Official Green Hotel Scheme Launches In UK

VisitBritain, Britain’s National Tourist Board has launched a new program to help accommodation providers and visitor attractions in England take the first steps toward becoming sustainable businesses.

The Green Start project aims to encourage a “rapid, widespread and significant increase in the adoption of sustainable tourism principles” by offering a validated sustainable accreditation scheme.

Jason Freezer, VisitBritain’s sustainable tourism project manager, said: “VisitBritain is committed to encouraging sustainable businesses. However, nearly two-thirds tell us they need more guidance on developing their business in that way.

“Green Start is an initial step in helping more of our tourism businesses improve their existing practices and signal to visitors that they recognize the increasing importance and value of sustainable good practice.”

Benefits to businesses are listed as including:

• Cost savings, e.g. on utility bills
• Improved quality profile and market edge
• Increased business, e.g. from green conscious consumers
• Improved management efficiency and skills
• A feel-good factor for you and your staff

Using an online self-assessment tool, participants must meet a code of conduct, commit to four fundamental sustainability requirements and, over a period of two years, meet or work towards at least 23 relevant ‘good practices’ from a total menu of 50. These could include insulating buildings and water tanks, using low-energy lighting, collecting rainwater, using locally-sourced produce or promoting eco-friendly travel such as cycling. More details can be found on the Green Start site.

8 Tips To Being An Environmentally Friendly Traveler

When traveling it’s often difficult to think how to do it in an environmentally friendly way. There are actually quite a few things you can do, so here are some tips to help you out.

1. Before leaving for your trip, remember to conserve at home. Turn off the lights, computers and appliances that will not be in use and make sure to tightly turn off all faucets to prevent waste of water.
2. Consider offseting the carbon dioxide emissions created by your travel by investing in a carbon-reducing program that funds renewable energy, energy efficiency or reforestation projects. For more information about some of the programs available, visit www.carbonfund.org, www.sustainabletravelinternational.org, or www.climatecare.org.
3. When you have reached your destination, explore your options for environmentally responsible local transportation. Look for opportunities to use public transit like buses or trains, rent a bicycle or even walk. If you need to rent a car, consider an environmentally-friendly compact or hybrid vehicle. Choose the smallest vehicle that can accommodate you as they are more fuel efficient.
4. Research the availability of green hotels or ecolodges that have environmental sustainability as part of their mission. Search for green hotels, bed and breakfasts, resorts, motels, lodges or inns wherever you’re going.
5. When you check-in to your hotel, ask them if they have recycling or eco-friendly programs that you can participate in. You can also:
   • Turn off lights and air conditioning when you leave your room.
   • Only get your sheets, towels and amenities changed when you really need too.
   • Ask the hotel about their energy usage, such as bulbs and recycling. If enough people ask then they might take notice.
   • Refill your own water bottles rather than using the ones provided.
   • Take short showers rather than baths.
6. Respect the local ecosystem while you are visiting. If you go hiking, do not stray from the designated trails. When visiting the seashore, do not disrupt local life forms such as corals, seashells or starfish. And, anywhere you visit, make sure to refrain from littering.
7. Support the local community that you are visiting whenever possible. This can mean buying local instead of imported goods, or hiring a local guide who will be familiar with the region. Activities such as these help sustain and replenish the community economically while reinforcing its culture and identity.
8. For more ideas pelase take a look at our Green Holidays article.

Please note: Part of these tips were originally sent to me to promote a website, but it no longer exists and I’ve deleted the email - so if this was you please let me know and I will happily give you credit.

Lego Style Hotels Built In 12 Weeks

Travelodge, a UK hotel chain have announced a hotel made of steel modules that resemble shipping containers, which are stacked on top of each other like Lego. Almost.

Each module contains a bedroom and bathroom, with plumbing and wiring ready to hook up to the rest of the units. Once the container-like elements have been bolted together, the structure’s exterior walls are covered with brickwork or other cladding to make them look like any other Travelodge. It’s currently being used to build hotels in Uxbridge and Heathrow Airport in the UK. When the hotels have run their course, they can be dismantled and the steel casings can be reused at other sites. There is no news on the construction materials used, and how

Modular building will help speed up further expansion (although I’m not sure there is a shortage of hotels), and will also make it feasible to build temporary hotels for major events like the Olympics that is in London in 2012. They estimate that a hotel could be built in as little as 12 weeks using this method.

