Hotels and Resorts Ramp Up Sustainability Efforts - The New York Times - 0 views
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Hotels and resorts have started to act by ramping up efforts to reduce or eliminate completely their resource and energy consumption.
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“Sustainability is more than energy conservation or recycling; it is about sustaining communities for the tourism product.”
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While Marriott International and other large chains have promised to eliminate items that never fully decompose, like plastic straws, there is still a lot more work to be done.
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The 114-room Conrad Bora Bora Nui resort in French Polynesia has developed 17 different underwater coral structures around its resort with the mindset to regenerate them. This is done using a “Biorock” technique (passing a low-voltage current through electrodes in the water) developed by the marine biologist Denis Schneider. The process is currently considered among the best ways to fight coral mortality.
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With assistance of the tour leader, they help transplant the coral to the sea bottom to ensure it is able to continue its growth.
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The resort also designed open-air rooms to allow natural breezes to cool the areas, eliminating the need for air-conditioning.
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Solmar Hotels and Resorts in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, heats water (including in its pools) using photo-thermal panels.
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this energy savings translates into fewer emissions into the atmosphere (or the equivalent of pulling 198 gasoline-run cars out of circulation).
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The Spectator Hotel in Charleston, S.C., recently established a food waste diversion program where half-eaten food items such as fruit and pastries are put into a digester that turns them into reusable water.
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The Palms Hotel & Spa in Miami Beach organizes three-hour-long beach cleanups every three months.
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Sustainability has been a primary focus for many hotel companies around the world. There are many initiatives that are being created other than your everyday recycling. Fairmont Mayakoba has implemented a tour in which guest can assist in the transplant of coral to help their growth. Hosteling International USA has also become the first of it's kind to develop a system that monitors shower to last at most seven minutes in it effort to conserve water. These are just some of the many ideas that are taking into effect to further progress sustainability within hotel operations.
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As guests are getting more environmentally friendly, being sustainable is an important aspect of hotel operations. Before they book a hotel, a lot of guests will look for or read about the hotel's social responsibility program. Hence, going green would bring in more revenue by attracting more guests.
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This article explains several ways that hotels and resorts are helping in the fight for sustainability. Some resorts have completely eliminated the use of air conditioning and other ways to get energy for running electricity. For example, the Jade Mountain resort in St. Lucia has designed all their rooms to be open-air rooms which allows for breezes to come through the rooms and ultimately cool down the rooms. This, in turn, eliminates the need for air-conditioning all together. Some hotels are even offering classes on how to live a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. Hotels and resorts have worked towards saving coral reefs, energy and water conservation, preserving food and re-purposing waste, and creating eco-minded communities.