Save Our Planet? Really Now.
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.26.08
Dano, Creative Commons, Flickr
You can stay in the worst fleabag motel with dripping taps and electric baseboard heaters, but it will have a "save our planet" sign when all they really care about is saving on their laundry bill.
Yet in fact they work, and can be made to work even better. According to the New York Times, the Journal of Consumer Research examined how often people follow the requests of such cards, and why. It also found that we are sheep. 37.2% of guests “help save the environment” by returning their towels to the rack with the traditional sign. But when the sign said "“75 percent of the guests who stayed in this room had reused their towels" the rate went up to 49.3%.
A good lesson for laying out environmental campaigns. ::New York Times via ::Green Daily
Entirely too bad that even if I do put the towels back on the rack, I find new clean towels when I return anyway in about 70% of cases. My guess is the housecleaning staff's way of providing me with "superior service" because I tip them...
I brought this up to the management of the hotels but it seems to be a national trend.
The biggest problem with trying to hang the towel up is not enough towel rods. If they really wanted us to re-use towels, there would be enough rods to use - just like at home!
I too found that my towels and sheets were replaced, even when I followed the directions.
I too find that my towels are replaced most of the time.
I've taken to just not having housecleaning service if my stay is less than 5 days (or just having it once). I figured that's the best way to save water and resources ... I'm not that messy and I don't wash my towels every day at home (actually only every 2 weeks).
I work in a hotel and this frequently happens with guest workers and foreign labor. We have our signs in English and Spanish, but we've gotten a lot of eastern European workers who can't read either language. We've also tried to explain the concept, but it just doesn't get through.
I think that trend may be changing. Some hotels will not change your sheets and towels unless you tell them them that you actually want them changed every day. I'm sure that is much more effective!
I've found that most of the time when I follow directions, the towels are still swapped out (but the sheets aren't).
Lately I just refuse housecleaning service if it's a short stay. (I don't change my towels and sheets that often at home, either.)