Eco Travel - Choosing a Green Hotel
The idea of greener vacations is becoming more and more possible these days and thanks to growing awareness and concern for the environment, it is also becoming very popular. Hotel visits are one of the easier more obvious ways to “green” your vacation. Here are several simple things you might want to consider to help make your hotel stay a little more earth friendly. More »
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Eco Travel – Choosing a Green Hotel
Vacation time is finally here!
The idea of greener vacations is becoming more and more possible these days and thanks to growing awareness and concern for the environment, it is also becoming very
popular. Hotel visits are one of the easier more obvious ways to “green” your vacation.
Here are several simple things you might want to consider to help make your hotel stay a little more earth friendly.
Choose Your Hotel Wisely
There are certain features to look for in a hotel to see if it is really green. Shop around and check with various hotels about the following features:
- Saving water is challenging for hotels that do so much washing and have so many showering guests. Look for hotels that have low-flow faucets and other eco-friendly equipment, including their washing machines and toilets.
- Cleaning supplies used in a green hotel should be environmentally friendly.
- LED lamps are more energy-efficient and due to their longer bulb life, LEDs reduce waste. Some hotels have installed LED lamps in place of regular lighting, or are in the process of doing so.
- Look into the hotel’s overall business practices and see if they really mean what they say about going green.
Reduce Waste during Your Hotel Stay
You can reduce your personal waste during your hotel stay in lots of different ways. Here are some ideas:
-Request that towels and sheets not be washed and changed daily (this saves water and energy).
- Bring your own toiletries, and ask room service not to stock your room with wasteful samples of shampoo, soap, etc. If you do request the travel-sized bottles, ask for only one set and inform room service that you won’t be needing any more samples unless you request them. Otherwise, the hotel staff will throw out partly-used bottles of shampoo and conditioner and replace them with unopened ones daily.
- Carry your own stainless steel water bottle instead of visiting the drink machines down the hall.
- Recycle, just as you would at home. Take the time to find out where the hotel’s recycling bins are and make use of them as much as possible.
- Shorten your showers to save water, just as you would if you were at home.
- Go easy on the heating and cooling unit in your room. Don’t run it constantly and open windows whenever you can if it’s hot, or run the unit on fan only.
Hopefully, these tips will help you travel a little greener. You can relax and enjoy your trip knowing you have done all you can to reduce your carbon footprint.
p.s. If you’re looking for a “Green” hotel for your vacation this summer I just discovered that Choice Hotels International marks all eco-friendly hotels with a little green leaf making them easy to find.
