WHERE TO FIND ECO-FRIENDLY HOTELS

all the best places to source a more eco-friendly and sustainable hotel sta

Photo c/o Ngalung Kalla Eco-Retreat in Sumba, Indonesia

There are plenty of great ways to make your next vacation an eco-friendly vacation. One of the best ways, however, to not only make a greener impact yourself, but also help transform the tourism industry is to give your business to hotels that are making efforts to be more sustainable. Help protect the environment and support sustainable development and ecotourism by booking an eco friendly hotel to rest that beautiful, earth-loving head of yours. Whether it’s LEED certified, derives energy from solar panels, sources locally or encourages bike rentals - there are a lot of ways for hotels to show up for sustainability. Below are the most reliable resources I’ve found on the internet for finding sustainable hotels with the utmost regard for the earth, including a map curated by Yours Truly.

Once you’ve found and booked your favorite, don’t forget the most important step: Let the hotel know that you booked them specifically because of their eco friendly efforts. As consumers, our voice is powerful, and making it heard can help influence major change in the hospitality industry! So Bon Voyage and thanks for seeking a more eco friendly way to travel.

Regenerative Travel

The hotels and resorts found on Regenerative Travel’s directory are selected not just for their efforts to sustain the environment, but to actually regenerate the land and local economy of which they are a part. I was fortunate enough to attend their first-ever post-COP27 Regenerative Travel Retreat this past fall, which brought together a group of activists to reflect on the conversations and progress (or lack thereof) made during the 2022 UN Climate Change conference. The peaceful location and community helped to restore our mental wellbeing from the overwhelming and often disheartening conference. Just one example of the many efforts this company is making to foster a new kind of travel.

Beyond Green

Named an honoree in the Travel + Leisure 2023 Global Vision Awards, which celebrates innovators and sustainability leaders around the world who are taking actionable, quantifiable steps to protect the natural environment, Beyond Green is a global portfolio of the Earth’s most sustainable hotels. To be considered for membership in Beyond Green, a property is vetted according to more than 50 sustainability indicators that align with global sustainable tourism standards and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Beyond Green is owned and operated by Preferred Travel Group – the family-owned company that manages and operates other hospitality brands including Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Historic Hotels of America, and Historic Hotels Worldwide. Their Beyond Green initiative is helping to usher in a new way to experience genuine hospitality by the people, for the planet.

Kind Traveler

I love the ethos behind this first-of-its-kind “give and get” hotel booking platform. The goal of Kind Traveler is to make it as easy as possible to give back to your desired destination. By making a small donation at the time of booking, Kind Travelers unlock special rates and perks for their trip. Each hotel has its own, local charity to which you can donate, but there’s also the option to choose a charity that’s more aligned with your values - be it wildlife care or supporting food-insecure populations. I also love how Kind Traveler makes it easy to see exactly what each hotel is doing for guest health, planet health and the health of its community.

Wayaj

Wayaj is an app and website directory of eco friendly hotels, and each property on the site is given a proprietary green certification based on the Wayaj’s own rigorous scientific standards. This “Eco Score” takes into account things like waste management, green building materials, water usage, clean energy practices, community impact and more. They currently have more than 400 properties listed in popular destinations around the world. One of my favorite features is the carbon footprint calculator, so you can quickly determine the level of carbon emissions your travels will generate and offset those emissions right on the site!

Kynder

Like Holiable, Kynder is working to curate a conscious collection of travel properties and experiences around the world. On the site, they make it clear what conscious and ethical travel means to them, so you can feel good about using their eco-directory to find hotels, eateries, cafes and more that align with your values. They also need some time to grow, but you’ll definitely want to bookmark this site for your future travel planning.