In the lodging industry, “luxurious” and “green” used to be mutually exclusive concepts. After all, the word “luxury” often connotes blissful excess with little concern for waste, whereas “green” implies a stripped-down experience based on conserving resources for the greater good.
Sure, many hotel chains have recently tried to appear more environmentally responsible by letting guests opt to re-use their linens rather than having them replaced each morning. But overall, the industry still falls considerably short of true eco-friendliness. Most hotels and motels still squander more and more energy, generate tons of trash, and send hundreds of gallons of waste and chemicals out into the environment every day.
The figures are startling even at the individual level. A single occupied hotel room uses an average of 218 gallons of water per day, according the California Environmental Protection Agency. And the average guest produces about two pounds of trash each night, according to Michelle White, director of environmental affairs for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. “In some places, it’s five or even six pounds,” she says. So at a single large hotel with, say, 1,000 occupied guest rooms, it’s fair to say that guests alone are generating at least a ton of waste every 24 hours, with the facility’s own operations contributing even more.
As White’s title suggests, some leading hoteliers no longer view “green luxury” as an oxymoron; they’re actively — and successfully promoting themselves as offering eco-friendly yet high-quality accommodations.
Fairmont, a century-old chain with hotels in San Francisco, Toronto and other North American cities, also maintains resorts in locations ranging from Hawaii to Bermuda to Monaco to Kenya. The company began integrating environmental concerns into its operations in 1990 because, White says, “it makes good economic sense. Our destinations and the health of those destinations are tied to our livelihoods. Besides, we all live and work in those locations.”