Love to see a new way to rate hosts and guests- starting a Green Host certification

[Marcelle10]

Hi Folks,

We are very concerned about our carbon footprint. The UN just put out a report stating that we have 12 years to save us and the planet.

I would love to see AirBnb start a 5 star Green rating.

For the host-

do they recycle?

Use LED lighting?

Provide non-plastic garbage bags?

Use reusable shampoo/conditioner/liquid soap containers?

compost bins?

For the guest-

Did they recycle?

Turn off lights or turn down A/C?

Use bikes, public transportation or an electric car?

For Airbnb-

Provide a link to CO2 buy back to make air travel carbon neutral.

Something so that as an Airbnb community, we can try to lesson our carbon footprint.

Hope others would be interested...

[Marcelle10]

Yeah!  Absolutely agree!  How can we pressure Airbnb?

[Robin4]

@Marcelle10

This is a great concept Marcelle and one which I think we as a community should work on Airbnb to adopt.

It would make the company look better......But it is not as easy as it sounds!

The problem is we are not all on the same page!

I encourage guests to enjoy themselves whilst here and that means using whatever they wish to make their stay enjoyable. If they want to run the air condtioning at 26c on a 5 c winter night, as far as I concerned, I think that is extravegant, but they can do it, and I don't stop them because we produce and store our own electricity through wind and solar. It is not causing a milligram of harm to the environment.

So the problem is, in the guests eyes, if they do it here........why can't they do it somewhere else, it doesn't encourage them to be responsible. 

We have a large garden area which we water through the summer months with our own harvested water and pump, once again with own own electricity. Guests see this considerable amount of water going into simply keeping things green and don't place any importance on water conservation.

We compost everything we can, we recycle but, guests neither see or are interested in that! They are just interested in the nice garden and the cool/hot cottage!

By setting a good example, I am actually not! I am not encouraging guests to be ecologically responsible, and yet it has cost me a lot of money to be just that...ecologically responsible!

As @Robyn209 would know, in this state of South Australia we lead the world in renewable technology. We can entirely power this state with green energy and we can water our main population areas entirely from desalinated seawater....we can do it, but it comes at a cost. We have the dearest electricity and water in the world and I am afraid the miniscule amount we actually save the planet here gets greedily gobbled up by much larger nations than ours who have no desire to follow our example.

It's a hard road to follow being green, so about all I can say is.....good luck!!

Cheers.....Rob 

[Marcelle10]

Robin, 

Your place sounds like 'Green' heaven!  It is so frustrating to see our guests not care about the environment that they want to visit.  It is a consciousness that needs to be raised.  This is why (even if it is a small) to try to set some sort of example.  Of course, not everyone can afford all solar,etc., etc. but if we show that we care; it will start to make a difference.  Otherwise, people will walk around -not even realizing that what they are doing is having such a large CO2 effect.

I put up a sign under my AC unit that is positive.  It states that we care for our Planet and there is a list of things that our guest can do to help keep her clean.

We are on a hard road and it looks pretty dismal but I need to feel like i am doing what I can to start change.

[Nung0]

We have big issues here in Thailand and its mainly down to the tourist boom the envioroment cannot sustain it where I live in the south we have many beautiful islands that are still uninhabited you can only get there by boat and many of them are National parks Im afraid some people are only thinking about the tourist $$$$ lots do close down in low season.

One such island has been closed indefinatly because of the damage to the marine life and the coral Im sure lots of you have heard of Maya Beach where they made the movie "The Beach" enviromentalist are keeping watch and it seems its coming back to life certain fish have been spotted which is a good sign.

[Wende2]

This is such a Great idea, it should help Airbnb make an even better name for itself.  I do all the things you mentioned, and have solar panels, which I would advise anyone thinking of doing so, if you can own them outright that's the way to go.  I recently added a recycling area to the apt, just used a 3 section hamper, easy peasy, I had 1 couple stay an leave things beside the garbage can to be recycled, that told me I should provide an area for like minded folks.  12 yrs will be here before we know it, then what.?!!

[Marcelle10]

Totally agree!   I would like to somehow form a document of possible green practices.  So that we can collaborate and all do better.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Marcelle10, @Barbara90, @Wende2, @Nung0, @Robin4,  @Robyn209, @Sudsrung0, @Kath9,

Thank you for starting this topic Marcelle, it is something that is dear to my heart. 

 I would be interested to hear more about what you think Airbnb could be doing around this, particularly from a tech/product point of view. How do you think a green rating would work?

We also have some interesting eco topics here in the CC that you may want to take a look at: 

Could you go plastic free? 

