6 ways to make your next hotel stay as sustainable as possible, according to responsible-travel experts

• Traveling sustainably is about making intentional choices to serve your destination and planet well.

• A significant part of any trip is figuring out where to stay.

• Experts said travelers should pick hotels with green initiatives and skip daily fresh towels.

• This article is part of "Green Getaway," a series exploring how people can make more eco-conscious choices while traveling. For more climate-action news, visit Insider's One Planet hub. 

From the booking process to sleeping in your hotel bed, experts agree there are things travelers can do to have a more sustainable hotel stay.

Whether it's booking a night at a hotel that embraces green initiatives or skipping daily laundry service, experts told Insider that there are practices every traveler can employ to make the accommodation part of a vacation more sustainable.

Take a look at their six tips.

Experts all agreed on one tip: Spend your money on hotels with environmental initiatives.

The most impactful way to have a sustainable hotel stay is by choosing an accommodation that embraces green initiatives, sustainability and travel experts told Insider.

Paloma Zapata, the CEO of Sustainable Travel International, which works with local governments, businesses, and nonprofits to provide sustainable travel opportunities, said she vets a hotel based on its practices around water, energy, culture, nature, and waste management.

For example, has the hotel made commitments to limit its food waste, hire local employees, and use energy from sustainable sources?

This can often be challenging to evaluate, and experts said that travelers should look for specifics beyond a hotel claiming that it's sustainable.

"A lot of these places just do the bare minimum, and they call themselves a sustainable hotel," Zapata said.

For example, getting rid of straws or swapping light bulbs for LED lights is good, but that doesn't make a hotel inherently sustainable, since it could still have an enormous carbon footprint.

Zapata suggests starting the vetting process by taking a look at the hotel's website. Most sustainable hotels are transparent about their goals and practices, and it should be clearly stated on their websites.

Experts said you can also look for hotels that have certifications or awards. Some of these include the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, Certified B Corporation, Green Globe, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and WELL Building Standard.

"The labels can be a place to start," Sarah Faith, a content and communications manager at Responsible Travel, a UK travel company that evaluates trips and vacation providers on their sustainability measures, said, but she added that guests shouldn't book solely based on certifications. Certifications can have different regulations, and they can be costly for smaller resorts and hotels to acquire.

Gregory Miller, the executive director of the international nonprofit Center for Responsible Travel, agreed.

"If they've made a commitment to the communities, to the destination, and they understand that they're part of the community, that is what's important," he previously told Insider.

And if you still have unanswered questions, Faith said travelers shouldn't be afraid to reach out to the hotel.

"A hotel who is generally responsible and doing stuff will want to answer your questions and will be happy that you've asked," Faith said.

If you're struggling to find a sustainable hotel, skip the big chains and short-term rentals. Opt for locally owned hotels instead.

Another way to make your hotel stay more sustainable is to make sure the money you're spending on accommodations goes directly into locals' hands.

When travelers stay at major hotel chains, that money goes to a corporation. With a locally owned hotel, the profit stays in the destination and locals benefit.

But that doesn't mean you should turn to short-term rentals — that's because platforms like Airbnb and VRBO are often pricing out locals.

"In places like Barcelona and other places worldwide, short-term rentals have caused huge problems," Faith said. "It's wiped out entire residential neighborhoods, and now instead of a local bar and a local shop, there's a touristy bar and a souvenir shop."

Faith said your best bet is to book a hotel, bed-and-breakfast, or rental that is owned and operated by people who are from and live in the holiday destination you're visiting.

Pick hotels that are walkable or accessible by public transportation.

Another way to make a hotel stay greener is by making sure its location allows you to use more sustainable modes of transportation.

If your hotel is near a subway station or you can walk to the museums or beaches you're hoping to explore on your vacation, then your trip's overall carbon footprint will be lower, Zapata said.

Some hotels even offer their own green transportation options. When Insider's Monica Humphries stayed at The Hotel Britomart, which is New Zealand's first "5-Green-Star" hotel, she commuted using the hotel's free bike rentals. Otherwise, she would've needed to hire a car, which would've increased her trip's carbon footprint.

One expert said it's smart to stick to one or two hotels in a single vacation.

It can be tempting to switch hotels every other day on vacation, but experts agree that isn't the greenest way to travel.

If you're taking a trip, try to pick one or two hotels to stay in, Zapata said, to help limit the hotel's cleaning efforts.

Both laundry and cleaning services involve water and energy, so by skipping those, you'll be lowering your carbon footprint.

Humphries recently planned an eight-day trip to Tokyo and Kyoto. In eight days, she stayed at seven different hotels.

Zapata reviewed her itinerary for Japan and said switching hotels so frequently wasn't the most sustainable way to travel.

"It's extra cleaning, maybe extra transportation because you're moving from one hotel to the another every day," she said.

On a similar note, experts said travelers should skip receiving fresh towels and linens every day.

Since washing sheets and towels involves water and energy, a simple thing travelers can do is opt out of fresh towels and sheet changes.

Hotels will often have a placard or sign that travelers can use to indicate whether or not they want new towels and sheets.

Utilize this, Faith said.

The pros also said that packing your own water bottle or toiletries in reusable containers is greener than using what's supplied by most hotels.

From single-use bottles of shampoo to plastic laundry bags to packaged coffee, hotels are sometimes filled with plastic.

As a traveler, experts said you should try to limit how many of those plastic items you're using throughout your stay.

Kelley Louise, the executive director and founder of Impact Travel Alliance, a community for eco-conscious travelers, previously told Insider that she brings her own shampoo and conditioner instead of using a hotel's toiletries to reduce plastic waste.

A few vacations back, Louise swapped liquid shampoo and conditioner for bars instead. These bars are lighter than liquid, which means they save carbon emissions during transportation. Plus, many are packaged in recyclable paper instead of plastic.

She added that it made traveling easier since she didn't have to worry about leaks or liquids at airport security.

"It's a cool example of how we can look for more sustainable experiences that are also better travel experiences," she said. "Plus, it opens our eyes to new habits that can help us become more conscious consumers as well."

If you don't have bar shampoo or conditioner, pack your own in reusable containers or look at other ways you can skip using plastic in hotel rooms — by packing a reusable water bottle, for example. That way you can skip the plastic water bottles or cups if they're available in your hotel room.

Skip the fresh towels, plastic cups, and hotel chains and make your next hotel stay greener.

Whether it's a small thing like skipping a clean towel or the more ambitious task of vetting a hotel's green initiatives, experts agreed that a smart way to make a vacation greener is by looking at your hotel stays.

So the next time you're planning a vacation, refill those reusable toiletries and skip an Airbnb.

In case you missed it, watch a replay of Insider's One Planet virtual event with activist and artist Elijah McKenzie-Jackson.

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