Hotels have a huge role to play in reducing plastic use in various parts of their operations. Yet recent statistics from YouGov worryingly show that only 29%* of hospitality and leisure businesses have replaced some or all of their single-use plastics with more environmentally-friendly alternatives.
Interested in the hospitality and leisure sectors eco-intentions, Taxi2Airport.com surveyed 1,528 Brits to discover the commonly used plastic items in hotels they would most like to see fully replaced with a sustainable/environmentally-friendly option.
Taxi2Airport found that Brits would most like hotels to replace plastic carrier bags/plastic bin bags with compostable bags/reusable carrier bags (e.g. cotton/linen etc.)/paper bags (85%).
Thereafter, 79% would appreciate hotels taking the initiative to stop using plastic water bottles and instead provide water in refillable glass/aluminium bottles.
Interestingly, worn for the purpose of establishing full or half board status – 68% support the idea of a woven rather than plastic wristband.
A key item for branding purposes – 66% would opt for hotels to use/provide wooden/bamboo pens over plastic pens.
An essential service for many travellers – 61% prefer hotels to give them a reusable cotton/linen laundry bag rather than a plastic one.
Furthermore, half of Brits (50%) believe plastic door hangers (e.g. please do not disturb/please clean my room sign) should be substituted for door hangers made from wood/bamboo.
On the other end, just 26% think courtesy slippers should be provided in a cotton or linen wrap/bag as opposed to being in a plastic wrap/packaging.
Yoon Sterkenburg, Co-Founder of Taxi2Airport.com commented, “Hotels can be the key drivers within the hospitality and leisure sector to adopt and promote eco-friendly initiatives. With plastic being heavily relied upon for numerous aspects within hotels – it’s use can be significantly cut down. Especially considering the detrimental impact plastic is having on the environment.
“This research certainly shows the frequently used plastic items in hotels that Brits would most like to see substituted for a sustainable/environmentally friendly-version. The findings are encouraging for hotels with serious intentions to decrease their plastic consumption but worried about the impact it will have on the level of service they provide as well as overall customer satisfaction by doing so. The key takeaway for hotels is that reducing plastic use is a valuable practise that is only going to lead to positive outcomes.”
*29% figure is in reference to only small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) within the hospitality and business sector.
