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To Bee Or Not To Bee? To Wash Or Not To Wash? InterContinental New York Barclay Is Asking You

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 111 East 48th Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10171
August 8, 2012 at 9:21 AM | by | Comment (1)

Sustainable hotel initiatives come and go. But one that we hope sticks around for good is the new bee mascot at InterContinental New York Barclay.

The tiny black-and-yellow fellow is being placed in all guest rooms starting this month as a way to help guests communicate how often they require linen changing. Obviously, the hotel is hoping you opt for every other day, so they can cut down on water waste and save the planet. But they can't force you to do anything, so instead they're simply asking you to play with a little bee-shaped cardboard cut-out. How fun!

The way it works is pretty simple: Barclay the Bee, as he's officially called, is placed in a card holder on the nightstand. Guests who need daily linen changing just take him out of the holder and lay him flat on the table. Guests who are on board with every-other-day washing just leave him bee (sorry, we couldn't help ourselves).

According to the hotel, one obstacle in the fight against the hotel water sustainability initiative is communication: guests often get confused on what to do. According to InterCon's Regional Director of Operations:

"We felt that the message card we had, which sat on the bed, was being overlooked, mainly because many of our guests are foreign and not necessarily fluent in English.

We hope by creating the do not change linen/towels symbol we simplify the communication, and maybe other hotels around the world will find it useful in their own conservation messaging"

Incidentally, the hotel adds that the "symbol is free to use." Really? You're not going to charge us for picking up a tiny cardboard cut-out of a bee? Well, that's a relief.

[Photo: InterContinental New York Barclay]

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Saving the Planet or Bottom Line?

When will travelers realize that given no real price break, certainly in NYC, that the concept of 'Green' keeps the green in the hotel in expense savings, while their shelves have have the sheets already cleaned by industrial strength chemicals, driven to and from the hotel in gas-guzzling trucks. C'mon, want European travelers as well as corporate customers to recognize Green, let them save at least a fair share what the hotel(s) do. Oh, those same hotels, will not use 'green' napkins - cloth seems OK, why?    
HG2 on August 8, 2012 at 9:26 AM #Permalink

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