Planning a trip to Copenhagen? I have the perfect hotel for you. It’s called Manon les Suites and it’s an eco-friendly hotel in Copenhagen city center. The Manon les Suites also happens to be an Instagramer dream come true!
Note: This post includes Booking affiliated links. If you decide to book a room at this hotel, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own anyway. I just really loved this place and had to tell you about it.
I’ll show you how incredible the Manon les Suites hotel is, although you already have an idea with the above picture! But most importantly I want to tell you about an initiative, led by the group it belongs to, and why they may be on the verge of a green revolution.
First, let’s have a look at where the hospitality business stands in terms of eco-friendliness. Let’s face it, at the moment, being green when traveling isn’t always easy and it is partially because finding eco-friendly hotels isn’t simple.
Being green when traveling isn’t always easy
When traveling, staying true to our eco-friendly principles isn’t always easy. Just like you, I travel with my essentials: a reusable bag to go shopping, my own bottle which I fill up along the way, my own straw, my organic care products… just to name a few. I’ve written a few articles on how to “stay green” when traveling, including list of eco-friendly and reusable items that I usually bring along.
However, there is one big area of concern where you don’t have much influence and that is your accommodation.
When staying in a hotel, you can still do your small part by taking quick showers and turning off the lights or the AC off, but you can’t really do anything about the way the place has been built and is being managed.
To make it harder, there is a lot of green-washing going on. An organic tea bag here, a bathroom sign about reusing your towel, there… Yeah, we care about the environment! Wait a minute?! It’s not that simple. These are steps in the right direction, but it’s not quite enough.
There are eco-friendly labels & certifications to help
Thankfully there are eco-friendly labels & certifications to help you make decisions when choosing your accommodation. Chances are that you’ll know a few, or at least, you’ll recognize them when you see them. Even if you don’t know them, you’ll know they are eco-friendly labels, by their name or their logo.
Unfortunately, there is a tiny issue here… there are way too many labels out there!
The EcoLabels index currently tracks 464 ecolabels in 199 countries, and 25 industry sectors. There are 52 that apply to tourism, which can be found here.
The reason for so many labels, and I’m just thinking out loud here, might be linked to the core definition of ecotourism.
The traditional definition of Ecotourism places equal emphasis on energy, conservation, ecology, and community. It’s perfect! But it’s also a very large spectrum of items to monitor & improve upon, for a hotel. Therefore a lot of labels focuses solely on one items like organic products, carbon emission or ethical services offered. Those are examples. Another chunk of labels are country based. And only a few are global or more global.
It’s a maze that you & I can’t comprehend and deal with!
And quite frankly, if I was a hotel owner, I would not know which one to focus on.
There are green building standards so there is hope!
Without becoming technical, I want to tell you about the “real estate sector”! Real estate encompass many different sectors and actors, which have now all (or almost all!) come to realize that sustainability is of added value, for real estate projects.
They have come to seek one of the 2 leading certifications for their projects: BREEAM or LEED.
BREEAM was the first to be established in the 90’s and originated from the UK. LEED originated from the US and is now the most sought after as it is “a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement.”
Why am I mentioning those? Because if the real estate sector could agree on sustainability and labels, I believe the hospitality sector can too! I’m not the only one to believe so, more and more hotels are seeking such certifications, so things are changing for the best!
Finding eco-friendly hotels isn’t easy…
So? Finding eco-friendly hotels isn’t easy, is it?
There are a few ‘best eco-friendly hotels’ or ‘most beautiful’ or ‘must see’ lists out there. But let’s face it, when you are looking for a hotel with a specific destination in mind, you don’t have time to go through those lists. You go on your usual website, probably Booking or TripAdvisor, enter your destination and dates and look through what is available.
Is there an eco-friendly filter on such sites? No, there isn’t! Go ahead, double-check!
Maybe you use websites that specialize in eco-friendly hotels?
From my research, there are a lot of sketchy websites out there. Some simply list all hotels, despite saying they only list eco-friendly ones. Some others, I would simply not trust with my credit card. There are a few that seems to list truly eco-friendly hotels but without you being able to book them, or at least check availabilities.
There are probably some good ones, somewhere but they are hard to find.
…but it might be getting easier in the future with this promising initiative
The Manon les Suites hotel is part of a Guldsmeden Hotels group, a line of hotel which are all Green Globe certified. Do check their website, it is absolutely fantastic!
The important initiative which I find sooo promising is that they have launched “a booking site with a heart” : iloveecohotels.com
It’s gorgeous, easy to use and not only do you get the usual info on the selected hotel, you also have the list of their sustainable initiatives. I love it!
Iloveecohotels.com is still a baby website with a limited number of hotels listed but I have great hopes, that it will become a leading site for green hotels! Please, please make it happen. We need this so much!!
OK, OK so I promised to show you the Manon les Suites hotel, didn’t I?!
The Manon les Suites is obviously one of the hotels you will find on iloveecohotels.com.
Located in the city center of Copenhagen, it is organized around the central pool area which is like a tropical heaven!
The rooms are super cosy and trendy. Full of small details that makes all the difference
The amenities are all organic and seriously, there is everything you could possibly need!
Getting around? Easy!
On the top floor, you will find the restaurant and bar as well as the outdoor deck
The sauna is at the end of the deck!
Just more pool pictures because you can’t get tired of this!!
I found the prefect spot for my Quip toothbrush and I think my Do you Green pouch was a perfect addition to the bathroom!!
Anything I didn’t like? The elevator! When you go, and since you know I’m vegan, you’ll understand why.
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The Manon les Suites hotel is incredible, isn’t it? Have I convinced you to try eco-friendly hotels? I hope so 😉 If you do, go ahead and book through Iloveecohotels.com because we need such initiative to flourish.
We need this green revolution!
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