The Top 10 Eco-Friendly Hotels

The greenest vacation is a day hike in your backyard. But if you need to get a little further away from home, there are plenty of responsible--dare we say, trendy--resorts to choose from. Online travel community TripAdvisor has put together a list of the top 10 eco-friendly accommodations as selected by the site's editors and members.

Resorts on the list range from the lavish Hotel Monaco Seattle in Seattle, Washington to the spartan Concordia Eco-Tents in Virgin Islands National Park, St. John. La Cusinga Eco Lodge contains buildings made from re-forested wood and local materials. Morgan's Rock Hacienda and Ecolodge added 100,000 new trees to its property to provide a home for wildlife, and the shower water at Hix Island House waters fruit trees and plants on site.

Keep in mind that TripAdvisor didn't use any objective criteria for its selections. The list contains travelers' favorite eco-resorts, but there are accommodations with lower environmental impacts than the ones on this list. And any environmental benefit you gain from staying at these resorts will be more than offset by the carbon footprint of your plane ride getting there. But if you're going to travel, may as well head to these hotels instead of the mega-resorts down the road.

With that in mind, here's the list:

1. Eco-Adventure: Hamanasi Adventure and Dive Resort, Hopkins, Belize - Travelers' Choice Winner 2009: Best Bargain, Best Hidden Gem, Best for Romance - Average Nightly Rate: $245

2. Terra Firma: Hotel Terra Jackson Hole, Teton Village, Wyoming - Average Nightly Rate: $371

3. Organic Accommodations: La Cusinga Eco Lodge, Uvita, Costa Rica - Travelers' Choice Winner 2009: Best Hidden Gem - Average Nightly Rate: $166

4. Tree House: Morgan's Rock Hacienda & Ecolodge, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua - Travelers' Choice Winner 2009: Best for Romance, Best Luxury - Average Nightly Rate: $257

5. Preservation Place: The Ambrose Hotel, Santa Monica, California - Average Nightly Rate: $242

6. Nature Nook: Hix Island House, Isla de Vieques, Puerto Rico - Average Nightly Rate: $200

7. Wildlife by the Water: Alaska's Sadie Cove Wilderness Lodge, Homer, Alaska - Average Nightly Rate: $300

8. Conservation with Coffee: Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation and Inn, Santa Barbara, Costa Rica - Average Nightly Rate: $370

9. Sustainability Under the Stars: Concordia Eco-Tents, Virgin Islands National Park, St. John - Average Nightly Rate: $130

10. Paint the Town Green: Hotel Monaco Seattle - a Kimpton Hotel, Seattle, Washington - Average Nightly Rate: $344

[Via TripAdvisor]

Related: 10 Greenest Ski Resorts
Related: Green Traveler: Seven Offbeat Eco Trips

Kandalama Hotel - Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka possesses the most intact biodiversity on the Asian continent. The hotel is located at the crossroads of different ecological zones harbouring a spectrum of wildlife in the heart of the Cultural Triangle. It is common place to watch herds of elephants migrating across the plains towards the seasonal ìtanksî (lakes).

The Kandalama hotel was the first environmental hotel project in Sri Lanka when it was conceived with significant consultation with the local community in 1992. Initially, the development was met with much public debate as many people living in the relatively pristine and undeveloped region were opposed to any tourism development, as the area is one of the most significant regions of the country for wildlife. However, the developers took the communities concerns to heart and instead of fighting them, decided to embrace them, which led to the design and construction of one of the most environmentally friendly hotels on the planet.

Since its opening in 1995, the Kandalamaís presence in the domestic and international marketplace has influenced 3 other hotels in the country to become Green Globe 21 certified and two other companies to join the Green Globe 21 program.

Case Study: Kandalama Hotel
Visit Kandalama Hotel website: http://www.heritancehotels.com/kandalama/ and read about itsGreen Philosophy

Aurum Lodge - Alberta, Canada

While some businesses use the eco-tourism label very liberally as a means of increasing market share, this operation has taken a new approach: sustainability and environmental acceptability are given priority over financial and other business management principles. - 2001 Sustainable Tourism Alto Award


CONTEXT
Aurum Lodge is situated near Banff and Jasper National Parks, in the eastern front ranges of the Rocky Mountains in the Province of Alberta at an elevation of 1,350 m (4,500 ft). The site of overlooks a lake and is surrounded by pristine forests and mountain peaks. It is the only accommodation in the area open 12 months of the year.

