New program will tell you if a hotel is ocean-friendly, and more are in WA than any state

Between single-use shampoos and food waste, hotels can have an outsized impact on the environment. Citing a 2022 study, global nonprofit Clean the World estimates that the hospitality industry is responsible for 289,700 tons of waste each year.

So if you’re looking to stay at a hotel that minimizes your environmental impact, a new resource is now at your disposal.

In early Sept. 2024, ocean conservation nonprofit Surfrider Foundation announced that it’s launching a program to certify hotels that minimize their impact on the world’s oceans. Several Ocean Friendly hotels are already listed, including multiple properties in Washington state.

The hotel designation is an expansion of Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly programs that include Ocean Friendly Restaurants and Ocean Friendly Gardens.

What is an ocean-friendly hotel?

In order to qualify, a hotel has to meet seven criteria.

• It can’t use or sell plastic beverage bottles or bags

• It doesn’t use Styrofoam, or expanded polystyrene

• All cups, utensils and straws in rooms are reusable or made from natural materials without plastic packaging

• Toiletries aren’t packaged in small plastic bottles

• The hotel has water refill stations

• Any restaurant on site has to meet Surfrider’s criteria to be an ocean friendly restaurant

• The hotels provides recycling bins and follows proper recycling procedures

Additionally, each hotel participating in the program has to meet any three of these nine criteria.

• In-room coffee and tea stations don’t use single-use pods or plastic packaging

• Pre-packaged food that’s sold or distributed on-site doesn’t use plastic packaging

• Room keys are either reusable or made from natural materials

• The hotel is making an effort to be efficient with its energy use (such as having signs to remind guests to turn off the lights when they leave).

• The hotel is making an effort to conserve water (such as having signs asking guests to consider using towels and linens more than once).

• The hotel has trash cleanup kits available for guests

• On-site gift shops only sell sunscreen if it’s reef-friendly

• The hotel works to minimize the light pollution that it emits

• The hotel follows Surfrider’s landscaping criteria

Participating hotels will get access to discounts from sustainable vendors, in addition to being featured on Surfrider’s website and access to Surfrider signage and marketing materials.

Which Washington hotels are ocean friendly?

The Ocean Friendly hotel program is modeled after Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Restaurants program, which launched in 2013 and has 560 participating restaurants nationwide, including 21 in Washington.

A dozen hotels have already opted in to the new initiative, and four are located in Washington:

• Shelburne Hotel - Seaview, WA
• Boardwalk Cottages - Long Beach, WA
• Inn at Discovery Coast - Long Beach, WA
• Adrift Hotel - Long Beach, WA

If any other Washington hotels want to join, they’ll have a head start – the state legislature passed a bill in 2023 that included a ban on miniature plastic toiletry bottles in hotels.

The organization hopes to add 100 hotels to the program within its first five years. If it’s able to do so, it estimates that would prevent over ten million disposable plastic bottles from being used.

This story was originally published September 13, 2024 at 5:00 AM.