How to Find Green Hotels and Eco Lodging

It’s finally time to take a much needed vacation, but do you need to throw out all your environmental beliefs for a week or two just because you’re leaving home? Is it possible to go on a vacation, have the time of your life, and stay in a hotel that shares your green living ideals? Lucky for you, these days it is. Today we’re sharing how to find green hotels and eco lodging for planning guilt-free getaways.

Happily, there are more eco-friendly hotels and resorts than ever before and they’re doing some pretty inspired things. The Inn By The Sea in Crescent Beach, Maine is heated by Biofuel, is Silver LEED certified, has dual flush toilets, and has a restaurant that uses locally-sourced foods. The Hotel Terra in Jackson Hole, Wyoming has organic mattresses, gives out aluminum water bottles instead of plastic, and its roof is covered in shingles made from recycled tires. The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina has been called the “greenest” hotel in America. It heats its water with one hundred solar panels on its roof and uses almost forty percent less power than traditional hotels. These are just three amazing, luxurious hotels and the list of positive things that they’re doing is far longer than what we could mention here.

Of course, this isn’t the new status quo for all hotels, but just like how you pick and choose what to purchase at home, you can find better options for travel, too. Here’s how in two extremely simple steps:

• Look for green lodging and certification programs. Twenty-seven states have a green lodging program. This list  from Green Lodging News is a great place to start when looking for your dream eco hotel. Also, there are numerous certification programs that you can look for when trying to find the best place to stay. Audubon International has a Green Lodging Properties list as does GreenSeal, which is an independent non-profit that certifies sustainable businesses.

• Call and ask questions. If you’re looking for a green hotel in an area that isn’t represented on one of these lists, contact hotels directly and ask them about their policies. You can ask them if they recycle, what they do to conserve energy, what cleaning products they use, and what types of paint they use while remodeling. Hotels are almost always involved in some form of renovation, so the products and materials they use could make a big difference in the quality of your stay. Also, by calling and asking you’re making them aware that their potential customers care about the products they use and the environmental policies that they have in place. If they aren’t aware that you that you’d like them to use a non-toxic*, zero VOC** paint they might never change. Use your consumer power!
  *Conforms to ASTMD-4236, specifically concerning oral toxicity, skin irritation and respiratory effects. **Conforms to CDPH 01350 (VOC emissions test taken at 11, 12, & 14 days for classroom and office use). Learn more about VOCs and our commitment to healthier paints here.

With just a little bit of searching, you can find what you need for a truly dreamy, healthy vacation. Then you can lie back, relax, and breathe easy knowing that you’re somewhere that has everything you love about where you live, but hopefully with a better view.

ECOS Paints is proud to be a Green Product and Service Directory partner to Green Lodging News, the lodging industry’s leading environmental news source.