Asking guests to hang up their towels when they don’t need them washed or banning single-use plastic toiletries is no longer enough when it comes to satisfying travellers’ desires for more environmentally friendly hotels.
These days, when it comes to booking travel, people are more sustainably focused than ever before and are seeking hotels that allow them to enjoy low-impact holidays.
Ahead of Earth Day, we look at seven of the world’s top environmentally minded hotels, all worth considering if you’re looking to book a more sustainable stay.
1. room2 Chiswick, London
The world’s first whole-life net-zero hotel is the 86-key room2 Chiswick in London. Calling itself a hometel, the boutique property uses nearly 90 per cent less energy per square metre when compared with other UK hotels.
It's the first hotel in the world to account for its entire carbon footprint, and all emissions from the property, including operations, maintenance and refurbishment, will always equal zero. There are solar and ground source heat pumps, ultra-low-flow high-pressure showers, occupancy sensors, a blue roof to filter rainwater and a green roof flourishing with thousands of flowers, plants, beehives and insect hotels.
Inside, rooms and communal spaces were created in collaboration with local artisans and there's handcrafted mirrors and wooden furniture created from timber salvaged from a forest less than 16 kilometres away. There’s a zero-waste policy and in-room recycling bins, as well as two labs in the hotel that allow researchers to learn from guest habits to refine and improve future efficiencies.
Rooms from £129 ($169) per night; room2.com
2. Las Qolqas Eco-Resort, Peru
Located in the Andean town of Ollantaytambo, halfway between Cusco and Machu Picchu in Peru, Las Qolqas is a sustainable haven that pays testament to the environment, local community and indigenous culture.
With capacity for only 50 guests, the tiny tented hotel welcomes visitors to spend the night in safari-style abodes where every single element – from the shampoo to the bed frames – has been locally sourced.
A greenhouse-style restaurant serves dishes made with hand-picked ingredients that are organic, seasonal and locally cultivated either by the community or from the property’s orchard.
There are on-site compost and solar systems to help reduce water and energy waste. And, of course, there are no single-use plastics to be seen. When it comes to what to do, rest easy knowing that all of the resort's activities and experiences have been carefully planned to help propel a positive impact in the local community.
Bungalows from $163 per night; lasqolqas.com
3. Pikaia Lodge, Ecuador
Located in one of one of the most ecologically diverse hotspots on the planet, Pikaia Lodge in the Galapagos Islands is a former cattle ranch turned eco-luxury lodge that is entirely carbon neutral.
The hotel uses only recyclable, eco-friendly building materials in its construction and maintenance, and only biodegradable cleaning products are used on site.
Hot water comes from solar panels with excess energy fed back into the island’s electricity grid and any CO2 emissions created are offset by a reforestation programme. Interiors and furniture make use of locally sourced teak and bamboo from the Ecuadorean mainland.
There’s also a social responsibility programme with guests invited to join activities led by local village residents, with excursions to visit lava tunnels, craters and wildlife refuges. It also encourages guests to "pack for a purpose" — saving some luggage space to bring supplies that can be donated to local schools and nurseries.
Minimum three-night stay with rates from $4,305; pikaialodge.com
4. Shaam-e-Sarhad Village Resort, India
In the grasslands of Banni, on the southern edge of the marshy salt flats of Kutch in India’s Gujarat, travellers will find Shaam-e-Sarhad Village Resort, which is fully operated and run by the local community.
With a name that means sunset at the border, the resort offers eco-friendly mud huts, family cottages and traditional bhunga-style accommodation, all with en-suite bathrooms. Freshly cooked Gujarati lunch, Kutchi dinner and Indian breakfasts are served daily and guests have the chance to find out more about life in this part of India, which is famed for its rich wildlife and biodiversity.
Community techniques on how to live lightly on the land is at the forefront of the experience, which was built to improve the quality of life for local people and the environment.
Rates from 4,000 Indian rupees ($50); open seasonally from October to March; hodka.in
5. Arenas Del Mar, Costa Rica
Tucked between Costa Rica's rainforests and the wild Pacific Ocean within a private, 11-acre nature reserve, Arenas Del Mar finds itself at the heart of an important corridor for the region's wildlife.
Guests staying here can enjoy the country's famous pura vida at this luxury beachfront resort, with views over Manuel Antonio National Park, the rainforest and the ocean. Food is organic, locally sourced and served on the beach, with Costa Rican street food nights one of the highlights – just watch out for monkeys keen on getting their hands on your dinner.
