Green Hotels

The Cheshire Cat Inn (above) was one of four in Santa Barbara to earn a green branch from Green Travel’s hotel search service.

The good news is that four Santa Barbara hotels earned the “Green” moniker from a hotel search service launched last September, RezHub.com’s Green Travel Hub. Cheshire Cat Inn, Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort, Inn of the Spanish Gardens, and West Beach Inn all earned eco-points for such features as re-usable tableware and fresh air exchange systems. The bad news is, each was awarded only one green branch out of a possible five.

By comparison, three hotels in Portland, Oregon–including that city’s DoubleTree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center, which costs just $75 a night–earned four branches each for such practices as earth-friendly housekeeping, recycling, conservation, and even composting.

Nevertheless the website’s marketing director, Melissa Evans, encouraged customers to “keep in mind that although some hotels may only have received one Green Score Branch, they are making positive changes for the planet. It’s important to support the green efforts that each hotel is making because it shows the management they are doing the right thing.”