Element Hotels is offering an ’I Am Not a Plastic’ package. Bring ten single-use plastic bottles, and you get a free night over the Earth Day Weekend (April 22-25).

Element Hotel in Erwin, NJ

It’s an offer limited by time and place, available only to the first 100 guests who call on or after April 5.

Element hotels are currently open only in Las Vegas, Baltimore, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Lexington, MA and Ewing, NJ.

There’s a new Element opening soon in New York, followed by another one in Omaha, but they won’t be open for this promo.

As for the plastic, apparently Americans use 4 million plastic bottles every hour, yet only one bottle out of four is recycled. When buried, some plastic material may last for 700 years.

100 guests bringing in 10 bottles each to Element means there’s 1000 bottles less polluting the planet. So, for that one hour on April 5, you can consider the bottle count to be 2,999,000 bottles, instead of 3 million. Yes, its depressing, but Element earns brownie points for trying.

It was launched in 2008 as Starwood’s eco-chic brand, with all the Element Hotels being designed, built and operated to attain LEED certification from the USGBC.

In addition to all the usual green stuff like using eco-friendly material and energy conservation, recycling bins, etc., Element has also taken the unusual step of installing electric car charging stations at all its properties.

Use  promo code GOGREEN to book the ’I Am Not a Plastic’ package  by calling 1.877.ELEMENT (starting April 5). Visit Element Hotels  and read more about Earth Day.

Photo courtesy Starwood Hotels & Resorts

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Boston, MA

Boston is a great place to visit, full of history and year-round activities for singles, couples and families.

For the green traveler, it’s also a city that offers many choices of hotels. A terrific public transportation system, the “T”, makes it easy to get around, so you can stay in one part of Boston, or even the suburbs, and still avoid the legendary — or should I say infamous — Boston drivers!

Each of these hotels promotes their “Green Claim to Fame”, putting them on my Top 5 Green Hotels in Boston list:

Seaport Hotel
One Seaport Lane
Boston, MA 02210
Phone: 800.440.3318, Fax: 617.385.4001, Concierge: 617.385.4500, Reservations: 800.262.0680

Green Claim to Fame

The Seaport Boston is all about being green. They make every possible aspect of their organization sustainable and environmentally friendly. Their green practices include:

• Electrolyzed water system for cleaning – avoids the use of toxic chemicals
• Ozone laundry system – reduces the amount of detergent they use
• Recycling goals – the hotel has an annual recycling rate of 44%, and provides in-room recycling bins
• Space age composting – food and prep waste is managed using the BioX Decomposing System that converts organic waste to liquid
• Energy offsets – Seaport purchased enough renewable energy credits to offset all of the electricity used in the guest rooms, lobbies and elevators in 2008.

The Irving House at Harvard
24 Irving Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
phone: 617-547-4600, toll free: 877-547-4600, fax: 617-576-2814

Green Claim to Fame

• Just over the bridge in Cambridge, MA, the Irving House is close to activity-filled Harvard Square, and the Harvard “T” stop, which guests are encouraged to use for transportation.
• The hotel also provides discounted public transit passes to their employees, and has a spot for storing and locking bikes.
• The hotel has a strong “buy local” philosophy, so travelers are supporting the entire community when they stay at the Irving House.
• Their guest amenities, including eco-friendly brands of shampoo, soap and lotions, are in dispensers rather than wasteful individual packaging. They also buy everything possible in bulk to reduce waste.
• Recycling, composting and reusing items is standard operating procedures, and they have energy saving lightbulbs in all of the light fixtures that can accommodate them.
• Guests can opt to reuse sheets and towels, and the laundry detergent is phosphate-free.
• They received the EPA Energy Star label in 2006.

The Lenox Hotel
61 Exeter Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116-2699
Phone: 617.536.5300, Fax: 617.267.1237, Reservations: 800.225.7676, Reservation Fax: 617.236.0351

Green Claim to Fame

The Saunders Hotel Group, which owns the Lenox Hotel, is known as an ecotourism pioneer. The Lenox Hotel is the flagship of their environmentally friendly efforts, and has bragging rights to several environmental firsts including endorsing the Ceres Principles of Sustainability and offering Climate Neutral Rooms.

Environmental programs include:

• Environmentally friendly, healthy cleaning products
• Hybrid car service for hotel guests
• Over 4,800 super efficient lights installed
• Vendor misers on all beverage machines
• ENERGY STAR office equipment
• Natural, essential oil air freshener
• No-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints
• Double paned low E windows reduce energy, drafts and noise
• State of the art insulation installed for the 100th anniversary renovation
• Waterless urinals annually save 180,000 gallons of water
• Purchase of renewable, wind energy to offset 100% of the Global Warming impact of the hotel’s electricity use

element Lexington by Westin
727 Marrett Road – B · Lexington, Massachusetts 02421
Phone: (781) 761-1750

Green Claim to Fame

Even though Lexington is a suburb outside of Boston, this Starwood Resort is so green it deserves a spot on the list. The element Lexington also offers good rates and a convenient location for an extended stay in the area.

• Energy efficient – Every appliance is Energy Star rated, and the buildings are constructed to LEED standards
• Recycling practices – floors feature 100% recycled carpeting, art is mounted on a base made from recycled tires, and every room has recycling for paper, plastic and glass
• Low waste – they use silverware and glassware, and they use a dispenser system for bath amenities rather than sample size bottles.
• Environmentally friendly – water-efficient faucets and fixtures and low VOC paints, carpets, and furniture

The Onyx Hotel

155 Portland Street, Boston, MA 02114
Reservations: 866-660-6699, Hotel: 617-557-9955, Fax: 617-557-0005

Green Claim to Fame

Once again a hotel from the Kimpton Group, with their Earthcare Program, makes the list. The Onyx is a model for eco-friendly business practices in Boston. Some notable green programs include:

• “Green Warrior Package” discount for guests arriving in a hybrid vehicle
• Paperless guest check-in/out service and property-wide printing on recycled paper
• Efficient lighting and water fixtures throughout the hotel
• Linen and towel reuse program, which dramatically reduces water and energy use
• Guest and employee dry-cleaning service with Green Earth, which uses eco-friendly methods and products
• Rooms and linens cleaned with eco-certified cleaning supplies
• Donation of unused and partially used amenities to community programs
• Organic coffee and tea, and snacks and beverages in our in-room honor bars, plus ceramic mugs available to minimize use of paper cups, and Styrofoam cups eliminated altogether
• In-room recycling bins make guestroom recycling stylishly convenient and comprehensive recycling program for cups, clothes hangers, batteries, electronics

Even though Boston is filled with history, your hotel can be entirely 21st century, and environmentally friendly!

Photo Credit: B Tal on flickr