[Via: Springwise]

Would You Like To Stay At An Eco-Friendly Hotel In Jamaica?

Eco-friendly accommodation site, ecobookers, is currently offering the chance to win a one-week stay at an eco-friendly hotel in Jamaica. For a chance to win, simply register your details at http://ecobookers.com/competition.php by 9th January 2008. You will be entered into the competition and registered to receive their regular news and exclusive offers by email.

The winner will receive a free 7-night stay at the eco-chic Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, a romantic, peaceful and comfortable hideaway, nestled between the majesty of the Blue Mountains and the Caribbean Sea in Jamaica. The ten select accommodations are lovingly decorated with hand crafted bamboo furniture, locally printed fabrics and original art. Guests are greeted with warm hospitality and can discover creative Caribbean cuisine in the hotel’s highly acclaimed restaurant, Mille Fleurs, which offers terrace dining with spectacular views overlooking the harbour of Port Antonio.

However there is a catch. Whilst the prize is for two people in a double room, it does not include flights or transfers. Depending on how much you pay for a holiday, this could be costly for you, however not having to pay accommodation on a holiday is a great prize.

Also, I know many of you are not keen on unnecessary air travel, so I suppose it depends on whether you were planning on going abroad on holiday anyway, or depends on your feelings of holiday air travel. Of course, if you live in Jamaica then good luck too!

Eco Friendly Travel Agents

The excellent EcoShopper have discovered EcoBookers, a UK based travel agency that offers eco friendly travel to destinations throughout the world.

They were founded in the belief that not only should it be possible to visit new countries and experience new cultures without doing harm to them, it should actually be possible to have a positive impact.

EcoBookers is not a travel agent or tour operator, they are an online information source and booking agent for eco-acommodation. They get paid va commission from any hotels or travel that arebooked through them. Why not take a look and let us know how you get on?

Take A Green Holiday in England

Enjoy England, the official tourist board for England, have launched their Rural Escapes campaign. Included in this are Green Escapes with information and inspiration on sustainable and organic hotels, stunning countryside walks, farmland retreats, regional food, farmer’s markets and much more.

“Stay in a teepee or castle, shop for organic food at a local market, get close to animals on a farm, take a vineyard tour, stroll along an empty beach at sunset, or try your hand at navigating a canal boat. All this and more is possible in England’s spectacular coast and countryside, and our brand new Rural Escapes campaign offers plenty of inspirational ideas and top tips for your next break, whether you’re travelling on your own, as a group, as a couple, or a family.”

Take a look and be inspired this summer for Rural Escapes.

More Eco Hotels And Places To Stay

Further to my esteemed brother’s post about environmentally friendly hotels, there are a few in the UK too. The Apex Hotel in Edinburgh (branches in London and Dundee too) won three Keep Edinburgh Clean Awards in 2006 and the Scottish Hotel Environmental Award in 2007. They have a environmental promise:

• We will work with our supplier partners to encourage use of environmentally friendly soaps and detergents for laundering bed linen and towels
• We will identify and implement eco-friendly policies through the formation of an Apex Green Team
• We will endeavour to use eco-friendly chemicals in all Apex Hotels
• We will endeavour to purchase recycled goods whenever appropriate
• We will recycle used toner cartridges
• We will only provide newspapers when requested and recycle at every opportunity

They also offer a way to offset your carbon footprint with Climate Care and have just appointed an environmental director - have many companies have one of them? You can find out more about the specifics of what they do here.

There’s Natural Retreats in the Yorkshire Dales too. They advertise themselves as “a ground breaking luxury holiday home development based on strong sustainable and environmental principles.”

But if your budget is a bit smaller, try a youth hostel. From £14 per night you can stay at a hostel in Lockton, North Yorkshire which was the first eco-hostel in the UK in 2005. It boasts “showers heated by solar panels on the hostel roof, dry compost toilet and a system which harvests rainwater and other ‘grey’ water to use to flush toilets. The building is insulated using sheep’s wool and the new extension also has a living Sedum roof, the foliage of which will also provide a habitat for local wildlife as well as adding extra insulation.”

And north of the border in Scotland is the extreme in environmental hostelling. The Loch Ossian hostel in Rannoch Moor in the Highlands can only be accessed on foot and is a mile away from the nearest train station. Again it has a dry toilet and grey water system, and energy is provided by a wind turbine. It’s also friendly to wildlife - there are a colony of bats in the attic!

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