Spring is in the air and the best way to ring in the season of renewal is to venture outdoors and get our hands dirty. From paying attention to the flowers you plant, how you water and fertilize, to the tiny critters that call it home, your outdoor space is a great place to showcase your property’s planet friendly commitments. Let’s take a look at how your hotel can put its greenest foot (or thumb) forward when welcoming guests this summer.
There are lots of ways, big and small, to incorporate green space into your hotel property. Adding planter boxes or pots with low maintenance native species plants and shrubs can be a good beginner step to increase biodiversity on your property. Gardens attract pollinator insects like bees, beetles, ants, butterflies, and moths. These little critters are crucial to our planet's health by giving most flowering plants the ability to reproduce. Your property can further help preserve our precious pollinators by mowing lawns less often, getting rid of bug zappers, reserving patches of grass for insects, and dimming night time lights.
Consider planting herb and vegetable gardens on some plots, utilizing the bounty grown on site in your restaurant. Patio or rooftop planters designed to grow food are an innovative way to set your hotel apart. With the millennial traveler being far more eco-conscious, onsite food production epitomizes the farm to table and eat local movement.
For hotels that offer guest programming, on site gardening workshops and learning talks are a great way to excite guests about your green initiatives. Consider hosting a garden lunch and learn, where guests can attend a workshop followed by a curated, site grown meal.
Installing a living roof or “Green” roof in your hotel can yield significant environmental benefits. Green rooftops are excellent at absorbing or sequestering carbon and offer an additional way for hotels to reduce their carbon footprint. Rooftop gardens can also be a huge value add experience to your guests.
On-site composting is an easy, low maintenance way to help your gardens flourish, while simultaneously reducing your hotel’s waste. Setting up compost bins along-side recycling and trash receptacles in your food service area goes a long way to engage guests in your green goals. By adding worms to your composting bin, you speed up the compost process and increase the health and viability of the soil. Did you know that worms actually remove any odour from the compost bins? You don’t even have to worry about hiding the collection bin — knowledgeable guests will notice and appreciate the effort.
A word on watering wisely. Smart irrigation systems can cut down on unnecessary water use with timed watering. You can also reduce overall water requirements by planting drought-resistant native plants and ground cover instead of just grass. This change also reduces the need for pesticides and fertilizers. Rainwater harvesting is great alternative to reduce water demands on community infrastructure. It can be as simple as a rain barrel at the end of a downspout or as complex as an underground storage system.
