Eco-Friendly Design: How to Make Your Hotel Greener

Hotel

Hotels are working again, and besides having to be much more hygienic and safe, many hotels are turning towards eco-friendly practices. People all over the world are adopting a green mindset that motivates them to give business to responsible establishments that care about the environment. If you want your hotel to become greener and attract modern and young folks, here are a few practices to adopt:  

Reduce waste

Hotels, in general, rely heavily on plastic: hygiene products in plastic bottles and plastic packets, plastic shower caps, plastic coffee cups, etc. And since every day, over 8 million pieces of plastic trash ends up in the ocean, hotels really need to start playing their part in conservation. One way to reduce plastic waste is to minimize single-use plastic or at least invest in recycled kind. With good cleaning and sanitizing habits, it’s possible to serve everything in reusable containers and reusable cutlery. When it comes to shampoos and shower gels, ditching bottles and opting for cartridge or bulk fill solutions is much better for the environment, and the guests won’t mind the change.

Reduce water waste

Hotels are huge water guzzlers—every room requires a daily amount of 100-200 gallons of freshwater. When you multiply that by the number of days and hotels in the world, you will get a staggering number. And the worst thing is that freshwater is a limited resource! What your, and other, hotels can do is slowly transition to low-water washing machines, low-flow showers and toilets, smart water management systems and smart use of pools. Saving water usually saves electricity and energy as well, so it’s a win-win situation.

Boost recycling

To reduce the waste from the garbage cans, it’s best to focus more on recycling. And this is easy to do by putting up recycling stations all over the place. If you make it easy for people to recycle, they will dispose of their trash in a responsible way. Another great way of recycling waste is making compost from kitchen and landscaping scraps. If you just install garbage chutes from the kitchens and bars into one giant composting pile, it’s possible to create enough composting for all your landscaping needs. Garbage chutes are super practical and the staff loves to use them. Plus, they can be used for true recycling, as well as organic waste.

Invest in room automation

To remove human error or carelessness out of the way, it’s smart to invest in room automation technology. Modern hotel rooms have moved far from simple cards reminding the guests to save resources—it’s necessary to rely on technology. Luckily, it’s more than possible to install room light sensors that will automatically set lighting and turn it off after prolonged inactivity. There are also smart thermostats that can adjust AC modes and reduce energy use. Smart showers are also a possibility—they reduce the length of the shower to a pre-set time, alerting users that they have exceeded the recommended time.

Adjust your menu

Providing delicious food to your guests should be your priority, but you can do that in a much more eco-friendly way through organic and healthy cuisine. By sourcing local ingredients raised and grown in an organic way, you will reduce your hotel’s carbon footprint and provide your guests with more nutritious, rich and tasty food. Promote your healthy menu to your guests and it might have a positive impact that reaches beyond their stay in your hotel.

It’s also possible to create a more sustainable and ethical gift shop, invest in green infrastructure and create a green team that will manage your sustainability actions. Whatever you choose to add to your hotel’s culture, it will make your establishment more eco-friendly than it is now.

Share