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With environmental issues becoming increasingly prevalent, we all need to adapt to become more sustainable, including owners of large holiday homes. In fact, there was a 40% increase in search for ‘eco travel’ from 2018 to 2019 according to Hitwise, showing an increasing demand for this type of holiday.
Adapting your holiday cottage to be more eco friendly will reduce your environmental impact and could also help you grow enquiries. But how can you make your holiday rental more eco-friendly? Here are 8 changes that you can make to your property, ranging from small changes to larger investments.
1. Invest in energy efficient appliances
If your fridge, freezers, kettles and microwaves are ancient, it’s likely that they aren’t operating very efficiently, and are probably wasting you money. Investing in the most energy efficient appliances will save you money in the long run and impress your guests!
2. Buy energy saving light bulbs
Replacing your normal light bulbs with energy saving or LED bulbs is a quick and easy fix, and they won’t cost you an arm and a leg to buy. Leave spare ones in the cupboard in case one blows whilst you have guests staying.
3. Save water
There are a number of ways you can save water without having to redo your plumbing or make huge investments. Try water saving shower and tap heads and small devices to put in your cistern to reduce the amount of water in a flush. Lots of water companies actually provide these devices for free.
4. Provide eco friendly products
From washing up liquid to bathroom sprays you can find a whole range of eco friendly products to provide your guests with. Hotels hand out miniatures like there’s no tomorrow, leaving a huge amount of plastic waste. Instead buy reusable shampoo and shower gel bottles and fill them up at a refill shop. For hand soap you could make the switch from liquid to bar to save plastic.
5. Recycling instructions
This is a very easy win for holiday home owners: put out instructions for what rubbish can go where and on what days your bins go out. Most guests will want to recycle, but if they’re in a city they don’t know and it’s not made obvious to them, it will be too tempting for them to give up and dump everything in one bin. Little signs above each bin saying what can go inside them will make it infinitely easier for your guests.
6. Encourage guests to shop locally
One of the best bits about going on holiday is buying local foods and produce, and this naturally has huge benefit to the environment by reducing carbon footprint. Encourage your guests to shop locally by giving them a list of your favourite local shops and markets.
7. Generate your own power
Invest in solar panels or ground source heat pumps for your property. This one is a slightly bigger investment but it will really improve your reputation as an eco-friendly holiday destination. After a few years you’ll see the money spent will become worthwhile as your energy bills should plummet.
8. Leave out reusable shopping bags
In the excitement of packing, reusable shopping bags are probably not top of your guests priority. Leave out a few reusable bags to avoid them buying cheap ones at the local shops.
It’s really up to you how you want to transform your home into a green holiday rental, some of these are long term investments, whilst others are small changes that you can make tomorrow. Once you’ve made your changes, you get the added benefit of marketing your property as an eco-friendly holiday choice. At GroupAccommodation.com we have a special ‘eco-friendly’ holiday section that our holiday home owners get the benefit of advertising through.
Find out more about what you get when you advertise with us
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