Editor’s note: Here is the second in a series of contributions from University of South Carolina faculty member Prof. Augie Grant. In today’s installment, Dr. Grant reflects on the gap between rhetoric and performance in the “greening” of Las Vegas — and notes one property that gets it right.
One thing that bothers me a little during my visits is the difficulty to practice the same “green” habits I have at home: especially recycling and conserving water. Almost every hotel room has a card somewhere in the room that indicates that the hotel wants to save water by reducing the number of towels washed (“On the floor means ‘replace’; on the rack means I’ll use it again”). Okay, it’s a really small thing, but I usually hang up my towels. Hey, I’m a guy — I don’t mind using a towel two or three times.
But it never works that way. The used towels are always taken away and replaced with clean ones. That’s a mark of great customer service but it flies in the face of the green initiatives. I don’t want to complain to the housekeepers who are working to give me the best experience they can, but I’m a little frustrated. (And I’ve never seen any place to recycle bottles and cans in the hotels.)
But there’s one notable exception. The Las Vegas Hilton has a program that allows you to completely opt out of housekeeping for a day. Just hang the eco-themed door hanger on your door handle by 7 a.m., and housekeeping will simply skip your room that day — and then reward you with a $10 coupon good at any restaurant or bar in the hotel.
In my opinion, it’s the most eco-friendly program in Las Vegas. It saves all of the energy and water needed to wash sheets, towels, etc., and you get 10 bucks in the process. I would be interested to hear if anyone knows of any other innovative green initiatives in Las Vegas. Thanks!
The best green initiatives are the ones visitors don’t notice. Disney does a bunch of green things at their parks that they’ll happily tell you about, but none of them require any change in behaviour on your part. I know that their Florida property cleans laundry on site with it’s own delivery service so that they don’t have to travel off the site of their city-like property.
LV Sands and some MGM Mirage properties (I know Luxor boasts of it, not sure the others) began sorting garbage the other year, which is probably the best thing that can be done.
I wouldn’t worry too much about water, personally, because studies found the hotels produce more money for the state in return for their water use than anything else. The city simply isn’t taking water seriously, given that the City of Las Vegas has few public pools and nothing like the Multi-Gen complex that City of Henderson built. With such little support for public pools, LV basically is only encouraging the creation of backyard pools, which along with golf courses are some of the most redundant water wastes in the valley.
I actually use my stays at strip hotels to be more lavish with water than I would at home. Much like the valley’s transportation and infrastructure plans, we just don’t take water use seriously enough despite the Authority’s efforts, because we aren’t willing to make the commitment in public spending to prepare for the future.
Hell, “not willing to make the commitment to public spending to prepare for the future” is quickly becoming Nevada’s new motto.
That is a great idea. Are our friends at Resorts International/Colony finally doing something right? That would be really neat if that caught on.
M gives $10 restaurant credit for not taking fresh towels and washcloths.
This sounds great. I have often requested no service for a day or so when I’m the only one in the room. A guy most likely doesn’t use all the towels etc in a day. BUT what kills me every time is all the hoopla about saving water and then the sink does not hold water so you need to let it run while shaving. If I had a dollar for everytime I’ve adjusted the ring on the back of the drain to make the stopper work I’d be rich. And sometimes you can’t turn it, but it still makes me laugh.