Hangzhou-based Elan Inn is offering a carbon rewards program to encourage guests to save energy and help reduce carbon emissions.

Under the hotel's carbon rewards program, guests will get reward points for various carbon-reduction actions they take such as bringing their own toothbrush and towel instead of using the hotel's and keeping the air-conditioning at no less than 26 degrees Celsius in summer and heating at no more than 20 degrees Celsius in winter. The hotel says that guests can exchange accumulated reward points for gifts such as short-haul travel or room coupons.

As major energy consumers, hotels consume a lot of energy and resources each year. It is learned that energy costs account for 8%-15% of a hotel's total business expenditure and this percentage is still increasing. Hotels in Zhejiang have reportedly been taking a leading role in energy saving. Du Juexiang, the secretary general of Zhejiang Provincial Hotel Association, commented that the association put forward the concept of environmentally-friendly hotels as early as ten years ago and to date there are more than 300 green hotels in Zhejiang. According to Du, Zhejiang's standards on green hotels were made the basis of the Green Tourism Hotel Standard released by China National Tourism Administration.

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