Laying in a comfortable, bed practically re-made with you in it, the constant refill of amenities, and a never ending supply of white, fluffy towels sounds great for you, but what about the earth?
The Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa based out of Tucson participates in numerous eco-friendly efforts. After speaking with Rob Elias at La Paloma, he told me about some of the efforts they make. La Paloma has concerns some hotels may not have because it is in the desert. “The majority of our desert bio-life has remained intact”, said Elias. “All of our passage ways are natural desert. We try not to concrete everything in”.
Though the issue with bio life may not apply to every hotel, one practice he told me about does. Upon arrival at La Paloma, guests receive an information sheet describing how if they want a new towel, they should put it on the floor. However, if they would like to reuse them, they can hang it up to dry. I have to admit that I had never heard of this until speaking with Rob. For bed making protocol, there is a sign required to be put on the guest’s bed if they want their sheets to be changed. Otherwise, their beds will be made with the same sheets. This one was new to me as well. I assumed your sheets were changed every day. After knowing this, I would definitely contribute a little bit by keeping my same sheets for my usual two to three night stay. After all, we do this at home. Efforts like this can save a lot of energy.
Kimpton Hotels has been recognized specifically for it’s earth friendly facilities. They take 12 measures to accommodate their guests and the earth as much as possible:
- Cleaning Supplies: All rooms cleaned with environmentally friendly cleaning products.
- Soy Inks: All corporate collateral is printed on recycled paper using soy based ink.
- Recycled Paper: Property wide printing on recycled paper.
- Organic Beverages: All complimentary lobby coffee is organic, shade grown and/or fair trade.
- Towel/Linen Reuse: Guests have the opportunity to do their part to reduce energy and detergents required for daily washings.
- Recycling: Back of house recycling programs addressing glass, bottles, paper, cardboard, etc.
- Energy Conservation: Back of house lighting retrofitted and audited to ensure energy efficient bulbs are in place.
- Water Conservation: Implementation and auditing of low flow systems for faucets, toilets, and showers.
- Best Practices: At any hotel you may find environmental activities such as recycling of coat hangers, elimination of Styrofoam cups, paperless check-ins/outs, organic flowers, and more...
- In-room designer recycling bins: Guests are encouraged to participate in reducing our environmental impact.
- Honor bar with organic food and beverage options: Honor bars include organic snacks and beverages.
- Donation programs: Instead of being thrown away, unused amenity bottles are donated and used by local charities.
If you are planning on staying at Kimpton Hotels between the months of June and July, $10 from each room reserved will be donated Trust For public Land; a non profit organization that helps the conservation of land and water.
Whether you want to stay with Kimpton or stay at any other eco-friendly hotel, you can find them anywhere at the “It’s A Green Green World” website. They list hotels all throughout all of the United States and the world. I found this site really easy to navigate and would definitely consider using it next time I book a hotel.
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