Community: Message List - The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:44:11 GMT

This system sounds (hands down) like the best one so far, yet there are some idiots that seem to take pleasure in doing thinge 'wrong'.

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 21:17:59 GMT

@jmalixi Sorry you've missed the whole point. W are green Got Europe;s top eco-award The Green Flower |Award to prove it. I was asking how we can get our guests to help us STAY green and indeed improve.

Simply put.

How can we improve on being green in the face of 'non-aware' guests.

I've had to pull plastic out of the food-waste/compost bins and some people still feel it's OK to leave lights on (and windows open - duh!) when going out at night. We get the blame if the room is full of bugs when they return. Having signs up is of some benefit but .. ... sometimes I wonder at the mentality of folks.

Message was edited by: pfiddle

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:00:47 GMT

This is priceless info to us! Are HVAC/Electrical shutoff and the Homeworks motion sensor thing two different things? We need motion sensor, not remote control or settable thermostats, because we're at work during the day and have no idea whether they're gone or not. We have some motion sensor light switches for bathrooms, but I've never heard of a motion sensor for AC and heat (wonderful!) Is that what the Homeworks does, or does it just do lights? Heat and especially A/C being left on are a huge problem for us! It's like a second mortgage! Thank you for your time.

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 01:44:50 GMT

If you don't want to go the motion detector way you can get a Vera 3 system and have it turn off the air conditioning or adjust the temp every hour or when ever you wish. Cost is the Vera 3 and the thermastat and other modules depending on what you want to control. No subscription to pay and relatively easy to operate with your phone or other device.

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:41:49 GMT

Hi Mossbay! Can you please tell me what the name of your system is, for automatically shutting off not just lights but heat and AC? Sounds wonderful! Were you able to install it yourself, or can you only get it from a company that does this for you? Is it the Homeworks that an earlier writer wrote of? In spite of signs, many of our guests (not all, some just forget) leave the AC or heat on then go out wine tasting for 5 hours. The worst time was when we came back one night (we live on sight) to hear the A/C going on upstairs (with all the windows open), and the heat on, doing battle with the upper AC, downstairs (with the backdoor open!) It was late NOVEMBER in Cal., hardly A/C time! Their 4 nts. boosted our bill from $800 to $1250! Never that bad again, but still, it would really help to have your system......thanks!

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:35:59 GMT

Embroidered numbers on towels, what a smart idea !

Also, as a side benefit ... it might reduce the number of towels that get

"lost" or "disappear." Because ... if the towels are numbered, the guests

may think we are keeping strict tabs on our inventory! ha ha.

Hmm, well, I guess it could be seen as a negative, if the guests think the

owners are being too nit-picky ... but if you explain that's it's not Big

Brother keeping tabs on them ... it's just a creative way to help people

keep track of which towel is theirs, so it's more eco-friendly, just as you

said above ... I think people would really like it.

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:16:20 GMT

Optional Towel and Linnen reuse program ( Physical card placed on bedstand)

A really simple thing we discoverd at a fellow rental was an embroidered number on each bath and hand towel. Our towels are all white just because it makes the place look nicer, so everyone can keep their same towel by finding their number. I've noticed a huge decrease in white towels in the laundry.

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

christien@puntodevistacr.com — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:58:05 GMT

Hello All,

Keeping Green is a core principal of our rental at Punto de Vista. In order to help guide our guests, we first give them a informative walkthrough of the property similar to a debriefing of all the mechanics and green initiatives that we implement at the villa. We also enclorage their participation. (Usually there is no problem here, clients want to help especially being in such a natural country as Costa Rica.) Some of the initiative we have in place are:

Second Flush Toilets
Electrical - A/C Cut-off switch at the entry of every room
Recycling Initiatives (Color coded trash bins)
Lutron Homeworks System (Motion sensor activated rooms, social areas- No waste of lights on all night)
Optional Towel and Linnen reuse program ( Physical card placed on bedstand)
High Efficiency Applicances (Energy Efficient LED Televisions,Fridges,Computers, Pool Heatpump over Gas or Electric)
12 Photvoltaic Solar Panels,6 Solar thermal Panels (jacuzzi Heater as well as Hot water throughout the house)
Use of recycled glass on the face of the property as well as recycled roofing tiles for art pieces on the lower Balconies.
We encourage for every family that visits the propert to plant a tree on the property.

In order to keep everyone informed through out their stay, rooms have small printed signs on the night stand to tell the housekeepers when to wash the linens as well as a sign in the bathrooms to use the double flush toilet system to save water. Also in their welcome letter explaines how our other systems & green initiatives (Solar Panels and Thermal Panels) are being used throughout the house. (Heating showers, natural ventilation, Etc)

Finally, we don't give them a choice. We use the HVAC/Electrical cutoff in each room to be able and avoid llights/AC on all day while they are enjoying a fun tour or out to the beach. Automated Motion Senser system (Homeworks by Lutron) in Social Areas as well as Stairs prevents any unused rooms,social spaces or walkways to waste electricity after going to bed or leaving the area. These systems really take the responsability off the client and allow us to stay green and have the client feel good as they enjoy their rental!

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:14:42 GMT

Well done puntodevista this is the way to do it comprehensivly and I'm sure Nearly 'idiot proof'. Well there are always some idiots that seem to want to be different - even at their own cost.

I agree that timed/sensors on light is a great idea.

I've noticed that a good many hotel rooms nowadays are using the door-card to acvitate the electrics in the room. One must have a door card in a holder nead the frone door of the suit before lights or TV etc will come on. - Something for my next B&B - if we go down that road.

Personally I doubt that there is a future for B&B's in Ireland as more and more people opt for the hotels now that there's a surplus and there's a race to the bottom on pricing. The wonderful warm welcom of the Irish B&B may soon be a thing of the past. Along with the expert local knowledge and support for local initiaves.

Re: The Greening of the Tourist Industry. How?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:05:02 GMT

Considering Glenribbeen Eco Lodge got 26 points (where 18.5) were needed to win the E.U. eco-label The Green Flower it's easy to forget that going green is one thing - staying green - in the face of sloppy guests - is another trick.