One of the fundamental dilemmas we face as travellers is the knowledge that our desire to explore the world often causes us to unintentionally harm it. From flying to dining out to staying in hotels, the things we all do on vacation can have a negative impact on the environment.
According to a study by the UN World Tourism Organization, tourism (an optional luxury) is responsible for 5 per cent of global CO2 emissions. While transportation accounts for a substantial chunk of this total, the accommodation sector is responsible for a significant 20 per cent. These aren’t surprising numbers considering how wasteful we tend to be when we’re staying in a hotel, living in carefree vacation mode. We crank up the AC in hot climates, get our sheets and towels laundered daily and forget to turn off the lights when we leave the room.
But as the responsible travel movement continues to grow, travellers are thinking more seriously about their eco-unfriendly behaviour and demanding that their hotels do the same. More travellers are choosing hotels that are doing their part to protect the environment and hotel industry practices are slowly changing as a result.
With that in mind, we’re profiling five hotels across the globe that are making a difference with their eco-conscious accomplishments. From ambitious reintroductions of indigenous wildlife to simple measures like motion sensor lighting, these hotels are making the travel world a little greener. They aren’t total solutions for the wide-ranging consequences travel has on the environment, but they are taking steps in the right direction.
Emirates One & Only Wolgan Valley
At Emirates One & Only Wolgan Valley Resort, sustainability isn’t just about reducing harm to the environment, it’s about actively contributing something positive to it. Set in the UNESCO-listed Greater Blue Mountains Area, One & Only Wolgan Valley is the only Australian resort in decades to receive permission to build close to a World Heritage Site.
Occupying one per cent of a 7,000-acre nature reserve, One & Only Wolgan Valley was Australia’s first certified carbon-neutral resort when it opened in 2009. “The industry is becoming much more aware of the importance of sustainability and the need to protect our natural environment,” says James Wyndham, general manager of Emirates One & Only Wolgan Valley. “Increasingly, guests are not just choosing a hotel based on its sustainability credentials but they want to leave a positive impact during their stay.”
Wolgan Valley gives guests a chance to do exactly that with its Conservation Activity program. With the help of the resort’s team of field guides, guests can contribute to the property’s eco-friendly efforts by participating in the collection of seeds as well as helping to plant native trees and shrubs. In a previous life, the property served as grazing land for livestock and had been stripped of local vegetation.
Barbed wire fencing was removed and over 200,000 indigenous trees have been planted as part of the resort’s work to reintroduce native vegetation and wildlife. Kangaroos, wallabies and dozens of other native species now live freely on the property. Wildlife sightings are part of the resort’s charm for guests, but their reintroduction has also created new opportunities for local university researchers to study indigenous wildlife. The resort works with Western Sydney University to survey wombat burrows and macropod populations, while a PhD student from the University of Sydney is using the reserve to conduct parts of her research into the relationships between introduced predators and endemic carnivore species.
Banff Aspen Lodge
The Banff Aspen Lodge, a mid-range property located in Banff National Park, is proof that not all sustainable hotels come with pricey room rates. It’s fitting that a property surrounded by over 6,000 square kilometres of pristine, Canadian wilderness would play a role in protecting the environment.
“The natural surroundings are what bring guests to our town and to our hotel, so it is important to us to be as sustainable as possible,” says Monique Hendrickx, business development manager for Banff Aspen Lodge.
The lodge’s toiletries come in biodegradable containers and their soaps are made from a vegetable base. Hand towels and toilet paper are made with at least 20 per cent recycled material. Motion sensor lighting in the hallways reduces energy waste, and the lodge aims to restore old furniture rather than replace it.
The lodge also makes guests active participants in its green goals with an environmental incentive program. They are encouraged to forego housekeeping services in exchange for either a free drink at the lodge’s attached cafe or a small donation made in their name to the Banff Community Foundation, which supports local eco-friendly initiatives.