DESCRIPTION
An aesthetic exterior and functional interior belie the fact that it is one of the most energy efficient buildings in Alberta. The use of fossil fuels has been reduced by over 85% compared to a standard development of similar size and purpose. Picture windows, bright rooms, the generous use of local woods combined with European style furnishing and artifacts from six continents account for the one of a kind ambiance in the lodge. Rooms
are designed for double occupancy and each one is different yet cozy and inviting, as are the many common areas throughout the lodge. Some self-contained cottage units and an apartment are equally well appointed, catering to guests who prefer to prepare their own meals. In keeping with the small size of the establishment, service is personal. Healthy, home-style evening meals prepared by the hosts are available on request. A multitude of low-impact, outdoor activities await the visitor and natural, historic and cultural attractions abound in this little known valley of the Rocky Mountains.

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION
Aurum Lodge has earned a FIVE Green Leaf eco-rating by the Hotel Association of Canada (1 of only 2 hotels in Canada). The lodge is also Green Globe 21 certified (1 of 2 in Canada). Other awards include: ALTO Award for Sustainable Tourism from Travel Alberta (2001), finalist in the small business category for the Emerald Awards (2001) and is a partner member of the Green Hotels Association.

Case Study: Aurum Lodge
Visit the Aurum Lodge website: http://www.aurumlodge.com

HotelChatter's Best Green Hotels in the U.S. (2007)

Let's face it, hotels haven't always been model citizens of the Global Village when it comes to protecting Mother Earth.

How many times have you walked into a hotel room to find the air conditioner blasting. Those freon fueled vicissitudes that control many hotel room climates can not be good for the environment. Furthermore, in the past, hotel and resort developers have cleared forests and moved rivers to get their golf courses, man made beaches, and monolithic resorts in just the right spot. And have you ever seen how liberally some of the cleaning crew uses aerosol spray?

However, what's in the past is in the past, and recently many hotels have become leaders in the green movement. These days, environmentalism is more than a political issue or a hippie pastime, it is a culture.

With that in mind we have culled together the Best Green Hotels in the U.S. that ooze green culture. There are literally thousands of hotels across the world employing green policies of some kind, but these hotels truly represent the best of green culture. Whether you are traveling to Portland, Oregon for business, New Mexico for a getaway, or Santa Cruz to get high and surf, the hotels on this list are for fans of Vanity Fair Green Issue cover cub Knut.


WEST COAST

1. Orchard Garden Hotel, San Francisco



The Orchard Garden makes the green list for a very big reason--it's the only hotel built to the nationally accepted standards for green buildings put forth by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). In-room the hotel employs environmentally friendly policies like a key card energy control system, chemical-free cleaning products, recycling bins, soy-based inks and a strict no-smoking policy.

An added green bonus? During our stay there, one of the elevators smelled like something reallygreen. Plus the hotel is still offering opening intro rates of $169 so it's also a bargain.

2. Alma Del Monte, Taos, New Mexico



The Alma del Monte, a five-bedroom luxury rental, makes the list for its top-to-bottom green design. The place uses solar panels, rainwater harvesting, has Pumice-crete adobe style walls, an addition made of recycled Styrofoam, low-volume toilets, and energy saving fluorescent light fixtures. The hotel also does composting, recycling, rainwater harvesting and cleaning with green products. Perhaps the best eco-friendly part of the place? The straw bale dog house (shown here) for your furry companions.

3. Gaia Napa Valley, American Canyon, Calif.



The Gaia opened to guests last fall and has a plethora of environmentally-friendly products, but the biggest, or the greenest thing about this hotel, is its green construction. Essentially, using more recycled materials and less energy to build the actual structure. The hotel "fuses natural light and recycled materials into a sustainable and environmentally sound motif" and inside everything is green (not the color) from recycled carpets to low-emissions paints. Even the animals placed in front are good for the environment. Fortunately, being so green doesn't mean rustic. The hotel has large TVs, spacious beds and high-spped wireless internet. This place strikes us as the kind of place Daryl Hannah would drive her vegetable oil fuelled car.

