In this part of our Sustainable Series we’ll cover how to make hotels more eco friendly for the world around us. If you haven’t already, have a look at our first part covering restaurants here to see what you can adopt into your day to day life.
So the question is, what can hotels do to help our environment and daily life?
Though it may be tempting to provide water for the room as an extra amenity, bottled water is an unnessecary use of single-use plastic. Guests are now looking for hotels that are environmentally aware and will be less likely to use bottled water. If you’re located somewhere that allows them to safely use the tap water that is. Consider offering glasses in the rooms for this, or perhaps install an eco-friendly filtered water dispenser on each floor to make guests and staff more conscious of their water usage. This can help save money too for your business as you’ll no longer have to pay for bottled water. Why not make it a refill station for passers-by if you’re in a busy location? Let the public know that they can refill their bottles on the go. You may also end up with more customers in the long run knowing that you’re doing something to become more eco friendly.
Eco friendly food
Consider composting to divert food from landfills, or even better, figure out what you can do with the scraps! Did you know that potato peel, parsnip peel etc. can be used in many dishes? It can even be used as a light crisp snack! Get creative and see what you can do to reduce food waste!
A few more ideas would include serving local and organic food, ensuring that guests are easing healthy and sustainable meals. This is a big thing travellers and guests look for these days.
We have lots of other great ideas in our sustainable restaurants blog and our food and beverage industry ‘saving the world’ blog. Make sure to check them out!
Eco friendly rooms
Hotels have been using key cards for a long time but since their introduction have been made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride) based plastics which is highly toxic during the manufacturing process. A good alternative would be to make key cards from paper, wood or bioplastic. This would make it eco friendly while still being a durable and useful product. Another alternative, would be an app for smartphones. This would ensure no waste whatsoever.
A lot of rooms have amenities like shampoos, soaps, coffee etc. These can all have a bad effect on the environment, so what can we do to change this? Provide biodegradable or recyclable packaging, or buy items in bulk so that there is no unnecessary waste. Encourage your guests to reuse their towels, sheets and bedding. This will allow housekeepers cut down on the usage of washing machines and dryers because lets be real, nobody changes their bed sheets daily when they’re home. One way to encourage this would be by providing linen cards and do not disturb signs to let housekeepers know when they want to reuse items.
One of the easiest ways to help with sustainability in rooms is by replacing plastic and paper cups for coffees and drinks with glasses and mugs that can be reused. Remember, while paper cups may seem like a good alternative, they still contain plastic linings.
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People
Equip your hotel staff with environmentally friendly supplies and knowledge. Start using bio-based cleaning products rather than chlorine and other nasty chemical filled cleaners; they’ll be kinder to your skin, your furniture and our world.
Teach your staff about sustainability, knowledge will take us further and help us do more, and as we learn we can teach others; give your guests some tricks to take home with them and give them an eco conscious experience that they’ll want others to experience too! Xpressjobs has over 1,500 hotel jobs all across the UK! Search and apply now!