Earth Day, April 22, 2003, is just around the corner. So maybe it's time to revisit the ways that the hotel business helps keep our planet pristine. 

For years, hoteliers have participated in water and detergent-saving programs stemming from linen and towel reuse. Planet Earth's program is supported by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (formerly the American Hotel & Motel Association); others are independently promoted..  U.S. properties as diverse as Deer Valley Lodging, Park City, UT, the Eagle Mountain House, Jackson, NH,  the Quality Inn, Brattleboro, VT,  a Comfort Inn in Houston,  the Cheeca Lodge in Florida, and a Radisson Hotel in Bethlehem, PA, all ask their guests to reuse their towels and bed linen.

In fact Cheeca Lodge claims savings of  $5,000 a month, thanks to the cooperation of its eco-friendly guests. Now, what property wouldn't mind adding a few thousand dollars to its monthly bottom line --especially in these times? That's fine as far as it goes. Despite this praiseworthy idea and widespread hotel participation, housekeepers often turn a deaf ear to a guest's request to save water, soap and energy.  Tent-card messages first drew my attention to conservation. I refer to the glossy paper stuff that invade the privacy of my hotel room with a pitch for cable programs, the hotel's pub or its gourmet restaurant.  Except for cards that advise guests to be frugal in towel and linen use, I dump them into the waste basket and freely own up to the hypocrisy of such actions. 

The pro-environment cards ask that guests reuse their bath towels and bed sheets in what is unquestionably a worthwhile goal. At home, I use my bath towels for a week or more�well, maybe it's a guy thing. So it's safe to assume that the mind-set is prepared to save and conserve. Why should my home-away-from-home be any different?  Flash back to a the Inn by the Lake on the California side of Lake Tahoe.  In my room are  "Good Earthkeeping" cards, then distributed by the American Hotel & Motel Association. The cards even included a U.S.  Environmental Protection Agency's endorsement. To drive home the point, the cards emphasized that they were "laminated to reduce waste" and summarized the save-our-earth message in Spanish, French, German and Japanese. (The association has since contracted with Dawsonville, Ga.-based Project Planet for laminated cards and added Chinese to the language list. The message remains the same but an EPA endorsement has yet to come).

I began the day with freshly-laundered sheets and the cards told  me that the bed linen could be used repeatedly. Merely place the card on the pillow each morning. Or leave the damp towel on a rack just like at home and you could reuse it the following day. Sounds easy?  But the process wasn't that simple. Each morning I dutifully left the laminated card on the pillow and the damp towels on the bathroom towel bars like they said.  Each afternoon I'd return to the room and see, amazingly, freshly-laundered sheets and towels.  If this was an oversight, I thought I'd find out. I tried again the next day and next but no luck. Finally, I asked the desk clerk why the housekeeping staff ignored my request. The Spanish-speaking housekeepers "probably didn't understand," she responded. But the message was printed in Spanish, I insisted. Should I return to this hotel, I will enjoy the guilt-free luxury of a daily linen change and fresh towels and throw out the environmental reminder cards. 

At a Comfort Inn in Houston, twice I reminded the front desk clerk about the Planet Earth card in my room and lectured her on saving water and soap if the housekeepers would just follow directions. And twice she promised, "yes they will," but to no avail. And at the Radisson in Bethlehem, the French-speaking housekeeper simply didn't understand a word of my question on why she ignored the save-towel sign.  In Canada, perceived as a less wasteful society than ours, I found most hotel housekeepers about as observant of a guest's wishes as the Lake Tahoe staff. On a visit to New Brunswick, the housekeeping staff at only one of the three lodgings on the itinerary fully heeded a request.  Let's review this journey and grade each hotel on how closely the housekeepers followed a guest's wishes. I begin at the Saint John Hilton.  Since this was only a one-night visit, I missed the chance to test its save-water policy. Still, the hotel's thick laminated reminders showed a concern for preservation and earned it a passing grade.  Traveling to St. Andrews down the coast, I stayed two nights at the Algonquin Hotel where I carefully put the "don't replace" cards in the designated areas. As befits such an elegant establishment, the reminder cards asked me to "kindly consider" reusing bed linen and towels. The staff was probably embarrassed to suggest that its guests should stoop to use the same towel twice. 

Although abiding by my request to keep the same bed linen and large towels for a second day, the housekeeper replaced a hand towel and wash cloth. Demanding an explanation in mock anger, I quizzed Dorothy, the housekeeper on duty at my floor. Replacing the wash cloth "was a mistake," she said, but the hand towel had been stained (with what, I don't know) and bath rugs are routinely replaced. Most Algonquin guests reject frugality, she added. Of the 13 rooms on her watch, mine was the 11th to be cleaned and so far I had been the only guest to ask for linen and towel reuse. Since it took three minutes to change bed sheets, she explained, I figured that if all 13 guests chose to reuse their bed linen, she'd save 39 minutes per shift.  "What would you do with that time?, I asked.

"Go help someone else." 

Despite Dorothy's good heart, the property earned only a "B" grade because instructions weren't completely followed and a disposable paper acknowledgement was placed on my bed. "Your linen has not been changed as you requested," signed Room Attendant Dorothy, Oct. 2.  Inland at Moncton, the Beausejour Hotel nearly flunked my test during a two-night stay. The hotel's policy of routinely changing sheets every other day prevented a really bad grade. Guests could request a daily linen change, however, if they hung a reminder card on the bathroom door.  I chose to use the towels the second day by leaving them on the towel bars as directed. Disregarding a large sign nailed to the bathroom wall for a "Towel Change Program," which recommends towel reuse, the housekeepers still replaced everything! 

I cornered one of them, Christine, in the hallway. She automatically replaces any damp towels, she said vaguely, since some guests did shower twice a day. Next, I chased down Gail, who actually cleaned the room, looking startled after I voiced my comments. Just an observation, not a complaint, I reassured her. "D plus," sorry. 

Then I found total compliance at the Fredericton Sheraton where more than 90 percent of the guests choose to cooperate. All the room signs were heeded; all linen and towels remained for reuse. Just in case, I left a tiny spot of grape juice --actually an accidental spill--on the bed sheet. I told the housekeeper that the Sheraton earned an "A," and she fired back, "why not an A plus?"