Hotels

Sustainable travel is now in the first stages of yet another revolution – moving from eco-friendly green hotels to completely carbon neutral hotels.

The Resort at Paws Up, Greenough, Montana

Airlines already allow passengers to purchase carbon credits equivalent to their share of carbon usage for the flight. Some private air charters include it as part of the service, so that their clients don’t have to do anything. It was only a matter of time before hotels started adopting this system.

The Resort at Paws Up in Greenough, Montana, is being touted as the first carbon neutral property in the United States. The resort implements all the usual green practices – earth-friendly cleaning products, electric vehicles on the grounds, organic food and sustainable produce in the restaurant, energy efficient lights, providing guests the option to re-use linens, and so on.

But in addition to all this, Paws Up also has a partnership with Missoula’s ClearSky Climate Solutions. They did an audit to calculate their energy consumption, and now they’re making sure to leave a ”zero carbon paw-print” by investing in Montana forestry and rangeland projects that are certified carbon offset providers.

But it’s not like this is something completely new. In fact, the US is actually behind on this one. Denmark’s Brochner Hotel chain claims to be the world’s first carbon neutral hotel chain, with 4 carbon neutral hotels in Copenhagen. URBN Hotels in Shanghai boasts of China’s first carbon-neutral hotel. The Mayland Seaside Hotel under construction in Guangzhou is incorporating a fuel cell power generator that would run on clean natural gas, making it the world’s first completely carbon-neutral hotel, which doesn’t have to compensate by buying carbon credits.  

Even Greenland has it’s own carbon neutral hotel under construction, just south of Ilulissat Icefjord, which is to be completely powered by alternative energy. 

Hotels have long been cashing in on eco-friendliness, touting everything from energy-efficient light bulbs to dual-flush toilets. Some of them really do care, and go out of their way to get LEED certification. But that still leaves at least some impact on the environment everytime you stay at a hotel.

Guests should not have to worry about how green a hotel really is – or isn’t. The time has now come for every hotel to start offering a completely carbon neutral experience. And guests shouldn’t have to pay extra for it. Properties like The Resort at Paws Up who are ahead of the curve will benefit from the positive publicity.

The best part of it is that once a hotel goes carbon neutral, it will be forced to become more energy-efficient and implement environmentally friendly practices, in order to reduce the bill for purchasing the required carbon credits. It’s good business, good for the environment and guests enjoy a guilt-free stay.