4. DoubleTree Suites Portland, Portland, Oregon
Doing business withe Nike or Intel in Oregon? This Doubletree, believe it or not, is the first lodging property in Oregon to win a Green Seal certification. The hotel says it has reduced overall waste disposal by 65% since 1996, brought down energy consumption by 32 percent, brought office paper purchasing down by 20 percent annually and has reduced water usage by 15 percent. Currently, the hotel has a property-wide recycling program, uses 35,000 kilowatt hours of wind power each year, and composts kitchen waste at an average of 14 tons per month. Most recently, the hotel partnered up with the Climate Trust to allow guests the chance to offset their carbon dioxide production during their stay at the hotel.

5. Compassion Flower Inn, Santa Cruz, Calif.
Does it get any greener than this, a hotel devoted to the marijuana plant? Here at the Compassion Flower Inn, those with medical marijuana licenses can smoke freely so long as it's outside on the patio. Aside from this green theme, the four room B&B serves an organic breakfast with fair trade coffee. Also interesting to note the last four digits of the B&B's phone number are 0420. 4/20,anyone?

UPDATE: Some sad news. The Compassion Flower Inn has closed. The owners apparently moved to Hawaii. Now, where are we going to smoke our medical MJ?

EAST COAST

1. Maho Bay Camps, U.S. Virgin Islands



At the Maho Bay Camps you can pick your type of accommodations from tents to cottages that have all been built with protecting the environment in mind by using recycled building materials. Of course, the resort doesn't stop there. There's elevated walkways that prevent soil erosion and protect the beach and its fragile coral. Lots of recycled building materials, such as "plastic lumber" and recycled glass tiles, were used in construction that also minimized removal of native plants. Maho's self-sustaining "eco-tents" and cottages use passive solar design, photovoltaic panels, rain collection and roof scoops that circulate cooling breezes. But what wins green points from us? The resort also gets rid of your garbage in an eco-friendly way with their "Trash to Treasures" program, where artists take glass and aluminun from the trash and turn it into craft items and art.

2. Hotel Green, Nantucket, Mass.



With a name like Hotel Green, this little inn in Nantucket from shoe designer Vanessa Noel was bound to get on our best green hotels list. But it's actually green inside too with an organic restaurant, 10 rooms filled with some recycled furniture (think cardboard chairs), hemp towels, artwork with milk-based paints and all-natural cleaning products. Perhaps the piece de resistance here is the web site. The site say it's conserving energy by simply stating its phone number and email address with only a photo page to supplement it. Uh-oh, does this mean green HTML is going to be the next, next thing?

3. Airlie Conference Center, Warrington, Virginia


[Photo: Fraggle Red]

Any beltway environmental policy wonk worth their salt should be planning their conferences here. The Airlie center has 150 guest rooms on its 2,500 rural acred campus, which also includes a conference center. The Airlie Foundation supports a number of environmental programs like the Local Food Project where an organic culinary garden was created full of fresh, sustainable herbs, vegetables and flowers that supplies the food at Airlie. There's also the Wildlife and Habitat Preservation Project and the Petersen Butterfly Garden. It has an authentic Green Seal of approval and has been certified by the state of Virginia.

In the hotel part, there's the use of recycled content paper products, a compost program, non-toxic paints and cleaning products, energy efficient compact fluorescent & LED lighting throughout the property and an emphasis on nature in the recreational activities. Additionally, you can get a loaner bicycle to take you where you need to go within the Airlie campus.

4. The Woodstocker Inn, Woodstock, VT
Vermont has a bunch of green hotels perfect for Phish followers, but the Woodstocker Inn really stands out--this place has organic bedding. Aside from serving organic food, using recylced paper products, offering organic toiletries and a strict no-smoking policy, the place offers you a choice of buckwheat pillows and organic duvets. So much for goose feathers. It's also a part of The Green Hotels in the Green Mountain State association.

5. The Lodge on Little St. Simons Island, Georgia
Little St. Simons Island is a small private island off the Georgia coast which has 10,000 "perfectly preserved" acres of nature to explore. Only 30 guests are allowed on the island at a time and the lodge has an "absence of technology" meaning only a house phone, no TVs and certainly no business center. Additionally, the hotel removes all solid waste from the island and organic waste is composted. Overall, the hotel employs a sustainable tourism operation. But what makes this place so green is the untouched nature and wildlife. There's no golf courses here. Backing their green policies up is a Green Globe benchmark, given out by the Green Globe organization to sustainable tourism properties.

