How environmentally friendly is your property?

Thanks Ilaria for this post...

Yesterday night I also posted “Plastic free” inspired from the article I read in click magazine “sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics “

A very interesting and informative article.

In addition to my writing in my post about plastic free we have solar system for hot water in my Studio.

In cleaning I use eco-friendly products and mostly soap from olive oil and white vinegar.  It’s cheaper and more friendly to environment and to my precious hands.

Thanks to the good weather we have in Greece, I don’t have to use a dryer for my laundry.

When my guests arrive I have my windows  wide opened so the cool breeze can  get inside preventing them to open the air conditioner.

Surely this is not enough but it’s a start.

We have been eco certified for a number of years, but it is not a deciding factor for guests. Our listing in booking.com does not reflect our environmental factors.

1, solar electricity

2. solar hot water

3. rain water tanks

4. our own waste water recycling plant.

5. Reverse cycle air conditiners/heat pumps.

6. Rubbish recycling centre

7. Reuse and recycle policy.

8, Reduced use of small amentiy bottles

9. Insulated building materials.

If there is a way for booking .com to help us attract more environmentally aware guests we would appreciate that.

Cheers,

Gina

I am pleased there is a forum on this subject and again interesting that it is all driven from the accommodation providers points of view on the matter.  I, like everyone else (I am sure) am trying to do as much as I can regarding more sustainable products / management of waste etc.  However, I have to question Ilaria's quoted prercentages above (70%) as the problem I have (and will be surprised if I am the ony one) is the guests bringing the waste into the rooms i.e. takeaway products, car waste etc none or little of which is recycleable and these are the exact same percentages (70%) global travellers. I make at least 3 trips (30mile round trip each time by car - impact on carbon footprint!!) every week to the city dump to dispose of guests excess rubbish as I would not expect my staff to have to separate this.  Even with the proper recepticles in place  the recycling criteria differs from area to area for UK visitors and country to country for Global visitors. (In my area alone it differs within a 13 mile radius).  It is all very well the steps we are taking (and in the UK a great many are taken by businesses particularyly in the accommodation industry and of course more has to be done) but what point is there if the visitors have no pereception of the impact they are having when bringing day after day bagfulls of rubbish to a property each night of their visit. Currently, I do not allow takeaways or any kind of pre-packaged food to be brought into, delivered or consumed on my property much to the annoyance of some visitors and the reviews on my property reflect this but it is a price I am prepared to pay.

If Booking.Com are (as they state) are committed to a more Eco Friendly Environment and want to set the pace for this then perhaps they should be more pro-active in leading the way for this on the Booking.Com Booking/Home pages by drawing to the attention of visitors/ guests the impact they are leave behind everywhere they stay.  After all you can't leave rubbish in public transport/hire cars etc.

In light of the attention that has been drawn to Climate Change etc. in recent years the situation (in the hospitality industry) as far as I am concerned is worse than ever with, as an example hotel chains doing away with room service and actively promoting the likes of deliveroo etc. which sends a message that takeaways are o.k. I would love to hear the views of others about this and also any tips anyone has for educating visitors and discouraging the problem in the first place

I think this is a small step by step for people to be more aware and eco friendly in general. It's difficult to aware guest and teach them about sorting, specialy if they are from country where they don't sort waste at all. 

We removed all trash bins from the rooms and put few home made waste bins for sorting outside, on the hallways back entrance ect.

Still the staff need to sort waste each morning since some guests doesn't know how to sort or don't care:) 

When a guest makes a booking, they receive an automated message from us also regarding this subject:

"Become part of our Zero Waste story:

- Sort waste for recycling

- Drink tap water instead of bottled water

- Remember to turn off the lights in your room

- Use reusable bags when going shopping

- Reuse your towels

We show great care for the environment, especially in terms of waste and drinking water management.

Thank you for helping us!"

We are doing our best to reduce/recycle all waste. We also encourage guest to join our sustainable program.

pibomarco your home made waste bins are incredible... I love wood very much....

Keep on the great work...and hopefully very soon people will understand how important is to recycle...

Hi

You say:

In our recent sustainability report, 70% of global travellers said they’d be more likely to book an accommodation if it was eco-friendly. Plus, you’ll be contributing to reducing the impact of plastics on the environment.

So how does a traveller filter for properties that are green?  How does a property declare itself as green?  Are there degrees of green-ness?  Do we self-certificate our green credentials?

This is so much more than "reducing the impact of plastics" - there are many aspect of running an accommodation business that drive us towards un-green habits - however most of this is down to cost-saving and guest expectation and not a preference.

Perhaps a list of green-attributes we could tick would be a good place to start, make it visible on the property profile, make it part of the filtering process for searches (although thats already complex). It would help manage guest expectations when they realise they will have to have butter in a dish and not individually wrapped in foil?