Hotels Combat Greenwashing with Behind-the-Scenes Eco-Tours

Not so long ago, hotels got kudos for stocking guest rooms with recycling bins and paraben-free toiletries (in single-use plastic bottles, no less). But as interest in sustainability increases, travelers have gotten savvy to sham claims about eco-friendliness. A few brands are putting their money where their mouth is by showing—not just shouting about—their sustainable practices. These standard-bearers for transparency invite guests behind the scenes to tour compost piles, organic gardens, desalination plants and other spaces traditionally marked “employees only.”

Jeff Smith, the global vice president of sustainability at Six Senses, says sustainability eco-tours are standard at the brand’s 27 hotels and resorts. “We want to be as transparent as possible and offer opportunities to participate,” he says.

Grilled Himalayan trout at Six Senses Vana, India / Photo: Courtesy of Six Senses Vana

At Six Senses Vana in India, guests can tour The Village, where waste is meticulously sorted. A high-efficiency wastewater treatment plant hums continuously, and employees fill hundreds of glass bottles with filtered water from a nearby river conserved through spring regeneration and biodiversity enhancement. At the water-bottling plant, on-site sustainability director Manish Kumar Tomer loves telling guests that since 2014, the facility “has eliminated over 100,000 single-use plastic bottles annually.”

Hotel Belmar, Costa Rica / Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Belmar

At Cayuga Collection, a clutch of luxury eco-resorts in Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua, president and cofounder Hans Pfister says behind-the-scenes tours turn first-time visitors into champions of the brand and its sustainability efforts. “When guests visit the back of house, they get to meet staff members—like laundry personnel, chefs, maintenance workers and gardeners—whom they typically wouldn’t see. This engagement makes those employees proud and eager to showcase their contributions.” And the cherry on top for management? Like open kitchens in restaurants, back-of-house tours leave no choice but to keep each space clean and organized, boosting operational efficiency.

At CGH Earth hotels and resorts in Southern India, daily sustainability tours often surprise guests with eco-friendly features hiding in plain sight: closed compost facilities tucked behind tennis courts and shaded by solar panels, for example, or a paper-recycling plant camouflaged within the sprawling vegetable and herb garden. And then there’s Soneva resorts, where stringent sustainability guidelines undergird Robinson Crusoe-esque barefoot chic. There, on-site Waste-to-Wealth centers showcase how glass waste is crushed to be transformed into art for the resorts’ galleries and food scraps feed compost that fertilizes the restaurants’ gardens.

Mantled howler monkey at Jicaro Island Ecolodge, Nicaragua / Photo: Courtesy of Cayuga Collection

At the Hotel Belmar in Monteverde, Costa Rica, guests don’t need an organized tour to know that sustainability isn’t just a thin veneer—it’s a way of life. The carbon-neutral, 26-key, family-owned eco-lodge checks all the boxes on any eco-friendliness bingo card: an organic farm to supply the restaurant, a biodigester to transform organic waste into clean gas energy, and a laundry solarium to harness the sun for drying linens, to name a few. Guests can also request complimentary sustainability tours tailored to their interests. Managing director Pedro Belmar says tasting the on-site-crafted beer while learning how the brewery repurposes waste is a guest favorite.

“Our goal is not just to offer sustainable hospitality, but to plant the seeds of ecological awareness in our guests, empowering them to spread these values as they continue their journeys,” says Belmar. In a time of heightened fears about the future livability of the planet, he argues that showcasing eco-friendly solutions isn’t just a fun guest experience—it’s a way to combat helplessness and prove that “change is indeed possible.”