Orchid Hotel - Mumbai, India

The Orchid Hotel in Mumbai showcases eco-friendly business practices that can be replicated in the hospitality industry. It was envisaged as a hotel that would be taken not only as a benchmark in the hospitality industry, but also as a hallmark of eco-sensitivity in the world. – Dalai Lama

CONTEXT
The Orchid is located in the heart of rapidly growing suburbs with the domestic airport virtually in its backyard. In a polluted city like Mumbai, having won the accolade of being the most eco-friendly hotel is no easy achievement.

DESCRIPTION
The Orchid in Mumbai displays a heightened level of environmental sensitivity in its revolutionary architecture, design and interior decoration. Rehabilitation of the site, which originally included an old building, provides an interesting backdrop for this leading environmental business. The Orchid is flanked by drip irrigated greenery on either side providing the much needed break from pollution. The hotel while rather ordinary on the exterior, includes one of the largest array of environmental technologies ever assembled in a hotel building. Double glass doors open into an imposing 70-feet tall fibre fountain. Passive solar design including a rooftop pool to reduce heat loads on the structure is coupled with adequate daylighting via a central atrium. Triple glazed windows, an anomaly in most of Asia, provide increased thermal and acoustic insulation. The building is constructed from a variety of low resource consuming materials and is finished with low-VOC paint. Guests are treated to a host of environmental products from recycled paper guest programs to herbal amenity products. A revolutionary eco-button allows guests to participate in the environmental activities by reducing their air conditioning uses. There are two special guestrooms for the physically challenged people.

Employees and management are actively engaged in the environmental operation of the hotel. Over 10,000 local students have been educated on the environmental features of the hotel. Employees have developed a CD that illustrates and educates viewers on the environmental design and performance of the hotel. And the director has spoken at numerous seminars about the environmental virtues of the project. The Orchid’s commitment to environmental excellence is evident everywhere in the hotel. The property’s mantra is “Deluxe need not disturb, Comfort need not compromise and Entertainment need not be insensitive.”

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION
The Orchid Hotel is the first 5-star ECOTEL (1997) in Asia and the only ECOTEL in the world that is ISO 14000 certified (1996). Other awards include: PATA Gold award (2001), Green Globe Environmental Company award (2000), Green Globe Achievement award (2000), Hotel & Catering International Management Association Award ñ Best Environmental Policy (2000), Dr M.S.Swaminathan award for environment protection (2000), Federation of Hotels and Restaurant Association of India ñ Environmental Champion (1999-2000), Green Hotelier ñ Environmental award (1999), ECOTELÆ Industry Pioneer award (1999), Green Globe Environmental Company award (1998), World Travel Market’s (WTM) Environmental Company Awards (1998), and the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award.

Case Study: Orchid Hotel

Visit the Orchid Hotel website: http://www.orchidhotel.com/

Ecolodge Bukit Lawang - Indonesia

Designed to serve as a model for sustainable livelihoods, running the Ecolodge Bukit Lawang is just one of the activities of PPLH Bohorok (The Bohorok Environmental Education Centre) run by Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari or YEL;the Foundation for a Sustainable Ecosystem. As a non-profit organisation all revenues realised by our Ecolodge are put straight back into community development, social programmes and nature conservation.

Ecotourism plays a critical role in protecting and enhancing the environment, both for the guests and for the local communities. We warmly invite you to learn more about us, our acivities, and our green heartbeat.

Located 80 kilometres from Medan, our Ecolodge is nestled in the rain forest bordering the Gunung Leuser National Park, on the banks of the Bohorok river.

We provide you a unique opportunity to enjoy the tropical rain forest, its orang-utans and over 700 other animal species, an enormous wealth of different plant species, jungle treks, including to the bat caves, rafting, our traditional medicine garden, our organic food or just the natural peace and tranquillity of relaxing at the Ecolodge itself.

Visit Ecolodge Bukit Lawang:  http://ecolodge.yelweb.org/

Green China Rising?

From August 2003 until July 2005, I had the opportunity to live and work in the southern autonomous region of GuangXi, China. The capital city Nanning is a good example of a part of the world that is undergoing dramatic change.

2 years in southwest China

unexpected observations, unusual conclusions, so lucky to be Canadian

Over the nearly 2 years spent in this region, I have come to some conclusions about China's environmental design future.

