Monday, 18 June 2012
How to be a Sustainable and Ecologically-Friendly Hotel-Guest
Even when you are staying at the least eco-friendly accommodation, you can make a change. As a guest you have a lot of control over your own environmental impact. That’s why we provide you with few sustainable solutions for your next stay.
- Take short showers. We all know it is really nice to take a long hot shower every now and then, but it is definitely not necessary to take one twice a day. Please think about this when you take a shower. Did you know a 15 minute shower uses almost 40 gallons of water!?
- Hang your towel. If you are at home you are also not just using your towel once, so why should you do that in a hotel?
- When you leave the room, turn off everything! Turn off lights, Television, air-conditioning, fan, thermostat, radio etc.
- Unplug! Appliances drain energy, even if they are not being used. Only plug appliances if you are actually going to use them and after having used them, unplug again.
- Flush less frequently. “if its brown flush it down, if its yellow let it mellow”
- Recycle if the hotel doesn’t recycle, take it with you and recycle later
- Use the do not disturb sign or tell housekeeping you don’t need them today. You are not cleaning your room at home every day, are you?
- Adjust the thermostat if you lower the room’s temperature with only 2 degrees in winter and increase the temperature with 2 degrees in summer, you save a lot of energy.
- Take your own toiletries Do not use the shampoo and body wash provided.
- Don’t take any free gifts with you You really don’t need another pen.
- Do not use the air-conditioning or the fan
Are you commited to sustainable travel?
How so, you ask? For one, sustainable hotels and tour operators, like the ones listed on SustainableTrip.org, have made a demonstrated commitment to protecting the local natural environment. That means implementing sustainable policies related to energy and water consumption, preservation of wildlife, reforestation of the surrounding area, and more. Sustainable tourism businesses also take an active role in supporting their communities through hiring local people and providing them with training, decent wages, and employee benefits, as well as supporting or spearheading initiatives with local schools, artisans, farmers, women’s groups, and more.
To further illustrate the importance of sustainable travel, the Rainforest Alliance has created a fun and interesting interactive tool called the “SmartLodge” that demonstrates how sustainable tourism can help benefit local communities and the environment.
How an eco friendly hotel can live up to their guest expectations
Your hotel guests are nowadays more environmentally aware and have come to expect your accommodation to be environmental friendly. In fact studies shows that 76 percent of the guests base their decision where to stay on the level of eco-friendliness of the hotel and are even willing to pay more for their stay. People really want to associate with companies that are socially responsible and this will only increase in the near future.
When you make the decision to incorporate an environmental management plan into your hotels operations, there are a number of ways to do this that can educate and encourage meaningful connections between your properties’ performance reporting efforts and the unique expectations of your guests. The simple and most direct approach is to be honest and practical with both your employees and guests by having a dedicated group of your employees that can lead this effort on site. If you can help this team map out how environmental and social responsible reporting can tell a story about your hotel, the team can discover not only inefficiencies in your service delivery chain, but also the guest facing touch points along that delivery chain where your best practices can be celebrated and promoted.
Another method of incorporating environmental and socially responsible best practices into your operations is to participate in national or state green lodging programs. These programs usually provide a checklist of hotel operation activities to consider for greening. In assessing certification programs available to your hotel, it is always better to select a more comprehensive program over those that verify only a few commitments remotely. The more comprehensive a certification program is in what they require, the broader their perspective usually is of the supply chain that supports successful service delivery. Undertaking verification within a more rigorous program will help make your staff better prepared for the personal health and performance expectations of green savvy travelers whose requirements now often exceed both regulatory and self-defined performance measures. Additional activities that you can undertake to integrate guest experiences with your hotels environmental efforts can include providing health –conscious alternatives to your traditional services (which would appeal to family oriented travelers) or offering specialized recognition programs for retuning green-lifestyle guests and local business clients. The most important thing to remember though is to make your environmental program realistic, optimistic, and unique to the conditions at your hotel. By making such a commitment to truth seeking travelers, you can position your hotel beyond “eco-friendliness” and become a steward in defining what industry sustainability really means for your competitors.
Thursday, 14 June 2012
The green bottomline
"Green" Hotels are environmentally-friendly properties whose managers are eager to institute programs that save water, save energy and reduce solid waste—while saving money—to help protect our one and only earth!
Haven't you heard? Being green goes directly to your bottom line. Being green goes directly to a higher long-term value of your property. Being green goes directly to your front doors which open wide to bring guests back again and again. Being green goes directly to keeping staff long-term because management clearly cares for their health and well-being.
How does being green translate to your bottom line? When energy-saving measures are introduced, such as energy management systems, fluorescent bulbs, ceiling fans, linen cards, lights out cards, motion sensors for public rest rooms, meeting rooms, exercise rooms, etc., energy bills are much reduced.
Waste hauling is a huge expense for a hotel which can be lowered drastically through recycling and avoiding wastefully-packaged products. Hoteliers can ask vendors to deliver products in minimal wrapping. Being green means guests, staff and management are healthier. There's just no doubt that when odors, fumes, soot, droplets and residues of toxic, poisonous chemicals are not in the air, on our food or on anything we touch, we are not absorbing or breathing them. Sooner or later all properties will be sold, and any green property will demand a higher price because it's value is much enhanced by lower utility bills per square foot, its healthier aspects and owner care.
None of us can be really green without the smart, innovative workforce along with vendors who provide green products and services. Being green means supporting green vendors, listening to their sales staff, purchasing their products and services and cheering them on.
Haven't you heard? Being green goes directly to your bottom line. Being green goes directly to a higher long-term value of your property. Being green goes directly to your front doors which open wide to bring guests back again and again. Being green goes directly to keeping staff long-term because management clearly cares for their health and well-being.
How does being green translate to your bottom line? When energy-saving measures are introduced, such as energy management systems, fluorescent bulbs, ceiling fans, linen cards, lights out cards, motion sensors for public rest rooms, meeting rooms, exercise rooms, etc., energy bills are much reduced.
Waste hauling is a huge expense for a hotel which can be lowered drastically through recycling and avoiding wastefully-packaged products. Hoteliers can ask vendors to deliver products in minimal wrapping. Being green means guests, staff and management are healthier. There's just no doubt that when odors, fumes, soot, droplets and residues of toxic, poisonous chemicals are not in the air, on our food or on anything we touch, we are not absorbing or breathing them. Sooner or later all properties will be sold, and any green property will demand a higher price because it's value is much enhanced by lower utility bills per square foot, its healthier aspects and owner care.
None of us can be really green without the smart, innovative workforce along with vendors who provide green products and services. Being green means supporting green vendors, listening to their sales staff, purchasing their products and services and cheering them on.
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