Where's sustainability on Airbnb?

[Solveig0]

Looking at all the focus on sustainability around the world, I'm a bit surprised its not showed up as an Airbnb selection yet? Or have I just missed it? 

Things to select or search for could for example be: 

- renewable energy source (heating, light, what type)

- recycling (enforced, selective, governmental)

- organic soap and cleaning liquids

- local produce available (in season only, own plot, farmers market)

- composting

- ??

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Solveig0 I truly believe that vacation travel and the concept of sustainability are mutually exclusive. I am sure that any environmental benefit from the Biomass heating system we have installed (at a vast cost I might say)  will be swamped by the emissions of the guests travelling to us.

That said I suppose it might make people feel a bit better if they are contributing less to global warming.

[Solveig0]

Good point! Most of our guests haven't travelled very far, they are mostly from around the region visiting family. But of course any travel means emissions. 

I'm seeing more and more sustainability travel platforms popping up (like tripdoodler), and would think Airbnb also would like to get into that same space

[Emilia42]

@Mike-And-Jane0 If it wasn't for the Airbnb my household would be dependent on fuel oil for only 5 months of the year. Unfortunately, with the Airbnb we're at 11 months. 😕

[Quincy]

Hi there @Solveig0, I've heard multiple suggestions to add this as a search function on the platform. Whilst I hope that this will one day be implemented, I'm also happy to see that some Hosts are actively involving themselves in Sustainability (see Festival of Sustainability) 😃

[Mark116]

@Solveig0   It's a nice idea, but I don't know how many hosts would be able to check most of those boxes.

1) renewable energy.  Solar is too expensive for us to install at this date in our ownership cycle we would never be able to recoup the costs.

2) we encourage guests to recycle and have it in our house rules, but this isn't enforceable.  Many, many guests don't recycle or they do not recycle everything that should be recycled.

3)  we could use organic soap and cleaners, we use some now but not exclusively, and raise prices to cover the extra cost.

4)  having guests shop for local produce is not realistic, there are a few farmers markets around, but most of our guests come to see New York and are not going to be interested in spending extra time to go to a farmers market.  most hosts are not going to have enough extra space to have a full garden, and again, like recycling it seems like it is something that cannot be enforced.  if guests want to go to the supermarket or buy fast food, we cannot stop them.

5) we offer composting, it is written in the house manual that if guests want to compost we will provide a recepticle.  ONE set of guests in 6 years has composted their waste.  I guess we could make the ability to compost more prominent but since we already do this for recycling with only moderate success I don't see that most people on vacation are going to bother with this.

It's a nice idea but not very realistic from my experience hosting in an urban area.

[Debra300]

@Mark116,

I agree with you on all points.  Keep Cool and I are too old to see a full ROI for the installation of renewable energy.  Plus, the island bureaucracy is almost insurmountable.  We provide kitchen countertop compost bins in our apartments which face the back yard, and the guests can easily empty them in the larger compost bins in the yard, but during the past five years only one guest has actually done so.  Composting has a direct correlation with consuming whole foods, but most of our guests eat a lot of processed and fast foods.  So, they really don't have compostable scraps.

Recycling really isn't encouraged/enforced at either of my rental locations.  The garbage collection companies claim that bottles and plastics are separated at the dump, but I cannot, and am not going to check to confirm that it's truly happening.

The produce markets and roadside stands are popular with guests, but the volume and type of items they purchase are quite limited if they've taken public transport, because the driver isn't leaving from the bus station until all seats are filled.