Monday, August 16, 2010

Toronto Enviro-Friendly Hotel Effort

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was sent to Toronto for the first week of August. I booked an early afternoon flight to try and avoid the mess that happened last year -> my flight was delayed and I did not get in until 1:30 am with no baggage. I must ave been lucky because this year I arrived on time. After gathering my baggage, I headed to the Cambridge Suites Hotel in downtown Toronto off of Richmond Street East. The hotel was right in the heart of downtown.

I checked in and headed to my room to settle in before I ventured out. The room was a suite that included modern furniture and a great view. I looked around, as I always do, to see what the room had to offer. I found a small bar area with a mini refrigerator in a cabinet, sink, microwave, and mini bar.


I looked in the information book to see if they had anything useful, such as internet connection, and I came across a green section. The usual was included about in-room recycling and linen replacement. To my surprise something extra was included. The bath products were vegan and parabin/sulfate free. The products that they stocked are from Pharmacopia I was so excited that carried vegan bath products and that they decided to highlight this in their information book.


After reading this, I hurried to bath products and confirmed that they did carry the lovely products from Pharmacopia. I opened all of the bottles and smelled each one.They smelled of lavender, lemon grass, and other pleasing scents.

This is a win for the environment and animals. While this seems like a small step, it has the promise of leading to other things. Hotels/businesses could follow suite and provide vegan products or hotel patrons could read about the products and investigate why vegan products are important to the environment and to animal welfare.

Maybe I am making too much of a small thing, but it gave me hope. What if vegan products were someday mainstream and even more readily available? What if people had the chance to make better decisions without going to great lengths? My mind was and is still flowing with hope and possibilities. It is small gestures like these that keep my dreams alive that the world will change for the better.

4 comments:

Dilip said...

That's great!! I wish it were standard - it would make it easier not having to remember to pack all of one's own vegan toiletries. I'm glad you had a great visit to Toronto -- what a great city! Thanks for sharing!

VeggieAmanda said...

I wish it was standard as well. I am going to email the hotel and thank them.

affectioknit said...

That is really nice of them - I wish all hotels did that...

Tim Ostrem said...

I was pleased to read that you enjoyed our new Pharmacopia amenities. We have received great response to them.

Another environmental initiative we are trying to move forward with is the installation of water filters in each room to reduce the consumption of plastic bottles. We welcome any other suggestions you may have to help us ensure greater responsibility. (Tim Ostrem, General Manager)