Green Initiatives

Hotel Andaluz is the most sustainable historic hotel in the United States.

Here are the reasons:

1. You feel one of the most exciting reasons every time you take a shower, bathe, or use the sink. All of that luxurious hot water is even more enjoyable because it is heated directly by the sun and not through the use of fossil fuels. Our rooftop solar thermal system also heats the water for the laundry and restaurant. Over 214,000 lbs of greenhouse gases per year are kept out of the atmosphere by people like you who stay at our hotel.
2. Our award winning energy management system is another reason your room is so green. The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems are in a very deep slumber before you check in. When you check in, the system automatically brings your room to a comfortable level and turns on a couple of lights. A series of motion detectors and heat sensors tell the system when you leave your room, and your climate controls are put into a semi-energy saving mode. The minute or two you may have to wait to bring your room up or down to temperature is simply part of the system doing its energy-saving work.
3. 70% of the electricity used in our hotel is renewable. It is created without burning any fossil fuels, creating any pollution, or generating any greenhouse gases. This portion of our electricity comes from biomass, geothermal, and wind facilities.
4. Our heating and air conditioning systems employ state-of-the-art technology, making them among the most efficient available today. For example, 87% percent of the energy consumed by our boilers is transferred into heat for your room.
5. Your toilet has a two stage flushing system, one for liquid waste and one for solid. This system will save thousands upon thousands of gallons a year of our precious desert water. Also, your shower head mixes oxygen with water to give you a rich, full shower while using just a fraction of the water used in a conventional shower.
6. Most of the furniture and bathroom accessories in your room are made of bamboo or rubber wood, both rapidly renewable resources. If these furnishings were made of pine, it would take 40 times longer to replace the trees consumed to create the furniture. These products help keep our consumption of resources balanced with nature’s ability to replenish them – the definition of sustainability.
7. The carpet, carpet padding, paints, stains, and adhesives that make up your room have been carefully chosen to help keep the air you breathe, and the indoor environment, as healthy as possible.
8. During the hotel’s renovation, we recycled over 1,100 tons of debris. For example, instead of sending the hotel’s old cast iron tubs and sinks to a landfill, we donated them to a local college foundry where they’ve been melted down and recast as works of art. We have continued our recycling efforts in the hotel’s daily operations too – we recycle the majority of our garbage, which includes all of our paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, and metals. Food waste is composted.
9. We reduce waste by using refillable containers – you may have noticed that the amenities are in fixed reusable dispenser bottles. The hotel also purifies its own water, so there’s no need for bottled water. This practice conserves resources by eliminating the need for many small plastic bottles in each room.
10. The last reason for us being so green is you. You made the decision to stay here. Thank you for choosing a green hotel. More importantly, thank you for choosing Hotel Andaluz!