Good afternoon, and welcome to Hotel Schizophrenia. Checking in?”
Honestly, that’s the way it often feels these days. Like you’ve arrived in the Twilight Zone of Hotel Marketing. The Yin and Yang of green hotelery in the early 21st century.
The Yin: You arrive at what seems like a 5-star monument to unbridled luxury and pampering, and they wouldn’t dream of telling you otherwise. Little do you suspect that behind the red velvet curtain it’s actually a lean, mean green machine.
The Yang: These people seem to want you to believe they’re owned by the Sierra Club. At the front desk a plaque proclaims the hotel is a “proud member” of a green lodging association. In your room, a sign urges you to forgo fresh bedding to reduce energy and water use. On the hotel website, you can’t miss reading about that recent donation to a turtle refuge. But, hey, behind the scenes, this hotel’s green is only a thin veneer.
So how can you tell if your hotel really is green? How do you know if that green lodging association is eco-serious … or an eco-imposter where a hotel sends a check and gets its plaque? (Such organizations do exist.)
Come back to Green Traveler Guides to find out. In our forthcoming series, “How Green Is Your Hotel?”, you’ll also learn that going green means more than reducing energy and water use and limiting the use of irreplaceable resources. Whether in a hotel, the workplace or your home, green is also about your health and well-being.
Do you really want to stay in a typical hotel room where standard paints and carpets off-gas toxins into the air, or cleaning is done with nasty chemicals?
Of course not.
We sincerely believe green hotels offer an enhanced guest experience, and that “staying green” is the wave of the future, not a fad. You can do yourself—and the world we all share—a favor by surfing this wave … and choosing a genuinely green hotel for your next great night’s sleep on the road. We’re here to tell you how … stay tuned!
