Five environmental initiatives to try in your accommodation business
Today is World Nature Conservation Day (28 July) and there's never been a better time to reflect on how your accommodation business can make a meaningful difference to our planet.
Modern travellers are increasingly environmentally conscious and many seek out experiences that align with their values. Small, conscious changes to your accommodation offering can create ripple effects that benefit the environment, the guest experience and your bottom line.
Here are five practical initiatives that can transform your property into a beacon of environmental sustainability.
Support local conservation through booking donations
Extend your environmental impact beyond your property boundaries by establishing partnerships with local conservation charities. Create a simple donation mechanism where guests can contribute to environmental initiatives as part of their booking process.
This approach works well because it connects your guests directly with the destination they're visiting and helps them appreciate it more. Whether it's supporting local marine conservation, native species protection or habitat restoration projects, you're creating a tangible connection between tourism and environmental stewardship.
The key to getting buy-in from your guests is to make the connection feel authentic and locally relevant.
Partner with tree-planting programmes
An effective way to offset your property's carbon footprint is through strategic tree-planting partnerships. In New Zealand, Seekom’s partnership with Trees that Count makes it simple for accommodation providers and their guests to contribute to environmental restoration.
Trees That Count is a registered charity in New Zealand that connects donations for native trees with green-fingered planting groups across the country. Every $10 donated leads to a native tree being planted in a restoration project across the country, improving biodiversity, supporting cleaner waterways and mitigating carbon dioxide emissions.
You can mirror this initiative by connecting with organisations on similar missions in your country or easily set up optional tree donations as add-ons during online bookings or at reception check-in with Seekom’s software.
Guests increasingly appreciate the opportunity to make their stay carbon-positive, and you might be surprised how many choose to participate when they have the option.
Get started today. Sign-up with Trees That Count and find out more on the Trees That Count website.
Implement a comprehensive waste-reduction programme
Transform your property's waste from a necessary evil into an environmental benefit. Start with the basics: eliminate single-use plastics where possible, encourage recycling and compost organic waste.
But don't stop there, feel free to get creative with your approach. Install water-refill stations to reduce plastic-bottle consumption, provide reusable shopping bags for guests exploring local markets and partner with local farms to donate food scraps for composting.
Waste-reduction initiatives that are visible often get more buy-in. Guests are more likely to want to match your efforts when they can see the tangible results of their environmental stewardship – like the healthy lemon tree fuelled by your compost outside their window.
Create energy-efficient guest experiences
Energy efficiency doesn't have to mean compromising guest comfort. Instead, think of it as enhancing the guest experience through thoughtful design and smart technology.
Motion-sensor lighting in corridors and communal areas reduces energy consumption while providing convenient illumination. Smart thermostats allow guests to personalise their room temperature, while automatically adjusting when rooms are unoccupied. The softer diffusion of LED lighting throughout your property not only reduces energy costs but also creates warmer, more inviting atmospheres.
Asking your guests to support a towel and linen reuse programme and engaging them with the environmental story behind their choice is a wonderful way to make it stick. A simple sign explaining that reusing towels for just one night saves enough energy to power a television for three hours makes the impact real.
Establish partnerships with local businesses
Your purchasing decisions have a ripple effect on the local economy and environment. By prioritising local suppliers for anything from breakfast ingredients to cleaning supplies or wine you're reducing transport emissions while strengthening community connections.
An easy way to start is with your food and beverage offerings, especially if you have an on-site restaurant. Partner with local farms, breweries and artisan producers to create a menu that showcases the flavour of your region. Guests love discovering local flavours, and ingredients sourced in the vicinity are often cheaper and fresher than alternatives imported from afar.
Extend this philosophy to furnishings, artwork and amenities. Buying local reduces your carbon footprint while creating authentic experiences that guests remember long after they've returned home.
Making It happen
The most successful environmental initiatives share three common characteristics: they're easy to implement, they enhance rather than compromise the guest experience and they create stories worth sharing.
As World Conservation Day reminds us, it’s important to take action to conserve and protect our planet’s natural resources. Your accommodation offering, no matter its size or location, has the potential to make a difference.
The planet, your guests and your business will thank you for making the effort. Start with just one initiative today and watch how quickly environmental stewardship becomes part of your property's DNA.
