Sustainable travel - hotels?

[GilesMM]

We all know eco-friendly traval is a challenge. Tyrpically the most one will see is a note in the bathroom about washing towels. I  am often shocked at how wasteful hotels are regarding energy, water, and emissions, even food. It seems customers want wasteful pampering above all else. I was at a place last week with scorching hot water in the shower. I chided the front deck they might safely lower it and they looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out my ears.


Has anyone found a simple way to screen for sustainability when searching for accommodation?

[uniwelder]

I also find hotels annoyingly wasteful. Very rarely does the shower valve control the amount of water. You can adjust temperature, but other than that, no way to tone down the flood of water that comes out. In my shower at home, I easily use less than half the amount as when I’m at a hotel.

For saving energy/resources, I don’t know of any hotels. You could try staying at an Airbnb in someone’s home— sharing the living space.

[reeshau]

You could try staying at an Airbnb in someone’s home— sharing the living space.

+1.  Besides the fewer dedicated resources, a house will have whatever measures the homeowner has implemented to save costs.  In Ireland, it's very common to have the hot water heater, and even home heating, shut off overnight.  You get a big, fluffy duvet instead.

If you know how to operate them, there are manual overrides for those needing to be up in the wee hours or with health issues.  But like so many nudges, it's more effective to opt in to more energy usage, rather than opt out by voluntarily shutting off / turning down the AC or hot water.

I find it ridiculous how often the hotel room is cooled to 60F when I walk in.  I immediately go to adjust the AC up to make it inhabitable.  How many hours was it being refrigerated like that?!?