Looking for ways to celebrate Earth Hour with guests and employees? Not only is Earth Hour a great opportunity to support your hotel’s green initiatives, it’s also ideal for attracting more group business, creating a thoughtful brand, and supporting a powerful global movement to save the planet. Keep reading to discover a comprehensive list of Earth Hour ideas for hotels that cover every aspect of doing business.
What is Earth Hour?
Earth Hour is an annual event created by the World Wildlife Fund that brings attention to climate change. For 60 minutes every March, participants all over the world turn off their lights and non-essential electronics. Earth Hour aims to engage more people in climate activism and recommit to saving the planet.
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Explore 24 Earth Hour ideas for hotels:
1. Host activities.
You can host activities the week leading up to Earth Hour, on the day of, and during Earth Hour itself. Choose at least one that families can participate in, or select at least one for adults and one for kids.
The most engaging and interesting Earth Hour activities for hotels include:
- Solar-powered lego car tutorial
- Lantern-making workshop
- Making suncatchers (in the shape of the earth)
- Candlelit walking tour
- Glow in the dark art class
- Climate change documentary screening
- Flashlight scavenger hunt
- Local trash cleanup
- Outdoor yoga or pilates class
- Nature walk or hike
- Acoustic performance
- Bonfire
- Environmentally-focused bedtime stories
- Shadow puppet theater
- Star-gazing
- Snowshoeing
- Children’s reading nook with climate change awareness literature
- Educational activity kits for kids
2. Turn off the lights.
Turning off the lights during Earth Hour is customary. Make a list of all your hotel’s lights. Turn off non-essential ones outside and inside for one hour at the designated time. That may include signage, room lights, and lobby decor. For safety, leave emergency lights and elevators running.
3. Reduce electricity usage.
Increase the air conditioning temperature by 1 or 2 degrees, turn off non-critical sound systems, and power down as many TV and computer monitors as you can.
4. Ban single-use plastic.
Take away plastic utensils, straws, and coffee cups from buffets. Eliminate or reduce the sale of products with plastic wrappers. Sell or give away branded reusable versions of these products and donate a percentage of profits to WWF in honor of Earth Hour.
5. Add signage.
First, use educational signage to teach employees and guests about the hotel’s green policies. Then, make sure you advertise when Earth Hour will happen and what guests can expect. Add signs by the elevators to encourage stair usage too.
6. Mention the initiative at check-in.
Create a welcome script that includes information about Earth Hour. In three sentences or less, share what it is, how guests can participate, and why you’re doing it.
Here’s a sample script you can use: “Did you know Earth Hour is coming up on (insert date)? At (insert time), the hotel will be powering down non-essential electronics and (insert activity) to bring awareness to climate change.”
7. Showcase an art installation.
Collaborate with a local artist to create a themed display or lobby performance. Art shows and live dance are a great way to entertain guests during Earth Hour.
8. Have a countdown party.
Host a NYE ball drop-style countdown party to Earth Hour. Put the countdown on a large screen then serve hors d'oeuvres and throw a glow-in-the-dark dance party after.
9. Link the Earth Hour website.
Providing more backlinks to the official Earth Hour website helps people find information faster. Share the link on your hotel booking engine and through social media.
10. Give special offers.
Provide a bicycle rental or restaurant voucher to anyone who agrees to turn off their hotel room lights during Earth Hour. You can even offer hotel loyalty program points to VIP guests.
11. Promote educational content.
Create an Earth Hour content marketing campaign in January and February. Put out podcasts, YouTube videos, TikTok shorts, and email newsletters with eco-friendly ideas for reducing carbon emissions on a daily basis. Highlight activism efforts around the world and give step-by-step instructions for how readers can protest against large corporations that are accelerating the climate change crisis.
12. Host a Happy Hour.
During Earth Hour, invite your guests to the lobby or restaurant for a relaxing cocktail. Serve a themed drink like the refreshing and tropical Earth Day Ocean Water, which is made with coconut vodka. Use locally-sourced ingredients from farmers markets for mixtures and garnishes.
13. Advertise candlelit dinners.
Capitalize on the romantic aspects of Earth Hour by hosting a feast by candlelight. Book reservations ahead of time and feature a sustainable menu.
14. Capture the moment.
Take a picture and/or video of the outside of the hotel before and during Earth Hour. Calculate how much turning off your electricity impacts the environment using the EPA’s Carbon Footprint calculator.
Invite staff members to create a sparkler word photo and spell out “Earth Hour," “Climate Justice," or your event hashtag.
15. Take donations.
Give guests the opportunity to round their bill up to the nearest dollar and donate the change to a climate change foundation or local eco group. Accept large donations through your website and offer to match as much as you can.
16. Go paperless.
Go paperless the entire day of Earth Hour by sending electronic receipts, invoices, and guest notifications. Reuse paper you already have and encourage every department head to switch one daily paper-related activity to an electronic version if they can.
17. Incentivize towel and linen reuse.
Reward guests who choose to reuse their towels and linens instead of getting a new set from housekeeping on this day. Send them a small, environmentally-friendly gift (metal straws and reusable utensil kits are great) or make a donation to WWF in their honor.
18. Sponsor a climate change event.
Look at packages available for large-scale events like a global Climate Change Conference or New York Climate Week. Or, look for local climate change marches, speaking events, and action workshops on Facebook.
19. Create a participant wall.
Dedicate one wall in the lobby to a display that has a mission statement and participant names. Create a mission statement that is actionable and realistic. For example, “I commit to turning off the lights in my room whenever I leave for one year."
For the display itself, put up a paper tree trunk and have guests write their names on leaves. Or create a large globe to put hearts on.
20. Give away solar panel phone chargers.
Solar panel phone chargers can cling to windows or come in phone cases. Get a branded version from companies like GeekTechBranding.
21. Host a free lunch for employees.
If your team has to drive home or to pick up food every day, treat them to a free lunch instead to cut down on their car usage for a day. Bonus points if it follows the EPA’s guidelines for going waste-free.
22. Coordinate carpools.
Invite volunteers to form carpools by neighborhood and department. Use an app like Scoop to organize routes, get backup from Lyft, and decrease cars on the road every day.
23. Host a reusable lunch container raffle.
In the month leading up to Earth Hour, award employees who bring their lunch in a reusable container with one raffle entry each time they do it. Raffle off a hotel gift certificate or onsite spa service.
24. Create a hotel recycling program.
If you don't already have one, check out our post highlighting the 7 simple steps to take to maximize the impact of your hotel recycling program.
Learn how to market Earth Hour participation:
- Officially register your participation. And use the main campaign hashtag, #Connect2Earth, to get involved with the global conversation.
- Host a climate action class. Invite guest speakers from local non-profits. Livestream the conversation, post the audio as a podcast, and clip out the highlights for social media.
- Commission a mural. Feature vulnerable wildlife species in ocean or forest scenes.
- Create an original hashtag. Use “EarthHourAt (Your Hotel Name)” or something similar.
- Make aesthetic infographics. Include data on how much your hotel has helped the environment, plus climate crisis action steps for readers. Use a tool like Venngage to create share-worthy images in a variety of colors.
- Snag free Canva templates. See their Global Climate Strike Collection for poster, social post, and Facebook event cover inspiration.
Play your part in helping save the environment and put these Earth Hour ideas for hotels to use!
While a lot of the above ideas are centered around Earth Hour, you may want to adopt some of them for more than just an hour, day, or month. Ask employees which events and policies worked the best and keep doing them if you can. Set a goal to implement at least one new eco-friendly hotel idea on your property every quarter for gradual, yet consistent, change.