Environmental responsibility (or social pressure) generally prevails and most guests opt for the latter. “Many hotels try to promote sustainability by asking guests to reuse their towels. LED lights and recycling bins in rooms are becoming more common,” says Hendrickx. “Guests like to see that actions are made by hotels to be sustainable.”
Arenas del Mar
It’s only natural (pun intended) that Costa Rica is home to some of the world’s most progressive green hotels. The country made itself the poster child for green tourism by designating 25 per cent of its total land as protected nature reserves and parks, in addition to developing its own government-run sustainability rating program for local businesses (Certificate for Sustainable Tourism or CST).
Arenas del Mar, a 38-room property on the outskirts of Manuel Antonio National Park, is one of only about 50 hotels to earn the CST’s highest rating. Manuel Antonio’s entrance is actually a short walk away from the resort, but Arenas del Mar’s 11-acre property feels like it’s right in the middle of the park.
Resort buildings take up about a quarter of this acreage, with the rest of the land serving as a private nature reserve. According to Hans Pfister, director of marketing and operations at Arenas del Mar, the resort was designed with sustainability in mind from the beginning.
Buildings were planned around the existing flora and fauna (only 35 trees were felled during construction), the electricity system was set-up underground and developers studied local wildlife to avoid interfering with their routes.
The result is that animals move undisturbed throughout the property which, in addition to doing right by the environment, means guests are virtually guaranteed to spot sloths curled up in trees, iguanas skittering across the pool decks and monkeys leaping between rooftops.
Guests can sign up for a free tour to learn about the resort’s sustainability program, which also includes pools with a chlorine-free ionization system, electric carts for transportation and a total ban on plastic bottles and straws.
Pfister believes that these green initiatives are one of the main reasons why the property attracts so many repeat guests and referrals. “When they stay with us and see what we do, they fall in love,” he says.
The Green House
The Green House couldn’t be a more accurate name for this innovative hotel in Bournemouth, UK. Every element of this boutique hotel was chosen with sustainability in mind, making for an impressive list of green achievements as well as serving to create an intriguing space where every item has a story.
Walls are decorated with either local Farrow & Ball eco paint, or vegetable ink wallpaper designed by students at London’s St Martin’s College. Beds were made using natural materials like bamboo, while wooden furniture was crafted locally out of trees felled by storms.
Olivia O’Sullivan, general manager of the Green House, says that it wasn’t always easy finding reputable environmental producers when the hotel was being developed in 2008. “There was a great deal of ‘green wash’ during that period,” she says, “so we had to investigate and test all the eco credentials of each product.”
According to the hotel, about 28 per cent of guests cite its eco-friendliness as a reason for their choice; an even larger percentage pick up a copy of the hotel’s Green Guide when they depart (a move the hotel hopes means they’ve provided some “greenspiration” for guests to carry forward into their non-vacation lives).
Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa
The Shangri-La Rasa Sayang may not bill itself as an eco-resort, but this swish property on the northern tip of Malaysia’s Penang Island has been implementing green practices since the early days of environmentalism in the mid-1990s.
Guest rooms have LED lighting and biodegradable bath products, but the hotel’s most impressive in-room initiative is its bottling program. Malaysian tap water is not potable, which can mean massive amounts of annual waste from plastic bottles.
In 2012, Rasa Sayang opened an in-house facility for bottling the drinking water provided in its guest rooms. These one-litre glass bottles save an estimated 4,708 kg of plastic waste each year between the resort and its sister property, Golden Sands.
Other notable achievements include a recent switch from diesel-burning boilers to heat pumps. Rasa Sayang also supports local turtle conservation efforts through its educational Turtle Care Project, including donating a portion of proceeds from turtle- themed gift shop items to Penang National Park’s Turtle Conservation Centre.
“Our goal is to work beyond the doors of Rasa Sayang,” says the property’s director of communications, Suleiman Tunku Abdul Rahman. “For the long term, the entire movement of sustainability will be able to sustain itself when likeminded individuals and enterprises support each other. It will be to everybody’s benefit.”
