To be eco-friendly in all aspects of your life is fine, but to expect it when traveling is something else especially when you’re looking for eco-friendly resort features.

It can prove to be extremely difficult to reduce your eco-footprint during every stage of your adventure, whether that be overseas or domestically.

However, by choosing to stay at an an eco-friendly (aka earth-friendly) hotel, is perhaps one of the best choices you can make as you take an environmentally-conscious vacation. While some hotels do a great job in advertising their eco-friendly accommodations, it’s easy to look over some of the best hotels out there.

With the professionalism of keeping all their environmentally friendly practices done behind the scenes, guests like you can have a hassle-free vacation without knowing exactly what’s going on; at least that was the case with my amazing experience at Xanadu Island Resort, an eco-friendly hotel on San Pedro island, Belize.

Take a look at the tips below to get an idea of a few signs you can look out for that will tell whether the hotel you’ve chosen is an eco-friendly paradise, or just another hotel that’s not at all too concerned about the environment we’re doing our best to protect.

Features of an Eco-Friendly Resort

1) They don’t offer straws:

Eco-friendly hotels know from experience that on average, an individual uses a straw to swirl their drink for a few minutes and then sets it down never to use again. Such a callous waste of resources only to lie in waste is something green hotels can’t bear. As a result, they they tend to not give them out freely.

2) Sensor controlled rooms:

Another way of being economical is to have the rooms controlled by sensors that can switch off the air conditioning and lights when no one is in the room and put them back on when one enters the room. Another successful way of reducing wastage of electricity is to use a key card that also works as a activator which cuts on the lights and air conditioning in the room. As a result, this makes it so that you can’t leave them on while you’re out which saves loads of energy.

3) Instead of plastic bottles, use ceramic:

Green hotels don’t give out water in plastic bottles because they believe that water should be filtered before drinking. And to drink it, ceramic mugs are the best. In green hotels, you can find filtered water in glass bottles and drinking fountains. To be extra cautious on your end, always carry a reusable water bottle just to stay that extra step ahead of the game. 

4) Bath soaps in dispensers:

We don’t change our bath soaps every couple of days at home, so why should we expect to do so at a hotel? If you stay at a hotel that provides bath soaps and shampoos in individual dispensers in the shower area and on the bathroom counter, then you know that you’ve chosen a green hotel.

5) Reusable laundry bags and grocery bags:

As you may already know, going green also means you reduce your hotel’s operational costs. By getting rid of plastic laundry bags and replacing them with cloth bags, you reduce the use of harmful plastic and encourage that of a re-usable, re-washable cloth.

On another note, when I worked at the Gant Resort in Aspen, Colorado, we gave our guests reusable cloth grocery bags so that when they went shopping, they wouldn’t have to use environmentally harmful plastic bags. You know what they say: reduce, reuse, recycle.

6) Don’t spray the environment with chemicals:

Of course, it is the duty of hotels to keep mosquitoes, sand fleas or other creepy crawlies down to a minimum so that guests can be comfortable, but this can be done without using harmful chemical sprays. It’s a better idea for hotels to manage this problem by making changes within the landscape of the place rather than use superficial sprays.

7) Green cleaning options:

Look for hotels that offer eco-friendly cleaning alternatives. There are  many hotels these days that encourage you to use placards on the bed that say you don’t need your sheets and towels changed. In case the hotel you’re in doesn’t offer this service, write a note to the housekeeper asking if the hotel offers eco-friendly cleaning options. If even this doesn’t work, put out a Do Not Disturb sign so that housekeeping won’t come in to clean your room.

8) Does the hotel spell out its eco-policies?

If a hotel genuinely practices eco-friendly policies, they will proclaim it proudly to their guests. Just to be sure, you could call before booking and find out their stand on this issue. Find out what the hotel does to give back to the local community. These and other related issues can easily be discussed with the hotel. As an extra pre-caution, you can also ask to see their green certifications as this is something else a truly eco-friendly hotel is proud to display.

Do you prefer to stay at a hotel with eco-friendly resort features while on vacation?