Carbon Footprint – Hotels making a difference?

Do hotels really want to make a difference?

At just about every hotel you visit these days you’ll probably find a door hanger or bed note explaining the hotel’s program on how you can help reduce its carbon footprint. Guests can reuse their towels by keeping them hung in the restroom – the towels will be replaced every three days while the guestroom is “refreshed” daily. Guests not interested in the hotels’ green program can proceed as usual by simply leaving their towels on the floor and they’ll be replaced.

As I read a “make a difference” door knob during a recent hotel stay, I questioned whether the hotel really wanted to make a difference. Customarily, staying at a hotel is a luxury for the weary traveler. One of the details of that luxury includes fresh towels on a daily basis and in some places, fresh linens on a daily basis. The traveler comes to expect the former because he/she is paying for it. Most people look forward to this little indulgence because it’s not something that the average person practices at home – using fresh towels daily.

My thought was this: If the hotel really wants people to participate in a green program such as linen/towel usage reduction, then they’ll need to price it in to the guest’s stay. I mean, isn’t the hotel saving money by washing linens less frequently? If so, shouldn’t they pass that savings on to the customer just as easily as they’d pass on increased costs?

If they incentivize the program, chances are they’d have higher participation. Now the onus is on the guest to decide if he/she wants to pay for the luxury of fresh daily linens or save money and the environment at the same time.

Saving the environment should be incentive enough but we’re talking about revamping a mindset here and redefining travel behavior. At the end of the day, money talks and the consumer can always be motivated when there’s an opportunity to save money. So, if hotels REALLY want their guests to help them “make a difference”, then they’ll have to consider both parties’ bottom line.

[photo courtesy of DieselDemon]