 |
A Greener Green Mountain State
Vermont hotels adopt environmentally friendly practices
Two road-weary New England travelers check into a nondescript hotel late one evening. They get their keys and find their room in a haze, induced by spending too many hours watching the mile counters tick by on the highway. The travelers open their room door, and it feels like home. Well, sort of.
|
Walk into virtually any moderately-priced hotel room in America, and it will look basically the same. Most of the room is occupied by two double beds neatly made with stiff comforters. A night stand with a digital alarm clock separates the beds. A television sits on a commanding dresser across from the beds. Below the lone window is a finicky air conditioner/heater partially hidden beneath thick drapery.
In some Vermont hotels, the scene is the same except for a two unobtrusive additions: a small blue recycling bucket and a low-flow showerhead. These inconspicuous changes are part of Vermont’s Green Hotels in the Green Mountain State program. According to Peter Crawford, the green initiative program began about ten years ago as a pilot program in conjunction with Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation. The program began as a way to provide incentive for hotels, motels, inns, and bed-and-breakfasts to go beyond compliance with respect to environmental regulations.
“It saves money and helps the environment. It’s a win-win situation.”
Crawford, the Regulatory Assistance Program director for the Vermont Small Business Development Center, has been with the program since its beginning and has seen participation grow from just a few hotels to today’s group of 55 lodging establishments.
“There is an increased interest in brand association with green initiatives,” Crawford notes, “and it’s only going to continue to increase.” The program is voluntary, Crawford explains. In return for adopting environmentally friendly measures, hotels receive recognition – in the form of limited advertising – and brand association with environmental stewardship.
|
“Hotels picked up on the towel and linen reuse program right away,” Crawford says. “It saves money and helps the environment. It’s a win-win situation.”
According to Bob McCarroll, general manager of the Anchorage Inn in Burlington, the financial benefit is what originally drew his establishment to green measures. The Anchorage Inn began some of its environmentally-friendly practices almost two decades ago.
“We didn’t start off with being a green hotel as a goal,” explains McCarroll. “We were going through a major remodeling and wanted to be efficient.”
The most recent change for the inn, McCarroll says, is changing the cleaning chemicals to natural substances. The laundry equipment uses less power, and the chemicals are less harsh.
“I think more and more people are looking for hotels that have a green initiative.”
Graphic courtesy of www.vtgreenhotels.org |
While the environmental benefits are a plus, McCarroll is quick to point out that running a green hotel is also about money. “Most of it just makes good business sense,” he notes. “It is a simple fact that it saves money in the long run.”
Guest awareness is also important, McCarroll says. Some guests notice the green changes, some don’t, he adds. One thing guests noticed were the inn’s low-flow shower heads, which use less water but still have great pressure. “All of a sudden they started disappearing,” McCarroll says.McCarroll believes there is a segment of the tourist population that looks for green hotels, and if his inn was to disregard that, they’d be ignoring a whole client base.
Tourism is one of the top industries in Vermont, explains Erica Houskeeper, communications director for Vermont’s Department of Tourism and Marketing. Thirteen and a half million people visit the New England state annually and collectively spend 1.6 billion dollars. The tourism industry supports 36,000 Vermont jobs.
An important segment of the tourism industry is lodging. Vermont has about 25,000 rooms, and on during busy traveling times such as Columbus Day week, Houskeeper explains, every room will be full. People come to Vermont to relax, go to museums, shop, and experience the natural beauty of the state, Houskeeper says.
“I think more and more people are looking for hotels that have a green initiative,” notes Houskeeper. “I think it’s great that we have this program.”
Houskeeper adds, “It sounds cliché, but Vermont is not just at state but a state of mind.”
Green Hotels in the Green Mountain State
Hotels can participate in the program on two different levels depending on the policies they adopt. Hotels that fulfill the lower level requirements are called “Environmental Partners.” Establishments that reach the next level are designated as “Green Hotels.” According to Crawford, in order for a hotel to become an Environmental Partner, it must adopt eight environmentally friendly standards. The standards range from things like creating an environmental policy mission statement to enacting a solid waste reduction initiative to providing guest access to recycling. After becoming an Environmental Partner, hotel can reach the Green Hotel level by creating an environmental management plan, which is basically a wish list for how the lodging establishment will reduce their environmental footprint, Crawford explains.