HotelChatter

For a few years, hotel chains and some individual hotels have urged guests not to request new linens or towels during their stay as a way to conserve water, energy and to cut back the amount of detergent that enters into natural waters. (You know it by those little signs they leave in the bathroom and on the nightstands.)But in the past two years, hotels have gone further than that.

We are seeing more and more eco-resorts, eco-lodges, and green hotels spring up. These hotels are often made from recylced building materials, employ solar panels, and all of course, recycle everything they can, among other green initiatives that we'll talk about this week.

Even better, more and more mainstream hotels are getting in on the game by switching out old light bulbs with the low wattage ones, composting their restaurant table scraps, using biodegradable cleaning products, and yes, still cutting back on washing the linens and towels everyday during a guest's stay.

On that note, a quick bit of Green hotel news. The Kimpton Hotel, 70 Park Avenue in NYC may have done away with free Wi-Fi but on Sunday, Earth Day, and the next day, they are offering free pedi-cab rides around town from 11am to 7pm.

Non-guests who hail a pedicab at the property's main entrance during these hours will receive a complimentary Green Goody Bag filled with organic snacks and educational material on green living from Eco Concierge Christal White.

Throughout the week following Earth Day, guests at the eco-friendly property will also be able to sample a wide selection of organic wine and beer at 70 park avenue hotel's nightly hosted wine hour, and enter to win green prizes on a nightly basis.

Being green is not only everywhere, it's also cool. Vanity Fair put forth their Green Issue this month with Leonardo di Caprio on the cover. Celebs are routinely spotted driving their Priuses and other hybrid cars around Hollywood. But there is a certain amount of "greenwashing" going on and hotels can fall victim to this too. Stay tuned this week as we take a look at more Green and Eco-Hotels out there.