Green Hotels

by Steve Auger

Living in a capitalist world, the average consumer should realize that he/she determines which businesses will succeed and which won't, simply by choosing to spend money on one product/service and not another.  This is a form of voting, and although individuals cannot directly drive businesses to failure or success, collectively we consumers have the power to determine a business's future. 

As the summer goes by (faster than ever) my thoughts have turned to my upcoming vacation so I decided to do some research into green hotels.  Much to my chagrin I found that the overall organization/coordination of the green hotel movement leaves something to be desired.  There appears to be two programs in North America:

(1) Audubon Green Leaf^TM Eco-Rating Program
(2) Green Hotels Association

The Audubon Green Leaf^TM Eco-Rating Program starts out with the hotel doing a self-survey and being awarded an eco-rating from rating (1-5).   Subsequently Audubon Green Leaf staff follows up with independent verification of the hotel's green claims.  In my opinion the independent verification is a very important and necessary aspect of any "Green ratings program".  The list of hotels with an eco-rating can be found on the Audubon Green Leaf^TM Eco-Rating Program website.  Unfortunately I cannot direct you to the exact page due to the way the Audubon site is coded.

The second organization mentioned above is the Green Hotels Association.  On the surface, I don't see the process involved for successfully getting and keeping a Green Hotels Association membership.  I may be wrong but the association appears to be only a collection of hotel members with an interest in being green.  The association researches green innovations and share them with member hotels.  They also appear to "approve" vendors for hotel products.  So my instinct tells me that this organization is primarily driven by commercial activities and not in the business of assuring adherence to some level of green standards.  i.e. it appears any hotel can become a member of Green Hotels Association and take advantage of the "yes this hotel has greening intentions" marketing strategy.  I'm not sure that good intentions motivated by green marketing results in real actions.  In summary, I am wary of the GHA until I get more data on this organization. 

In doing my research I found that in general, individual hotels do better than large hotel chains.  The reason likely has to do with ability to dictate environmental policies across many hotels in different states/provinces/countries.  Individual hotels have much better chance to incorporate and adhere to environmental policies.

Below is a summary of various hotel chains and there environmental policies.  In general none of these hotel chains has subscribed to Eco-rating programs so you have to assume they "walk the walk" in addition to "talking the talk".  If you really want to be environmentally responsible then you should research individual hotels in your desired destination and look to see if it is eco-rated.