How to spot greenwashing when booking a hotel

Some hotels are still hiding behind labels such as ‘eco-hotel’ or ‘planet-friendly’ despite being far from sustainable

Making changes towards a more sustainable operation takes time, and many hotels – big and small – are already taking steps to measure their carbon footprint, reduce food waste and employ locally, among other things. Sadly, however, there are still businesses jumping on the 'sustainability' bandwagon to look good, rather than to genuinely lower their environmental and social impact.

Key takeaways

• Prime examples that travellers will already be familiar with is the in-room declaration that the washing of linen every second night (instead of every night) is done in the name of saving energy, or the optional straw with your cocktail will cut down on plastic pollution. Both of these measures barely scratch the surface when it comes to lowering environmental impact, and are likely done as a cost-saving exercise rather than to improve procedures;
• If a hotel is shouting about such minimal efforts – removing plastic water bottles falls into this category – the chances are its not doing a lot towards conserving the local environment;
• Genuine sustainability-focused accommodation will be undertaking basic green measures – from providing filtered water that is safe to drink (eliminating the need for plastic water bottles) to hygienically refilling shampoos and shower gels (eradicating all single-use plastics) – behind-the-scenes.

Get the full story at Wanderlust