Green hotels prioritize minimizing their negative impact on the environment while providing excellent services. They reduce water and energy consumption, recycle, and manage waste. Guests can help by reusing towels and requesting water. Suppliers and environmental agencies also play a role. The cost savings from being eco-friendly can be significant.
A green hotel is an eco-friendly hotel geared towards minimizing its negative impact on the earth and the environment while still providing guests with the best possible services. Big and small measures are taken to save water, reduce electricity consumption and recycle. Most of the ways the hotel goes green are behind the scenes, but sometimes a green hotel has to rely on the help of guests as well.
To save on water, many green hotels install features in every room that reduce guests’ water usage without them doing anything else. Low-flow shower heads and aerators reduce the amount of water used in each shower without shortening the duration, while low-flow toilets use less water per flush than regular toilets. Linen cards offer guests the ability to reuse towels if they are staying more than one night, reducing the amount of laundry the hotel has to do. Hotel restaurants are big water consumers, and serving water to guests only on request, upgrading dishwashers, and simply telling staff not to run the water all the time can dramatically reduce water consumption.
Green hotels often have energy-saving devices such as fluorescent light bulbs, motion sensors for public areas, and heating units that turn off when a room is unoccupied. Some green hotels go so far as to install recycling units for gray water, reusing the water that passes through the sinks. Others use solar panels for power generation or heating, and some even collect waste oil from their kitchens to donate to local biodiesel-powered vehicles.
Waste management is an important part of a green hotel’s mission. Many initiate recycling programs to reduce items that end up in landfills, while some require their suppliers to deliver products in minimal containers and wrapping. Guests can find recycling bins in their rooms along with trash cans.
An eco-friendly hotel relies on suppliers and guests to reduce its environmental footprint. Environmental agencies have approved supplier lists for products ranging from soaps and coffee to laundry equipment and even electric vehicles for taxi services. Some vendors provide hotels with one-time upgrades, but it’s critical you implement strategies and hire companies that help keep efficiency consistently high.
Ecology not only has a smaller impact on the environment, but the cost savings go directly back to the hotel. After recouping the initial investment costs, a green hotel often finds that by lowering their water and electricity usage, they also lower their bills. With the help of guests, these hotels can also reduce the amount of trash put into landfills and deliver much of the trash to recycling centers.
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