3 Tips to Travel Sustainably

Lifestyle

A common question is how do I travel sustainably? People still want to enjoy vacations while doing it responsibly which is completely understandable.

Let’s focus on 3 steps you can take to make sure your relaxing trip has a lower effect on the planet. These require participation from the hotel and guests, but if we are all aware of these practices and work together the hotel will be able to save a lot of resources.

1. Save Water 💧

Studies have shown that water usage at hotels averages between 100 gallons per day (gpd) per room to 400 gpd per room. Different variables can affect this number but when considering the number of rooms, that is a significant amount of water usage per day.

Let’s do a quick math example. 📐
If we average 200 gpd for a 200 room hotel.
200 x 200 = 40,000
That would mean a 200 room hotel uses about 40,000 gallons of water per day.

Now let’s look at what areas hotels can significantly cut down on water usage and how we as guests can assure this.

Towels.
Hotels are starting to display signs that encourage guests to reuse their towels during their stay rather than automatically replacing them each day during housekeeping. Hotels usually supply more than enough towles for the room. I know when staying at a hotel it feels luxurious to have them replace and clean each day but we are becoming more aware of how much resources such as water this wastes. So do your part and hang those towles on the rack to dry for the next morning.

Sheets.

Hotels are moving in a more sustainable direction in regards to sheets as well. Most hotels now go one of two directions.

1. The hotels policy is to change your sheets every 2 or 3 days during your stay. And if you would prefer them changed more often they provide a card to leave on the bed, which indicates to housekeeping to change the sheets.
2. The hotel changes the sheets everyday but provides a card that you can leave on the bed, which indicates to housekeeping not to change the sheets.

It’s preferred that hotels ask the guest to take the action inorder to get the sheets changed as the reverse leaves it open for guests who forget to put the card on the bed before leaving for daily activities.

2. Electricity 💡

There are two main room amenities that require large amounts of energy. The air conditioner and the 20 lights around the room and bathroom.

Guests seem to be a little more liberal with lights and the air conditioner temperatures when visiting a hotel since they wont get the large bill at the end of the month. Because let’s be honest, at home we would never act that way.

When traveling internationally most hotels require the keycard to be placed in a holder when you first walk in the door at the light switch. This allows all electricity to be turned on from the outlets, lights and air conditioning. This means that as you leave the room and remove the key, all electricity switches off ensuring that guests are not leaving on the lights or air conditioner while out of the room. I have yet to see this type of sustainable practice in the United States, but I hope local hotels begin to adopt this.

If your hotel doesn’t use this practices then keep in mind the amount of electricity wasted when you are not in the room. Before walking out do a quick checklist:
1. Is the air-conditioner/heater off or turned to around 78 degrees requiring limited energy.
2. Are appliances unplugged from the outlets
3. Are all the lights/lamps turned off?

3. Local Produce 🍉

This solution is a little less obvious, but most hotels have both restaurants and room service to provide for. There are a few ways hotels can do this, through gardens/farms on the hotel property, local CSA programs, or even more vegan options.

This sustainable practice takes some research to ensure they participate in local programs before booking. But this research is well worth the time. As we know our consumer vote is how we spend our money and what companies we choose to support. Although on this practice, guests can’t help ensure that the hotel does this like the first two tips.

Recently, I visited a hotel that utilized a chef garden on their 265 acre property (the garden is 1 acre) where they grow ingredients used throughout the dining venues. This allows the restaurants to use fresh seasonal ingredients producing new dishes throughout the year. This garden also cultivates a thriving environment for bees which they happily house.

A few extra practices to look out for to ensure sustainable practices :

• Minimal bath amenities or in bulk

• Alternatives to traditional plastic (POV) room keys

• Bottle water alternatives

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