First, is the apparent disregard for the impact of one's own actions on others. Before arriving in the most populous country (see image right - enough people to reclaim every brick in a multi-story building) on Earth, I hypothesized that with so many people living so densely, the Chinese must be culturally attune to dealing with large crowds effectively. To my surprise the exact opposite is true! After being nearly spit on and experiencing people and cars stopping really wherever they please completely unaware of anyone around them, I have only to say that people here really do not think about one another. If that is fact, then how on Earth can one expect people to stop and think about their environmental impacts!

One visit to a bank or for that matter nearly any cashier lineup and the reality is forcefully evident. And the pattern of "fending for yourself" is characteristic of the larger flow of society. Although I'm sure many Chinese would suggest helping a person (or for that matter animal/plant whatever) in need, they would finish the sentence with the implied conclusion that it must be somehow their (it's) fault and not their or "the government's" responsibility.

Second, the cultural acceptance of the "party line" is so unbelievable for any country at the beginning of the 21st century (only further illustrating the absolute closure and disconnect with the rest of the world until recently). This has translated (see image right of cookie wrapper - translation is not a strong point but perhaps honesty and realization of the changing modern world that is tilting manufacturing towards China is?) into a fantastic billion strong conglomeration of energy and work to build a modern country. Ironically, it may also one day be called upon to "fix" the many environmental problems that are being created in the first wave of development. Likewise, it cannot be ignored that the "development" may actually produce net positive results in population control and environmental destruction...the latter is still unclear.

In conclusion, I have confidence that although there appear to be some significant cultural and behavioural hurdles to overcome, the government (if intact after all of this) may have remarkably more control and power over the people of this vast country that any other western counterpart and thus may be better prepared to deal with environmental degradation than many other parts of the world.

Northern Yunnan

a trekker's paradise - dam it though!

On two different occasions (2 National May Holidays), I had the fortune of travelling by train, bus to northern Yunnan province. And both times, I was blown away by the open space and undeveloped wilderness. It seemed impossible that any space could be left in China, but the eastern tail of the Himalayas has remained a formidable barrier to development thus far. On long bus rides north to ZhongDian, my eyes followed numerous ridgelines and watersheds that could easily be traversed as the treeline is relatively low or sparse (rainshadow) and the snowlevel is high enough at least in May.

The second visit to this region (2005), did reveal the coming storm however. What only a year earlier were dangerous but entertaining roads that followed topography often in steep river valleys had been blasted to make way for high level mountain roads and numerous dams. The pristine mountain sides scarred only by herding trails was quickly being carved up by construction roads. Unfortunately, the geology and steep terrain is also leading to excessive erosion of these new routes. Although the view is incredible being up on top as opposed to in the valley, sadly I think ZhongDian, once an outpost will soon become a dense tourist denizen similar to LiJiang to the south.

My goal for my second visit to ZhongDian was to touch some snow (Canadians need that fix every so often eh!) and so I decided to spend some time up in the snowpeaks surrounding ZhongDian to the west. I also hoped that I could get a glimpse into the next valley. It was a great 3 days and I finally got to test out my Chinese made tent, which effectively repelled rain, snow, and frost. While walking high up, I met a variety of Chinese tourists being guided on foot. What a pleasant site to see locals enjoying their own nature.

I wrapped up my short walk with a meeting of a herding Tibetan family. I offered them my cheese (they thought was really odd tasting) and a few apples. They passed on the banana chips. We ended up in their Tibetan Home made of 50cm diameter timber, sod thermal mass walls and facing southeast to capture some passive solar heat. I was offered some yak yogurt which was in no way pasteurized which lead to 2 weeks of diahorrea (I'm convinced that was it). I also ate pancakes and drank yak tea. The idea was to put ground buckwheat in your mouth (incredible when you're dehydrated) and then drink the tea. An experience.

I showed them my digital camera which from their reaction I am pretty sure they had never seen before. Watching their reaction, I was reminded about how the act of looking at yourself has changed our culture...

Here's hoping the barriers of the Himalayas north of ZhongDian win the day!

(I hope to be back in 2006 to walk a significant portion of this region)

Master's students course - Industrial Water Pollution Control

preparing a nation to go from 20% water treatment to 100%?

More to come...still living it and watching.