We all love to travel, but these days people are becoming far more aware of the environmental impact of their vacations. Cars and planes cause significant emissions, you're eating out a lot and probably wasting more food than usual, and the hotel you're staying at is likely wasting significant amount of energy and other resources in the name of comfort and efficiency. While these realizations may feel disheartening at first, however, they shouldn't keep you from exploring the world! If you are planning on traveling soon, you can simply start thinking ahead of time about the things you can do to make your trip more eco-friendly.
One of the best ways to keep your travel eco-friendly is to seek out places to stay with active green initiatives. Vancouver is one such area we love, where it's easy to enjoy and explore nature while also respecting it. The city and its surrounding area are known to be natural wonderlands, with tons of hikes, lookout points, and scenic drives for travelers from all over the world to enjoy. To protect these awesome aspects of Vancouver, local accommodation venues have made clear efforts toward sustainability and environmental friendliness. With this in mind, here is a list of some of our favorite sustainable stays in Vancouver.
The Fairmont Waterfront
The Fairmont Waterfront has won multiple awards from Green Key Global, an international organization that ranks sustainable companies. And once you see this hotel in person, you'll immediately realize why it rates so high when it comes to environmentally-friendly tourism. The building features a rooftop garden and a beekeeping center, both of which are beautiful to look at but also healthy for the environment. Meanwhile, for organizations hosting an event at this hotel, the Eco-Meet program can be utilized to make the event less wasteful and more sustainable. These are simple but meaningful initiatives that put green efforts at the top of the Fairmont's list of priorities. And on top of all this, it's also a beautiful, elegant place to stay.
River Rock Casino Resort
This resort is the most surprising on our list, given that many people associate casinos with a lavish and care-free attitude. The River Rock Casino Resort outside of Vancouver breaks with this stereotype though. Especially with the rise of online casino platforms in Canada making casino games available from almost anywhere, related resorts are gradually learning to take steps to appeal to wider customer bases. The River Rock has done this in part through its Green Choice Program, by which customers can opt to forego housekeeping services (and thus a great deal of waste in everything from cleaning material to water used in laundry services) in exchange for a discount at the hotel restaurant. Additionally, one of the casino's restaurants features tables made of almost half a million recycled chopsticks!
The Westin Grand
Our last suggestion for a sustainable stay in Vancouver is The Westin Grand. This hotel has also received recognition from Green Key Global for its environmental efforts, and is conveniently located in the heart of downtown (with a spectacular rooftop pool patio right among the skyscrapers). In addition to making continual efforts to improve sustainability, the hotel was also designed to be green from the start. Each room has a master light switch, so that it's less likely for lights to be left on when not being used. The hotel also has a saltwater extraction system, which eliminates the need for chemical water treatment while still providing clean water to guests.
Whether you're planning on visiting Vancouver specifically or not, we hope that you look for some of these sustainable qualities in your accommodation options on your next trip!
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