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Seekom and Trees That Count helping NZ accommodation guests to give back
We’ve joined forces with Trees That Count to make it easy for Seekom properties to achieve their sustainability goals by supporting efforts to plant native trees across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Trees That Count is a registered charity in New Zealand that connects donations for native trees with experienced and passionate planting groups across the country. Seekom is supporting the initiative by making it simple for Seekom users and guests at their accommodation to donate to native tree planting if they choose to do so.
“We’re thrilled to champion Trees That Count to our users across the New Zealand accommodation industry,” says Seekom General Manager Nicole Irschick.
“This is a fantastic way for accommodation providers and guests to help offset emissions and contribute to the environment by planting a tree in New Zealand’s big backyard. Over time we’d love to explore similar initiatives overseas for Seekom users in other countries.”
While there are a variety of ways New Zealand Seekom users can support the scheme, one of the easiest and most powerful is accepting optional Trees That Count donations from guests when they make an online accommodation booking or check in at reception.
Seekom has created some easy instructions (see below) for users who want to set up a ‘Trees That Count Donation’ as an optional add-on for guests and staff to select during the booking process.
Once registered with Trees That Count, Seekom users can access supporter graphics to promote their involvement and keep track of the number of trees they and their guests have funded via a leaderboard in the supporters’ section of the Trees That Count website.
Trees That Count has the largest network of planting projects in New Zealand and accommodation providers supporting the initiative can decide which region of the country the trees they and their guests fund are planted in.
Every $10 donated funds planting of a native tree in a restoration project in New Zealand and contributes to the goal of greater biodiversity outcomes, cleaner waterways, habitats for native species, carbon sequestration and stronger, healthier communities.
Trees That Count at a glance:
- Every tree makes a difference: whether you’re funding 10 trees or 10,000, you’ll join the Trees That Count leaderboard and receive a supporter toolkit to help you spread the word about backing New Zealand’s environment. It’s a highly visible way to make a difference.
- Tax deductible: as a registered charitable organisation, all of your donations are tax deductible.
- Mitigate your CO2 emissions: Trees That Count has the latest science to calculate how many carbon emissions you’ll mitigate during the lifetime of your trees growing.
- They’ll do the work for you: Simply donate or gift native trees online, and they’ll get them planted for you by expert planters in a region of your choice.
- Flexible: Donate as you like, facilitate donations from guests using the Seekom online booking screens or when they check in, or set up a monthly donation so you can set and forget. You could even let guests know that if they decide to skip housekeeping for a day, you will make use of the savings on cleaning products and laundry to fund planting of a native tree on their behalf. Get creative!
- Put the tree-planting power in guest’s hands: Giving guests the opportunity to help plant a native tree during their online booking makes it easy for them to make a positive environmental difference during their trip away. Guests love to support accommodation providers that are championing sustainability and regenerative tourism.
- Trusted by tourism businesses: Trees That Count works with Tourism New Zealand and is helping tourism businesses across Aotearoa take action for nature.
Get started today. Sign-up with Trees That Count and find out more on the Trees That Count website.
How to: Adding a ‘Trees That Count donation’ option to your Seekom account
Step 1:
Make sure you are registered as a Trees That Count supporter! Visit the Trees that Count website and sign-up.
Step 2:
Decide how you want to donate. If you want to facilitate donations from guests, either when they book online or arrive at reception, you can do that in Seekom iBex by navigating to ‘Extras’ and selecting ‘Add Extra’. Just add a ‘Trees that Count donation’ option, describe the Trees That Count initiative and set a price of $10 per tree donated, with the option of donating as many trees as a guest wants to add.
Step 3:
Click save and check the add-on option is live and available to guests during the booking process. Example below:
Step 4:
At the end of each month, donate the money your guests have contributed, plus anything else you have pledged, via your account on the Trees That Count website.
General information about creating optional bookable extras for guests staying at your accommodation is available in our help section.
Get more stories from Seekom in your inbox.
Recent Blog Post
Smarts to help you operate more effectively and efficiently. From guides of our systems and integrations to tips and tricks you can use every day - we've got you covered.
Contact Us
4/234 Wakefield Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011
Phone (NZ) : +64 4 974 9588
Phone (UK) : +44 20 3835 5939
Support: support@seekom.com
Websites: webhelp@seekom.com
Connect With Us
Copyright 2025 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)