Plastic bottles

I'd love to see a box for electric vehicle chargers under filters 

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Wende2]

Hi....I'm not sure if a rating would be the way to go, I already had a few people give me 4 stars for location, when I'm the one cloest to the sightseeing they say they're here for.?!! so rating a place on being green doesn't seem fair.  How hard would it be to add Green to the filters, along with key/tag words, I think the people who would like the EV charger added in filters are making a very good point, maybe add words to the filter that reflect a Green rental, there's probably plenty of people that recycle that haven't thought to search that way, if you added the word Green for guests to click with it's own filters that would be Great, maybe have a short blurb about how you can now search for Green properties, they may be inclined to book to learn more.?

[Kath9]

@Lizzie, thanks for taking an interest. Honestly, I have no idea how this could work because there are so many different levels of 'greenness', plus it may be difficult for guests to rate it when so much of it is just personal practice (e.g. never buying water in plastic bottles, never using plastic shopping bags, never wrapping stuff in cling wrap, never using plastic straws, never using takeaway coffee cups, etc. - most guests would never know that you do this stuff). Maybe Airbnb could get hosts to tick off a checklist when they create a listing asking if they have/do certain things (e.g. recycling, water-wise practices, renewable energy sources, etc.) and then giving them a 'green rating' based on this - although how you would actually police this, I have no idea - this would probably come down to guest reviews I suppose.

[Lizzie]

Yeah, it is difficult @Kath9. Do you think it would be best if it was something on the guest's side  (like a green rating) or something a host would mark and is perhaps verified by the guest?

On a side note- I'm on a mission at the moment to find refillable products...so far I take jars and refill my shampoo, shower gel, hand soap and laundry softener. Then I top up old bottles so it all works like normal! Just this feel I found a new local place for shower gel, which I'm very pleased about-but it does take time. 🙂

[Allison-And-David0]

I love the idea of certified Green Home for many reasons - the most compelling being that we are modeling possibilities for people to take a green inspiration home with them. I haven't included this in my description, but we order from Grove Collaborative - a certified B Corp for household products. We have solar panels on our home and power our electric car with the energy generated by our home. We have recycling in our Airbnb suite and compost kitchen and yard waste. We've installed warm LED lights throughout the house. By hosting people in our home (now that our kids are grown) we are adding to the housing pool in our community. It has allowed us to downsize without moving. All of these efforts are a part of our sustainable ethic. To have Airbnb give us a way to communicate this would be great!

[Sudsrung0]

I feel Airbnb could have a huge impact in getting the word out with lots of guest, rating I dont agree with as we also get 4* for location but we dont lie about it we discribe it exactly as it is "Away from the Main Road" I mean who build nice villas on the main road? Stupid! 

If you think how many host and how many properties listed on Airbnb and how many guest arrive daily....?

Ok "AIRBNB GOES GREEN" im not sure how it could be done Im not an expert and English is not my first languge 

My biggest gripe is the waste of electric people have to understand we live on an island and it is a massive drain on the network and here in Thailand electric is expensive 75% of the bill is Air Con.

The surge in the usage is at night using the A/C is fine as it gets hot here but to leave it running day and night and leaving the doors and windows open is just plain stupity what a complete waste and it makes the A/C units work overtime because of the warm air blowing in, The A/C unit is only designed for that room not the whole house.

We live in the south of the island and my villa is built in a way we make use of the natural envioroment we know how to build house to keep them cool in the daytime we are surrounded by the ocean and if you open all the doors and windows in the morning the sea breeze just blows through the villa and there is lots of shade outside we are not directly facing the sun.

Im afriad lots guest come from developed countries just take everything for granted and maybe not yet aware. 

Lots of guest come here who dont have A/C back in their own countries so that is a problem they dont know how to use it I dont where they think it come from.

Plastic bottles and waste is not a problem my cleaners know what to do and where to take it, the other week here in Thailand we has a "No Plastic Bag Day" no shops could give oy plastic bagsm it's a start!

Maybe once the guest has booked Airbnb could send ot a notice informing the guest about saving the Envioroment when they go to other countries,

Unfortunatly Solar powered equipment in Thailand is expensive my husband has looked into it 

[Rebecca0]

This is a nice idea but unfortunately it is a bit like sticking a band-aid on a gaping wound.   Mass travel and tourism is having a huge impact environmentally and Airbnb is part of that process.  There is no getting away from that fact.  So yes, of course it is good to reduce wastage and be green in any way we can but let's not kid ourselves.  Providing water in glass bottles instead of plastic ones in your listing is not going to mitigate the fact that your guests travelled on an airplane to get there and, depending on where you live, will contribute to soil erosion by visiting natural sites etc.   Sorry to be a downer on this issue but the facts are what they are.   

[Sudsrung0]

Im afraid you are right it's like banging my head against the wall, we can only do our best

[Rebecca0]

@Sudsrung0  You clearly feel the impact more than those of us in so-called developed countries.   I think you need to be very strict with your guests about using the AC!  It is difficult when you want to be completely hospitable but, honestly, I believe the majority of people will understand and comply.  Do you explain to people how important it is?