Eco-Friendly Business Travel

The New York Times reported today that while eco-tourism is extremely important to many business travelers, eco-friendly hotels might be missing the mark. While hotels may be half-heartedly supporting the green movement, are we just as bad?

The author recreates her stay at a Marco Island, Florida hotel as an experience in ecological futility. While she's sleeping, she's awakened to a flashing light on her telephone. She reaches for the phone thinking someone has tried to get a hold of her in the wee hours of the night. Surprisingly, it's a friendly reminder from the hotel, asking that their patrons close their blackout curtains by 9pm in order to shield the light emanating from their hotel rooms, from hatching sea turtles on the beach.

Sea turtles are often disoriented by any other light than that of the moon over the Gulf of Mexico. The moon acts as their guide to the sea, whereas making their move during the day leaves them open to predators. Sleeping guests are hardly aware of sea turtles hatching, so how can a message, that you're likely to get the next day, help the cause? It doesn't. While the hotel's intentions were in the right place, they didn't quite execute their plan well. In order to prevent instances like this, we can take responsibility to become more savvy travelers.

Eco-tourism is stated as a form of travel that appeals to ecologically and socially conscience folks. Though it's making significant headway, the travel industry hasn't exactly made it easy to support. Ecotourism.org has offered their support to remaining eco-friendly as a business traveler. They suggest you ask key questions to any hotel you consider staying at. You can always ask guest services if they have an eco policy, however, being a little more specific should help you make the best decision. Ask if they have received any eco awards or if they have an eco-label rating. They also warn that the term "eco" is often used lightly among the travel industry. Be sure to do your homework when choosing accommodations.

In avoiding a sea turtle too-little-too-late mishap check with guest services when you're checking in to make sure you're following proper protocol. There may not be any important natural event that you need to make provisions for, but you can sleep tight knowing you haven't interrupted the delicate balance of nature. Ecotourism.org also has a helpful area within their site that assists you in making eco-friendly arrangements by simply entering your destination.

While using eco-friendly resources to make travel arrangements is one fix to a big problem, it's important to not overlook our impact as well. According to an article on ABC News, hotels produce more waste in one week than 100 families in a year. Though this statistic is astounding, there are ways we can each minimize our waste by taking a few simple precautions.

• Bring your own soaps, shampoos, and other bath products - refill them as often as necessary to avoid using the hotel's brand which comes in bottles that, when empty, are thrown away and replenished with a new supply.

• Turn off unnecessary lights as well as air conditioners and heaters when you leave your room - hotels spend billions of dollars a year on wasted energy.

With all the hubbub about going green, and eco-friendly traveling, are we paying attention? A study done by TripAdvisor.com may surprise you. As many as 46% of travelers planning trips over this past labor day holiday would consider staying at an eco-friendly hotel, and conversely 54% stated they would not. So where do we stand? I personally would love to help facilitate a cleaner environment and maintain our precious natural resources, but I must be honest...until now, I never knew resources like the ones above existed. I'm also a believer in anything eco is most likely more expensive. I'm slowly coming around to accepting the fact that I should be willing to give a little in order to protect our existence.

Where do you stand on the eco-issue? Are you carefully planning your own or your boss's accommodations with the eco-friendly notion in mind? Do you think that so called eco-friendly hotels are making a half hearted attempt or that they're doing the best they can?