Michelle's Green Eco Friendly Plea To Corporate Management

by Michelle S.
(Fort Worth, Texas, USA)

Having already made the decision and commitment to go green in my personal life, there was one thing at work that was really bothering me and my eco friendly sensibilities.

Have you ever noticed how many newspapers that hotels have sitting there waiting for their guests? As a hotel manager, I brought it up at a regional hotel meeting of a large hotel company that had a speaker talking about how we were going to become a "green" hotel chain. The response was that the average consumer still expects a newspaper to be available to them when they check into a hotel that is also forced to have a totally wireless, Internet access so that guests can get their news online.

In addition, there is a big screen television running 24 hours a day in the lobby, so that guests can "get their news". Does anybody realize how many trees lose their life everyday and how much electricity and other costs the average hotel uses to make sure that guests "get their news"?

While my suggestion was to eliminate newspaper requirement from all chain hotels, (which is around 30 newspapers per day whether they have guest or not), that answer was met with cold reception from corporate hotel people. What was the reason? They stated that today's consumers expect to get their news in any form when they want, according to surveys...

Are you kidding me?

We are at the mercy of supertankers that get kidnapped by pirates and consumers want the option of getting their news at a hotel by a newspaper that they read two pages of.

Now, I realize, as a hotel manager, it is all about giving the guest what they want, but if you are going to have a green hotel chain, don't you think that whacking all of our trees should be the first amenity to go? I think that USA Today wouldn't like this shift and it could cause them to go bankrupt.


In a time when many people are losing their jobs, it is sad to think that the newspaper industry is no longer needed in a "green" economy. But let's get real. That's like saying that we know tuna with mercury contamination can be deadly for us, but what about the poor Tuna fishermen?

If we are truly a country that wants a green economy, then why do the major hotel chains require hotels to buy 20 or 30 newspapers per day when they might only have ten rooms that are occupied? Because it is a "brand standard", nobody wants to speak up. When I spoke up about becoming known as a "green" hotel chain, we should eliminate newspapers because we offer Internet access, which is how most people get their news nowadays, it was met with cold reception because "guests expect it".

Of course, I bet those same guests expect to leave all of the lights on in their room, run the air conditioner they don't even need and leave the television on when they aren't in their room. It's not their money, so they don't care. Across the country, hotel owners are running around turning off millions of dollars worth of wasted energy everyday in these "green" hotel chains, while they make sure that they have their 30 newspapers for the ten guests that stayed there...

I'd say it's time that hotel guests start asking for lower prices and less frills, which are better for the economy, the environment and better for the hotels that are wasting money on this horrible waste of resources and money!


~ Michelle :)