Urbn Hotels Shanghai, a carbon neutral hotel, has had quite a lot of guests since its opening last year, but it has not had a single client who is willing to spend money on purchasing carbon credits to write-off the carbon emissions from their journey.

According to local media, though the price of purchasing the carbon credits is not high compared with the hotel's 26 rooms, no client has expressed their intention of purchasing the item, as the service is not mandatory.

A representative from Urbn reportedly stated that the reason that no one has purchased the carbon credits is that this environmental concept is not well recognized by the public. And since most of the clients of the hotel are business clients and they are on a tight schedule while they stay in the hotel, there is no time for them to learn about the hotel's green initiative.

According to Chinese media, it is not only the hotel guests, but also the staff of the hotel, who have an inadequate understanding of the service. If the staff at the hotel can better understand the true value carbon credits, they can better sell this idea to guests. If the staff fail to sell the service, but they continually pitch themselves as a carbon neutral hotel, they run the risk of being called out for greenwashing.

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1. By Richard – March 12th, 2009 at 3:39 am

   With the tough economic times recent articles have been indicating the eco-initiatives are being pushed to the back of the list – both by the business traveler and the properties as well. While guests may not yet have embraced buying carbon credits, properties can still do their part by becoming more environmentally friendly. Not only are they doing something good for the environment, but during this difficult economy they are becoming more efficient and improving their bottom line profits.

   iStayGreen.org is the primary internet site for Green Hotels and Eco-Friendly Accommodations with over 3,500 properties eco-rated. Yet out of 737 Shanghai Hotels only a handful are showing as "Green" rated?

   "Green" hotels need to become more vocal about their efforts, which in-turn will put pressure on the rest of the industry to follow suit.

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