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Saving the planet by turning off the lights early
The New York Times envisions a time when hotels will replace guest room bath towels with tea towels. Guests will take sponge baths in lieu of showers. Lights will go out at 10 p.m. to save energy.
“That’s an exaggeration, of course. But it’s not too far from the attitude that some hotels have projected about the environment — while scolding and annoying their customers in the process,†adds the Times.
The hotel industry is starting to realize that significant and practical changes can be made but in the past many such efforts have been geared to cut costs.
“Almost everybody was doing that to save money. It had absolutely nothing to do with the planet,†said Steve Pinetti, senior vice president for marketing at Kimpton Hotels.
The San Francisco-based chain is seen as an industry leader in developing environmentally sound programs that go beyond Earth Day proclamations to focus on the realities of a hotel’s daily operations.
Kimpton began its so-called EarthCare program several years ago by phasing in a series of basic changes such as putting recycling trash cans in hotel rooms and improving water conservation methods.
One of the first things Kimpton did was to eliminate standard hotel cleaning products and buy organic ones. The process took 18 months and began with replacing its main supplier with six new regional companies that could produce the suitable products.
The hotel industry is under growing pressure from some of its big corporate customers to show that it means business about “green†initiatives, said Adam F. Weissenberg, a vice chairman who heads the tourism and hospitality division at Deloitte & Touche, the consulting firm. He said:
“It was being given lip service for a couple of years, but now this is something that both hotel providers and consumers are waking up to.â€
Meeting planners are also starting to put it on theor agenda, asking hotels about their green policies, energy policies, waste-water practices and whether the hotel is recycling.
Report by David Wilkening
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