Having been personally committed to helping save our environment for as long as I can remember, it is exciting to read lately about the numerous hotels and hotel brands that are minimizing their impact on the environment, reducing waste and even introducing “Green Rooms” as an accommodation type.
While this is all exciting, there’s still the vast majority of hotels that have yet to make any effort to reduce waste or to help guests go “green.”
Not to worry; today’s business and leisure travelers face numerous opportunities every day to immediately reduce their negative impact on the environment. All we have to do is empower ourselves and to each take personal responsibility for the personal carbon footprints we create during our travels. Here are some tips that I hope you will live by and also that you will share with others in your personal and professional network.
When Preparing for Your Trip
When printing airline or rental car confirmations, or other online travel documents, print the first page or two only, and save both ink and paper by reprinting the “terms and conditions” you won’t read anyway.
Print itineraries and confirmations in “draft” mode; also if you have a color printer set it to black and white or “grayscale” mode to save colored ink.
Reserve a car with good fuel economy versus one that is larger than what you need for the trip.
Upon Arrival at the Front Desk
Tell the front desk person to save the key packet and just give you the key. Ask for only one key if you are traveling alone, and be sure to turn it in at the desk for reuse versus leaving it in your guestroom where it might be discarded.
Likewise, if you can find your room on your own, ask them to keep their guestroom map, along with any unnecessary extra paperwork they are handing out.
If possible, take the stairs or escalator to get to your room versus burning energy to make the elevator run up or down.
Decline welcome amenities you don’t want, such as fruit baskets, cookies or welcome snacks.
In Your Guestroom
For short trips, contact housekeeping right away to decline housekeeping service and turn-down service during your stay. This will save lots of energy by not having the vacuum running every day as well as cleaning products that would have been used tidying a room that is still immaculate.
Upon entering your room, gather up any room amenities you don’t plan on using and set them out of the way, such as soap, shampoo, coffee packets and robes. This will keep them from getting wet on the bathroom counter or otherwise damaged and allow the housekeeper to reuse them for the next guest.
Similarly, take the towels and washcloths that you will use during your stay and set them aside. Leave all other towels untouched (and set aside) so that housekeeping will know they were not used.
If you are alone in a room with two double beds, don’t mess up the bedspread and sheets on the second bed so that it won’t have to be remade.
If you do end up having to use the hotel bathroom amenities, take the remaining portions with you to use again elsewhere.
Drink only tap water during your stay. Or if you don’t like the taste of tap water, purchase a water bottle with a built-in filter that can be used anywhere. (Such as a Brita Bottle.) Or if you do end up purchasing water, at least refill your used water bottles at the next water fountain you find. This will save not only on packaging of water bottles but also the fuel used to transportation it for delivery.
During Your Stay
Turn the lights and television off when leaving your guestroom, especially when you check out, as the room might not be cleaned right away.
Similarly, turn the air-conditioning or heat up or down, according to the season, when leaving the guestroom so that it doesn’t run unnecessarily.
During summer months, close the drapes to keep the sun’s heat out; during winter months, open your drapes to help heat the room during the day.
Tell hotel managers to adjust the air-conditioning (summer) or heat (winter) in the public areas, such as the lobby and banquet rooms, according to comfort levels. Experience shows that most hotel public spaces are way too cold in the summer and way too warm in the winter, wasting huge amounts of energy either way.
When ordering room service, tell them not to send any extra food items or condiments you don’t need. If you don’t use butter, which is particularly wasteful to produce, tell them to hold it. If you drink your coffee black, tell them to hold the cream. If you don’t want your side orders of toast or rolls, tell them not to send it.
Ask your roomservice waiter if the condiments that are sent are going to be reused; if so, send them back. If not, save leftover jelly packets and mini ketchup bottles to take home with you.
At Any Restaurant or Bar
Order off the buffet or order the specials of the day, as these represent foods purchased and prepared in bulk.
Drink draft beer and carbonated soda from the fountain, versus bottles, which saves a ton of energy and fuel to manufacture and transport all that extra packaging. If you do order a bottled soda, beer, or water, drink it from the bottle versus wasting a cup.
Drink tap water at restaurants versus bottled water, or if you don’t want water tell them not to bring you any, especially in areas experiencing a drought.
When you do have to buy bottled water, buy the local brand (that consequently didn’t have to be transported as far.)
If you happen upon a hotel making green efforts, reward them with comment cards and feedback. If you are at a hotel that shows no effort, take a moment to fill out the comment card and let them know this cause is important enough for you to change your future travel buying habits.
Where possible, consume foods that are produced locally and thus require less wasteful transportation to reach you, the consumer.
If your hotel is one of the few that have already implemented a guest recycling program, be sure to not only use it but to thank management for their efforts in person and/or on their comment cards. If recycling is not available in your guestroom, mention the lack thereof to the hotel management in person or on your comment card.
By paying more attention to individual actions while traveling, road warriors can collectively can have a significant positive impact. Best of all, when we reprogram ourselves to be less wasteful when we travel, these actions will no doubt carry over when we are back home. Oh, and if you have other tips and suggestions please send them to me, as I am compiling a more extensive list that will be posted on my personal blog: http://ontheroad.kennedytrainingnetwork.com.
Doug Kennedy, president of the Kennedy Training Network, has been a fixture on the hospitality and tourism industry conference circuit since 1989, having presented more than 1,000 conference keynote sessions, educational seminars, and on-premise training workshops for diverse audiences representing every segment of the lodging industry. His articles have also appeared worldwide in more than 17 prominent international publications. Visit http://www.kennedytrainingnetwork.com for details or e-mail him at doug@kennedytrainingnetwork.com.
