Australia has a long way to go to encourage our hotels, motels and other accommodation to promote their environmental awareness and what they are doing to reduce their energy, water and waste removal impact on the environment. In the US there is an organisation called "Green" Hotels Association's® . Their purpose is to bring together hotels interested in environmental issues and assist hotel owners to find ways of reducing such impacts. On its webpage it tells, for example the story of a hotel that received an award for reducing water usage at his property by two million gallons in one year. How? He fired the chef! The chef was well known for having water running in 4 or 5 sinks at a time defrosting food!

Below are some of the suggestions from this organisation. Most of the ideas are very practical.

• When energy-saving measures are introduced, such as energy management systems, fluorescent bulbs, ceiling fans, linen cards, lights out cards, motion sensors for public rest rooms, meeting rooms, exercise rooms, etc., energy bills are much reduced.
• When water-saving equipment and techniques are introduced, such as low-flow showerheads, 1.5 gpm aerators, serving water on request only in restaurants, 1.6 gpm dishwashing valves, low-flow toilets and waterless urinals, water bills are reduced dramatically.
• Waste hauling is a huge expense for a hotel which can be lowered drastically through recycling and avoiding wastefully-packaged products. Hoteliers can ask vendors to deliver products in minimal wrapping. Vendors can be asked to deliver products one day, and pick up the packaging materials the next day. The New Orleans Intercontinental started a recycling program and hired staff to separate the materials. Management was absolutely astonished to find that these employees were pulling $1,000 a MONTH of hotel property out of the waste stream—napkins, towels, spoons, etc.—all of which had clearly been discarded prior to recycling.

So what is the story in Australia? I am not a seasoned hotel occupier, but I have noticed some changes in recent years. Many hotels/motels request that you hang up towels if you do not want them rewashed every day. Many rooms have energy efficient lighting and several have lights that only come on when you are in the room – connected to your entrance card. Little has been done, as far as I have seen in reducing waste – with each utensil still wrapped in plastic (are our health rules too strict?) and of course food wasted because servings are often too big and there are few places that offer medium servings – as distinct from a child’s serve – which some places will not serve to adults.

However there is an organisation within Australia that is trying to address this issue – and it needs the help from those of us who visit accommodation points around the country. It is called “i Stay Green’ This web page asks the visitor to write a Green review about the place you have visited. You rate the general qualities of the property, write a few short paragraphs about your experience and then add your photos of the property (good or bad). The hotel is then given a green rating and other travellers can look for hotels with higher green ratings on this web page. I Stay Green org. believe that properties that are not responsive to environmental concerns ultimately will be forced to make positive changes or lose business.