The Portland Doubletree Hotel, site of the 2012 North American Wine Bloggers Conference, is proud of its environmental focus. You can read on its website how it is the first lodging property in Oregon and the largest hotel west of the Mississippi to receive the Green Seal environmental hotel designation.

We at the WBC try to limit our impact on the environment and so like this focus. In fact, I am staying at the Portland Doubletree now as we run the Beer Bloggers Conference and I wanted to provide a hotel guest’s perspective of what this means.

First, when I hang a towel on a rack, it doesn’t disappear when the maid comes in to clean my room. Isn’t that cool? I am always amazed how hotels leave little signs saying they won’t put out new towels if they are on the rack and then totally ignore their own suggestion.

Second, the garbage can in the room has two compartments, one for garbage and one for recycling. We all recycle at home now and it is crazy businesses aren’t following suit. The Doubletree is. What’s more, they don’t even have a garbage bag in the garbage can, which is totally green because we all know it makes no sense to add a piece of garbage (a plastic bag) to the garbage we throw out each day.

On a more subtle level, the shower does not gush water. Yes, “power showers” are nice. They are a waste of water, though, and if we are going to be nice to the environment we will have to give up some of our luxuries.

I am sure the hotel does many other things in their kitchens (composting, for example) and other operations but these are just a few of the items I noticed in my guest room. Beyond all that, the staff here is excellent and the facilities are nice. You’ll like the hotel. For complete info about their enviro practices, see their Green Hotel website.

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