Fully stocked mini bar, trouser press, complimentary shampoo – all standard features for many city hotels, but for those of us who don’t care if our jeans have a crease there’s often little to choose from between urban hotels – but that could soon be about to change.
The green hotel industry, once the preserve of rainforest eco-lodges and countryside yurt retreats, is beginning to creep into towns and cities across the globe, with hotels introducing plans that range from four minute shower timers for guests staying in areas with water shortages, to offering discount rates for drivers of hybrid cars.
It’s not all about saving the environment, of course. Several recent surveys have suggested that holiday-makers would be willing to pay more to stay in a green hotel, and hotels which try something new stand to gain an edge on the competition.
According to Alastair Sawday, owner of Special Places to Stay guidebooks, “To stay in a hotel that makes imaginative efforts to reduce its impact on the environment is like meeting an interesting and worthwhile fellow-traveler." Claims Alastair Sawday, owner of Special Places to Stay guidebooks, "who would choose to swim in an oil-heated pool if there was a solar-heated alternative?” To eat imported food if the local food was equally delicious? Each of those alternatives, when chosen, adds something special to a holiday.”
The increased demand for green accommodation has also triggered a rise in popularity for green hotel ratings, which reward properties for their environmental practices rather than whether they boast Egyptian cotton sheets and fresh pineapple at the breakfast buffet.
In Canada, for instance, hotels can apply for a Green Key rating, with five keys given to the most eco-friendly properties. Over 500 hotels have already signed up for the Green Key scheme with 700 more expected to join by the end of the year.
“Our Green Key program is becoming a standard across Canada,” says Anthony Pollard, president of the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC). “After running the program for 10 years, it is now taking off like gangbusters.”
To achieve a Green Key rating, hotels must excel in areas such as energy management, water conservation, waste management, air quality and community involvement.
Similar schemes are in place across the world. In Wales, for instance, hotel owners can apply for a Green Dragon rating, in central America eco-friendly hotels are awarded with up to five Green Leaves, and the Green Globe scheme operates in over 50 countries.
Although many top rated green hotels are currently located in wilderness locations, a trend for eco-friendly city center hotels is starting to emerge. In Canada, for instance, the eco-friendly Alt Hotel chain has now launched several green hotels. The Quartier Dix30 in Montreal, features geothermal heating and cooling systems for every room, heat recovery from water used in commercial washers, recycling bins in all guestrooms and public areas and oversized, energy efficient windows to maximize natural lighting.
Another eco-friendly chain, Element Hotels, has opened hotels in Las Vegas, NV and Lexington, MA with plans to open further hotels in Houston, TX and Irving, TX in 2009. Each of the extended stay hotels are built to LEED certification and feature energy star rated appliances and filtered water in the guest rooms, art made from recycled tires, low VOC paints and recycling bins throughout the hotel.
Other eco-hotels springing up across the world include San Francisco's Good Hotel, a hotel which practices philanthropy and believes in doing good; Seven4One in Laguna beach, CA, which features an organic kitchen, green matteresses and bamboo towles, and Singapore's Marina bay Sands, which will feature a 50 storey high roof garden.
The trend for urban green hotels is encouraging, and although it may be some time before green ratings become an industry standard, it is becoming easier to spot the truly green hotels from those who change a lightbulb and pronounce themselves as green. With increasing competition in the hotel industry the future of green hotels is very positive, and may not be long before you see organic cotton sheets and FairTrade breakfasts listed as amienities.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