There are plenty of experiences for guests to get involved in and in-house naturalist guides can help you discover more about the national park. Guests also have the option to give back during their stay, either by donating to local schools to help fund classroom supplies and eco-education programmes, or to be a part of the resort’s "Plant a Tree" initiative where they can physically contribute to the surrounding ecosystem.
Rates from Dh1,487 for an ocean breeze superior room; staybeyondgreen.com
6. &Beyond Bateleur Camp, Kenya
At the foot of the Oloololo escarpment in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve is &Beyond’s Bateleur Camp. Here, surrounded by forests and an unsurpassed concentration of wildlife, travellers can check into one of nine intimate tented suites.
Guests can explore the area with twice-daily game drives, walking safaris, spotlit night drives and hot-air-balloon safaris. Luxury isn’t an afterthought, so expect private butlers, polished silver, fine antiques and temperature-controlled swimming pools — but it’s also not the focus, which instead lies in &Beyond’s commitment to sustainability.
A farm-to-table culinary programme sources produce from local farmers or the resort's shamba (vegetable garden). Honey is purchased directly from an organisation that supports a Masai women’s group and there's an on-site bottling machine, eliminating the equivalent of 20,000 single-use plastic water bottles each year.
Community excursions are also on the cards, as &Beyond works closely with locals to offer cultural interaction experiences where guests can learn first-hand about the noble Masai tribe.
Tented suites from $790 per person; andbeyond.com
7. Impact House, Lisbon, Portugal
A hostel rather than a hotel, Impact House, among the cobbled streets of Lisbon's buzzy riverside Belem district, offers a sustainable place to stay when you're travelling on a budget.
With both traditional-style dormitories and private double rooms, it also has a communal living area, huge garden, rainbow-lined swimming pool and large dining room. Here, guests can tuck into highly rated plant-based meals all created with locally grown or sourced ingredients, often from the hostel's on-site vegetable garden.
Partnerships with local non-profits, events to champion green issues and a space for the community to come together are central to the property’s mission. The hostel uses renewable energy and compensates 100 per cent for any excess CO2-emissions — it's also on track to be entirely carbon neutral in the next eight years.
All rubbish is separated for recycling, items are upcycled whenever possible to give them a second life and any surplus food is donated to homeless charities.
Private double rooms from 50 euros ($54); impactrip.com
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The specs: 2017 Dodge Viper SRT
Price, base / as tested Dh460,000
Engine 8.4L V10
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 645hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 813Nm @ 5,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 16.8L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results
Stage Two:
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) QuickStep-AlphaVinyl 04:20:45
2. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin-Fenix
3. Pascal Ackermann (GER) UAE Team Emirates
4. Olav Kooij (NED) Jumbo-Visma
5. Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ
General Classification:
1. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin-Fenix 09:03:03
2. Dmitry Strakhov (RUS) Gazprom-Rusvelo 00:00:04
3. Mark Cavendish (GBR) QuickStep-AlphaVinyl 00:00:06
4. Sam Bennett (IRL) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:00:10
5. Pascal Ackermann (GER) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:12
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Emirates Cricket Board Women’s T10
ECB Hawks v ECB Falcons
Monday, April 6, 7.30pm, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
The match will be broadcast live on the My Sports Eye Facebook page
Hawks
Coach: Chaitrali Kalgutkar
Squad: Chaya Mughal (captain), Archara Supriya, Chamani Senevirathne, Chathurika Anand, Geethika Jyothis, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kashish Loungani, Khushi Sharma, Khushi Tanwar, Rinitha Rajith, Siddhi Pagarani, Siya Gokhale, Subha Srinivasan, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish
Falcons
Coach: Najeeb Amar
Squad: Kavisha Kumari (captain), Almaseera Jahangir, Annika Shivpuri, Archisha Mukherjee, Judit Cleetus, Ishani Senavirathne, Lavanya Keny, Mahika Gaur, Malavika Unnithan, Rishitha Rajith, Rithika Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Shashini Kaluarachchi, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Vaishnave Mahesh
Results
1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) Alpecin-Fenix - 3:45:47
2. David Dekker (NED) Jumbo-Visma - same time
3. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
4. Emils Liepins (LAT) Trek-Segafredo
5. Elia Viviani (ITA) Cofidis
6. Tadej Pogacar (SLO UAE Team Emirates
7. Anthony Roux (FRA) Groupama-FDJ
8. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:00:03
9. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10. Fausto Masnada (ITA) Deceuninck-QuickStep
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If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
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Top 10 in the F1 drivers' standings
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 202 points
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-GP 188
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-GP 169
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing 117
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 116
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing 67
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 56
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 45
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 35
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 26
WHAT%20IS%20'JUICE%20JACKING'%3F
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