Hotels go green

Aside from providing excellent service, a wide variety of amenities and world class food, hotel chains are increasing their efforts to be environmentally conscious. The main reason for these hotels to be environmentally conscious is not only saving the environment but also in cutting costs. With recession affecting travel, any means necessary to save are being implemented.

Here are the top hotels that made drastic changes to go green:

Marriot: Earning the distinction as the first LEED-Certified hotel chain, the bulbs in their hotel chains worldwide now use CFL instead of the traditional bulbs. Their water consumption has also lowered due to low-flow water equipments.

Motel 6: the “greenest” move of the hotel chain is to add occupancy sensors in the room. These sensors monitor the presence of the guest to adjust the heaters. One of their hotels in Dallas now features solar-powered water heater.

Starwood: the hotel chain is slowly changing their appliances with energy-star certifications. The carpets are even made with recycled materials. If you drive a hybrid to any of their hotels, you’ll enjoy VIP parking privileges.

Hilton: although Hilton is a little bit delayed compared to other hotel chains in environmental awareness, they are already rolling out plans in cutting waste. Their European chains are now aggressively reducing water consumption by 10% and plans for further implementation in US are slowly implemented.

These hotels are also using recycled materials in some of their products. For example, Marriot and Hyatt are now using recycled materials in their containers and key cards. As they make drastic changes to their hotels to improve the experience of their guests, they are also trying to save the environment as much as they can.