What took you so long, Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott?
By the end of 2021, approximately 1.5 million guest rooms, that the world’s three largest hoteliers own, will eliminate plastic mini bottles and travel-sized toiletries. Larger bulk shampoo and soap dispensers will replace these items for more sustainable practices. Those big names include Hyatt (owners of more than a dozen different hotel brands), IHG (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Candlewood Suites, others), and Marriott International (owners of Ritz-Carlton, Sheraton, Westin, others).
Old Town Inn’s Shampoo and Soap Dispensers
While we applaud “the majors” for their eco-friendly move, we’d like to remind our guests of our own sustainable practices. Since 2011, The Old Town Inn in Florence has been using sealed, refillable bulk shampoo and soap dispensers. Instead of offering travel-sized toiletries, our soap and shampoo are mounted to the shower wall.
Hyatt recently announced that its 220,000 guest rooms will begin using bulk-sized bottles. It joined Holiday Inn-owner InterContinental Hotel Group (843,000 guest rooms) and Marriott International (500,000 guest rooms) in announcing similar changes earlier this year.
Our wall-mounted dispensers here at The Old Town Inn have sealed bags of quality shampoo and body wash. The fact that they are sealed prevents anyone from tampering with them. And just because they come in bulk doesn’t mean they’re not excellent products. Guests often tell us they like them very much. What’s more, our nearly decade-old shampoo and soap dispenser initiative has saved hundreds of pounds of travel-sized toiletries and plastics from heading to landfills.
Our Green Initiative
Over the years, we have also implemented several other “green” or sustainable practices such as investing in low-flow showerheads, energy-conserving lighting, zone control heating, updated recycling procedures, and in-room cards asking guests to re-use their towels and linens when possible.
Thanks to a unique partnership last year with automaker Tesla, The Old Town Inn powered up charging stations for EVs making us among the only publicly available charging locations on Highway 101 in the state of Oregon. We now have four on-site charging stations—one general Level 2 EV charger and three Tesla Stage 2 chargers.
Though the charging stations are primarily for our guests, they are available for a small charge to the rest of the EV motoring public. (Get it? A small charge? That’s some high-voltage humor right there!) A charge that lasts up to eight hours per vehicle costs around five dollars. If you’re a Tesla or other EV driver, you probably have an app like PlugShare that tells you where you can plug in and how long of a wait you might have.
Check Out Our Sustainable Practices For Yourself!
The Old Town Inn is top-rated in Florence on several online travel sites. We have many awards from TripAdvisor (the world’s largest travel site), Oregon Business Magazine, and The Florence Area Chamber of Commerce for outstanding customer service. Come try us out for yourself. To book a room at The Old Town Inn, call 541-997-7131 or visit www.Old-Town-Inn.com.