hotel guest book, reports The New York Times. Typically now only found in small bed-and-breakfasts, high-end safari lodges and independent luxury hotels, guest books, reinvented for the modern era, are increasingly landing in larger - and often corporately backed - accommodations. Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, for example, is in the process of creating locally inspired experiences in individual rooms at 20 of its hotel properties, furnishing the room with a guest book that goes beyond simple name-and-date inscriptions. In Denver, the brand's hotel has blank index cards emblazoned with the words "Born to be..."; at the Grand Cayman property, colored markers have helped turn a guest book into a colorful tome filled with doodles, drawings and inspirational sayings. At Moxy Hotels, Marriott's millennial-focused brand, visitors can "sign" a digital guest book by posting on Instagram from a public account, either with the hashtag #attheMoxy or simply by uploading the photo from anywhere on the property. The best photos are selectively pulled into a tiled layout that appears on the Moxy website, a dedicated Guest book landing page, and lobby screens at all 44 hotels throughout North America, Europe and Asia.