Going green is good for your hotel's bottom line and image, as well as doing its part for the planet. Here are some suggestions that can be applied by old hotels and new, from basic to luxury hotels.

Design

• Conserve energy with passive solar design, efficient lighting, and thermostats that can be adjusted to more moderate settings, depending on whether someone is in the room.
• Always fit windows with insect screens. Especially in tropical countries, guests may wish to open the windows, but even a few insects, or the fear that there may be insects, may mean they use the air-conditioner. Avoid windows that open in such a way that fitting a screen is difficult.
• Consider having "green rooms" for the same or slightly higher or lower price, for those willing to use a well-designed compost toilet and other features that may not appeal to mainstream guests.

Practices

• Communicate with your guests. Many hotels provide information cards on the bedside table or in the bathroom giving friendly encouragement to guests to conserve energy and water, and explaining the hotel's policies, e.g.:

• Leaving the towels on the floor tells the housekeeping staff that you would like new ones.
• A similar way
  

can be used to indicate if the sheets should be changed. Most people are happy not to have them changed every night.

• Save water. Low flush toilets go without saying.
• Source supplies fresh and locally, avoiding those with high energy and ecologically damaging inputs. (There is no green value in buying locally if the food is grown with heat and light from fossil fuels, as in some parts of northern Europe.) See Local food.
• Use greener transport for supplies - pick up from the nearest train station, if possible. Can you arrange with your supplier to pick up in town if you are going there anyway? Or can you work out a deal with your neighbors to get the same supplier to deliver to you at the same time?
• Reducing and composting waste, this would be a selling point with an ever growing number of visitors.
• Plant a garden, at least for herbs and garnish, and plant attractive fruit trees rather than mere ornamentals. Again, this can be a selling point, your chef will be glad to have a wide selection of fresh herbs on hand to easily improve the flavor and appearance of meals.

See also

• Ecotourism
• Washing and drying clothes