Eco Friendly Travel: How to Green Your Hotel Stay

Be more eco friendly on your next vacation or business trip by following these easy things to do for a greener hotel stay! It's not just good for the environment, but it might be good for your wallet, and you'll have less stuff to carry around. These are all simple, easily implemented steps that you can reasonably apply at least half to your current hotel stays. Read on for some of these eco friendly lodging advice to help out our planet!

It's quicker and easier, and doesn't use as much paper. Paperless billing can be requested from some hotels, or you can request when checking in. That doesn't mean that they'll always do it, but you can try. The more people that ask, the more popular paperless billing will become. You'll receive an email with an invoice of your purchase at most hotels if you book online, so there's no need for the extra paper trail.

Depending on the season, you may not need any air conditioning at all. Try the windows where possible if the temperature is right, and lighten the load on the air conditioning and heating system by turning it up or down. When you leave for the day, turn it the AC to a higher temp, the heat to a lower temperature. This way, you'll be saving much needed energy.

By using your own reusable mug, you'll prevent plastic from being thrown away, and have something a little bit sturdier to drink out of. You'll be thankful when sipping your morning coffee! You'll also keep your drink colder longer, or warmer longer, whichever you prefer. And while it's not much, you might get a small discount for bringing your own mug instead of using the disposable cups provided. An interesting side note: many (if not most) places throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world do not serve your coffee in a disposable cup. They'll serve it in a mug to enjoy on location. Taking it out of the cafe is practically unheard of!

Do you change the bed sheets everyday at home? While it might be nice to have clean, fresh sheets every day in your hotel, this takes massive amounts of energy and resources and isn't necessary unless you've been staying at the hotel for a long time. Opt out of maid service and bed sheet changes and save water, not to mention electricity, emissions and manual labor.

Even greener than a hybrid vehicle is public transportation. Walking is the greenest of all alternatives, but public transportation is an excellent choice. Like all of these other suggestions, you'll also be taking the cheaper route, which is often the best for the environment.

When going on vacation, staying as close as possible to downtown areas and central locations will save yourself some walking and transportation time, not to mention fuel savings. Staying outside the city could cost you a little bit extra, in terms of time, fuel and money.

Running on the treadmill seems convenient enough, but when it's bright, sunny, warm and inviting outside, why not breathe some fresh air and not use a man-made object to get your exercise? Pass on the treadmill and you'll get to see the outside world, which is a lot more fun than staring at the long mirror in the gym. This way, you'll prevent just a little bit of electricity from being used while operating the treadmill.

If you usually read the morning newspaper, great, take it! But if not, you can try to opt out. If enough people opt out, they might stop wasting unnecessary newspapers every morning from being circulated. Thing of all those morning newspapers that must be thrown away by hotels!

Do you really want that free hotel soap? You probably don't need it, and won't ever use it. Leave it for the next people and you'll have one less thing to lug around with you (not to mention you won't have to worry about exploding shampoo in your luggage). In fact, you can bring your own soap and use even less. There are small travel size containers you can purchase, or you can reuse travel size bottles and bring them with you.

During your hotel stay, it's easy to fall into a routine of fresh towels everyday. However, if you're used to reusing your towels at home, it should be easy to continue the practice at a hotel. Hang up your towels and save a whole lot of water from being wasted to wash your towels. You can always get fresh ones at the front desk if you change your mind.

Bottled water can come at a huge cost to the environment. Most places in the United States have excellent drinking water, often held to higher standards than the bottled water that we pay extra for. Bottled water also has to travel long distances to get to you, using gas and more energy. Then, there's the container itself, which often contains chemicals that leach into your water. By filling up a reusable mug with tap water, you'll not only save a little bit of money (every day), but you'll be preventing a lot of waste and wasted energy.

Travelling far from the hotel during your stay? Consider renting an eco friendly hybrid vehicle to save money on gas and to lower your emissions during your drive. Who knows, you might be so impressed that you might want one next time you're in the market to buy a new car! Enterprise Rent a Car has a number of hybrids available at most locations.

Would you leave all the lights on at home when you go out? Probably not! So in the hotel room, it should be no different. Prevent wasted energy and turn off the lights and television when you leave (and don't forget the A/C and heating too!).

If your room has a mini fridge with nothing in it, you can turn it off and save some energy there. You can also save some time, money, and resources by splitting your lunch leftovers and putting them in the room fridge and eating for dinner (or lunch the next day).

You can save enormous amounts of water by turning the water off when you brush your teeth, taking a shorter shower, and turning the water off when you're shaving. Just like at home! Water is a finite source, remember!