These days, sustainability has become one of the most important aspects of the guest experience. More than ever, hotel guests are using sustainability and green practices to decide which hotel they want to stay at. By incorporating green practices at your property, you can make your hotel more appealing to guests while also helping out the environment. We came up with a handful of sustainable hotel ideas that are easy and cost-effective to implement.
These eco friendly hotel ideas cover your hotel lobby, guest rooms, and cafe or restaurant.
Sustainable Lobby
Let’s start with the room where first impressions are made: the hotel lobby! The lobby is your first opportunity to show your hotel guests that you’re committed to the environment.
Eco-Friendly Key Cards
The best thing that your hotel can do to go green is to eliminate as much single-use plastic as you can. Many hotels use key cards that are made from single-use plastic.
But you can easily have your key cards made from eco-friendly materials:
- Wooden Key Cards: Wooden key cards are becoming a hot trend in hotels because of their beautiful look and feel, and they’re more biodegradable than plastic key cards.
- Recycled Materials: You can also have your key cards made from recycled PVC or recycled polyester laminate.
- Digital Keys: Digital keys allow your hotel guests to access their rooms and other hotel facilities using their smartphone, which cuts down on the number of key cards that you need. You will still need to use traditional key cards at your hotel because not every guest will want to use their smartphone, but it could still be an effective way to reduce your plastic usage.
Eco-Friendly Key Holders
Most hotels use paper key sleeves or key folders to hold the room keys. With Front Desk Supply, you can order key holders that are made from recycled paper or seeded paper. We have even seen some made from leather. These types of key holders are eco-friendly and also beautiful, and they will show your hotel guests that your property is committed to recycling and cutting down on waste.
Eco-Friendly Pens
Many hotels churn through their supply of custom pens; they’re often taken home by guests, disappear into the crevices of your front desk, or they simply run out of ink. For those reasons, your pens can end up creating a lot of plastic waste.
However, you can order custom hotel pens that are made from recycled plastic or wood strains. These are perfect for your front desk, in your restaurant, or even in your guest rooms.
Umbrellas
You can be more sustainable by keeping your hotel well-stocked with umbrellas, especially if your property only receives limited or seasonal rainfall.
Guests do not always pack umbrellas on their trips, so when there’s unexpected rainfall they might head to a local store to buy one; unfortunately, these “vacation umbrellas” are usually tossed out by the guests before they depart, which creates unnecessary waste.
Having umbrellas that your guests can borrow to use on a rainy day is one of the most overlooked and underrated sustainable hotel ideas!
Water Dispenser
Every hotel should provide its guests with drinking water, but if you’re truly committed to sustainability, avoid selling plastic water bottles.
Having a water dispenser in the lobby or in another common area of your hotel allows your guests to stay hydrated and also cuts down on plastic waste.
You might be concerned about losing revenue on water bottle sales, but you still have an opportunity to make sales at your gift shop. Sell reusable water bottles instead so your guests can take advantage of the free water.
Remember to place signage at your water dispenser mentioning your hotel’s commitment to sustainability and cutting down on plastic waste.
Sustainable Guest Rooms
In your guest rooms, you can make significant, but low-cost sustainability improvements. These sustainable hotel ideas feature eco-friendly product alternatives, but they also cover some ways that you can encourage your guests to minimize their consumption of energy and water while they’re staying at your property.
Soap Dispensers
Many hotels provide their guests with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion in small, disposable plastic bottles, which create plastic waste.
Eco-friendly hotels usually opt for soap dispensers instead of disposable containers. When the guest room is being serviced by housekeeping, the cleaning staff simply refills any of the dispensers that are getting empty.
Soap dispensers will not entirely eliminate plastic waste; you will still order larger containers of shampoo, soap, and conditioner, but this will not create as much waste as using individual bottles.
Eco-Friendly DND Signs
Hotels commonly use do-not-disturb signs that are made from laminated paper or plastic. These are cost-effective in the short term, but they have some major downsides: they get damaged and dirtied very easily, and they’re also not very good for the environment.
You can replace your paper / plastic do-not-disturb signs with signs that are made from eco-friendly materials, such as Teslin®, hardwood and wood veneer, or just veneer.
Wooden signs have become especially popular at boutique or luxury hotels because they have a nicer look and feel. They’re also popular at eco-lodges because they have a natural, rustic aesthetic.
Wooden do-not-disturb signs cost more money upfront, but they can actually save you money in the long term because they don’t get damaged as easily; you don’t need to order frequent replacements.
Eco-Friendly Notices
Modern hotels often utilize a system where the key card provides power to the room. It’s a great way to save on energy costs, but some hotels may not be able to implement this expensive system.
Instead, you can place signage in your guest rooms that politely ask your guests to shut off the lights and air conditioning when they leave the room; you can mention that your hotel is committed to sustainability. Most guests will appreciate your keenness to save energy.
Eco-Friendly Stationery
Boutique and luxury hotels often have notepads in the guest rooms. Consider using eco-friendly notepads that are made from recycled paper. If you want to make them look more elegant, you can place them in a leather notepad holder. You might also consider using eco-friendly notepads at your front desk.
Sustainable Restaurant
It can be difficult to manage your operating costs at your hotel restaurant or cafe, and that’s why it can feel so intimidating to make sustainability improvements in these areas. However, the following eco-friendly and sustainable hotel ideas can actually help you cut down on your product costs so you can improve your restaurant’s profitability—while also benefiting the environment.
Eco-Friendly Menus
You can replace your paper or plastic menus with eco-friendly menus that are made from recycled paper.
You could also use QR code menus; each table would have a QR code that guests can scan with their smartphone to access the menu. QR menus are gaining popularity at restaurants across the country, and your hotel restaurant could benefit, too.
You’ll still want to have a handful of physical menus in case your guests ask for them, but most guests are fine with using QR codes. You could cut down on the number of menus you have, which also means you won’t have to order replacements as frequently.
Reusable Glasses & Straws
If your hotel has a pool area, then you might prefer to serve drinks in plastic cups; broken glasses are a nightmare for your staff who maintain the pool and recreation areas.
However, you can replace your plastic cups with a few eco-friendly alternatives:
- Aluminum cups
- Compostable cups (PLA)
- Recycled-plastic cups (PET)
These cups will not shatter if they’re dropped, and they’re so much more sustainable than cups made from single-use plastic.
You might also consider using metal straws or compostable straws instead of plastic ones. Many Americans are still reluctant to use metal straws, but you can encourage them by having signage at your restaurant or bar that emphasizes your commitment to sustainability. You could also have a few plastic straws on hand for those hotel guests who absolutely refuse to use metal ones.
Metal straws could be ideal for your budgeting because your hotel can wash and reuse them; you don’t have to keep ordering monthly shipments.
Eco-minded hotel guests will be grateful for your commitment to reducing single-use plastic at your property.
Save While Going Sustainable
Hopefully, these sustainable hotel ideas will help you greenify your property, protect the earth, and win the hearts of your eco-minded hotel guests. However, if you’re not sure how to implement sustainable products while staying within your budget, our team at Front Desk Supply is happy to provide you with guidance.
At Front Desk Supply, we can provide you with a wide variety of hotel supplies that are beautifully branded to your property. We want you to get the most value out of your hotel supply orders, and we can help you choose the right products or materials based on your property’s goals and budget.
Contact our team today or check out some of the products we offer in our eco-friendly line.
