Sustainable Hotels: Aligning Luxury and Environmental Values

If you’re someone who cares about your environmental impact when you travel, you’re not alone – and you’re in great company. Around the world, eco-conscious travellers are rethinking how to explore the planet more responsibly. 

One of the most powerful changes you can make? Staying at a more sustainable hotel. By choosing a hotel that seeks to protect the environment, respect local culture and reduce waste, you’re not only minimising your footprint – you’re making travel more meaningful, enjoyable and connected. Let’s take a closer look at how luxury hotels are embracing sustainability, and how this can enrich your travel experience and make for a more rewarding stay.

Across the globe, hotels are stepping up with more conscious operations. Those with a commitment to sustainability are leading this shift by integrating eco-friendly practices into every part of their business, from how their buildings are constructed to how they serve breakfast.

You’ll notice the difference immediately: no more plastic bottles of water in your hotel room, a request to reuse your towels, excursions to local artisans. Even behind the scenes, things are changing: cleaning products are biodegradable, laundry is washed using water-efficient machines, and electric vehicle charging stations offer a lower-impact transport option.

Best of all, you don’t have to sacrifice comfort to travel sustainably. Many top hotels are proving that lower-impact living and indulgence can go hand in hand, from seasonal dining showcasing local produce to spa treatments rooted in nature. Some hotels even invite you to get involved – whether that’s by joining a beach clean-up, taking a cooking masterclass with food sourced from a local market, or contributing to wildlife conservation programmes. 

Eliminating single-use plastics and cutting down on laundry are really just the minimum standard in terms of sustainability in hotels. A true commitment to impact reduction touches every aspect of the guest experience and hotel operation. How can hotels be more sustainable? Here are some things to look out for:

• Energy and water efficiency: LED lights, solar panels, low-flow toilets and greywater recycling
• Sustainable sourcing: Organic, local food; eco-certified bedding and furniture
• Waste management: Recycling, composting and minimal packaging
• Green certifications: Labels from reputable third-party sustainability certification programmes like Green Key, EarthCheck or LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
• Community impact: Hiring local staff, supporting nearby farms or suppliers, and offering cultural immersion experiences
• Transparency: Clear communication about sustainability initiatives, challenges and ongoing improvements

When a hotel ticks most of these boxes, you can feel confident that your stay is supporting positive environmental and social change.

The positive impacts aren’t just for the planet, though. They’re also for you. As a conscious traveller, you probably seek more than just a place to sleep. You want to connect with the destination, leave it better than you found it and feel good about where your money is going.

More sustainable hotels make that possible. Whether you’re staying in a chic urban hotel or a sun-kissed coastal resort, these places often offer experiences rooted in authenticity, from thoughtful suggestions to personalise your stay to snorkelling trips in a protected nature reserve.

By staying somewhere that’s aligned with your values, you’ll likely find your travels become richer, more intentional and far more rewarding. As naturalist Sir David Attenborough once observed:

Staying at a more sustainable hotel may even improve your well-being. Natural materials, healthier cuisine and calming design all contribute to a sense of peace that’s hard to find in more traditional hotels. By surrounding yourself with thoughtful and intentional practices, you have space to truly unwind.

When you stay at a more sustainable hotel, your money likely goes far beyond your room. These hotels are often deeply involved in the communities around them – partnering with local farmers, artists and non-profits to create long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.

Those trees gracing the garden? They might have been planted in collaboration with a local environmental charity. The artwork on the walls? Likely painted by a local artist. And the fish on your plate? Perhaps caught that very morning by a nearby fisherman using traditional, low-impact methods. These choices not only help preserve cultural identity and local economies, they also offer you a richer, more authentic experience.

More sustainable hotels recognise that design isn’t just about aesthetics – it’s about impact. The best among these use thoughtful design to minimise their footprint and maximise guest comfort. Natural ventilation, passive heating and cooling, recycled materials and abundant daylight all help reduce energy use while shaping serene, inviting spaces.

Some even incorporate the landscape into their architecture. Novotel Thalassa Le Touquet, on the northern French coast, is a seaside sanctuary with ocean views at every turn thanks to massive windows, and a neutral colour palette that’s a natural extension of the sandy beach outside.

If you travel for work, your hotel choices matter just as much. Increasingly, hotels are offering more sustainable features tailored to the business traveller, like lower-impact meeting rooms and locally sourced event catering. They’re also encouraging slow travel, whether that’s taking trains rather than planes to their city, or using public transport rather than cars to get around.

When you stay at a hotel that’s committed to the environment, you’re showing that values and business can go hand in hand. And let’s face it – after a long day of meetings, coming back to a peaceful, more sustainable hotel just feels better.

• Reducing environmental footprint: Implementing action plans to minimise plastic use, water consumption and carbon emissions
• Promoting sustainable food choices: Revising food and beverage operations to reduce meat and fish consumption, minimise food waste and develop sustainable seafood policies
• Enhancing education and ocean awareness: Educating guests, staff and local communities about the importance of ocean conservation and ways to contribute positively
• Contributing to research and innovation: Advancing scientific knowledge and technologies that support ocean health by partnering with NGOs and investing in more sustainable innovations

At the heart of Novotel’s sustainability efforts lies its partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Launched in 2024, this three-year collaboration focuses on marine conservation through sustainable seafood sourcing, guest education and industry advocacy. The partnership funds several key WWF conservation projects, including protection of Posidonia, a vital underwater plant in the Mediterranean that acts as a natural carbon sink; the retrieval of “ghost gear”, or abandoned fishing nets that endanger marine wildlife; the support of WWF France’s Blue Panda boat, which travels the Mediterranean to conduct research and promote public education; and sea turtle conservation in the Asia Pacific and Western Atlantic. 

So next time you plan a trip, go beyond the usual filters. Look for places that support the values you care about. Because when your hotel is part of the solution, your whole journey becomes more meaningful.

Ready to discover more sustainable hotels in your next destination? Check out these top tips for packing light, and off you go!