Hotel Week: Green Hotels

As you may know, hotels have not always been kind to mother earth.  Last year alone, more than 2 million hotel guests stayed in hotels using fresh linen, towels and hotel amenities on a daily basis while blasting the TV, alarm clock and air conditioner.

 

That is why booking a green hotel (or an Eco-Friendly hotel) for your wedding would help to reduce the negative impact that hotels have on the environment.

 

Here is the dilemma – How do you find a hotel that is actively working to improve the environment?  Where do you find green hotels in your area?  What exactly does it mean to be an eco-friendly hotel?

 

 

First things first – According to Orbitz, this is the criteria for Eco-Friendly Hotels:

·         Use a natural source of energy, such as wind, water, solar and/or bio-fuel.

·         Use environmentally-friendly and safe products on a regular basis

·         Contribute money from each hotel reservation to an environmental organization

·         Use of energy conserving devices

·         Earned the ENERGY STAR®

 

Where are the green hotels?  Listed below are some of the sites that I found.  If you know of others, please share.

·         Orbitz lists all of the hotels that have earned the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® for using nearly 40 percent less energy than average buildings and emitting 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

·         Last September, ForbesTraveler.com created a list of America's Greenest Hotels.

·         WholeTravel.com lists and ranks green hotels based throughout the world.

·         RezHub.com helps travelers find environmentally-friendly hotels, activities, hybrid rental cars and flights (via carbon offsets)

·         The Green Hotels Association has a list of environmentally-friendly hotels by state.

 

Not finding your favorite hotel on any of the lists?  Talk to you hotel sales manager.  Tell them how you want to reduce your wedding’s negative impact on the environment – They should be able to come up with ways to work with you.

 

Love & Soul Always, Kay

Comments

[Green Lodging Guy]

You missed the best one http://www.iStayGreen.org

It has the most complete directory of Green hotels and it is a social network for the eco-friendly traveler.