The 10 Most Sustainable Hotels in San Francisco

While there are many shades of “green” in the hotel business, ours is the deepest. From our construction practices to décor, food and beverage, daily operation and much more, we’ve never wavered from our commitment to Mother Earth.

The Orchard Garden Hotel achieved a tremendous ‘green’ certification, earning LEED-NC® (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification for a building by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).  San Francisco’s first hotel to earn this honor, The Orchard Garden Hotel was the second hotel in California and fourth hotel in the United States with this LEED certification. LEED is the USGBC’s system for operating high performance buildings dedicated to whole-building cleaning and maintenance issues, recycling programs, exterior maintenance programs and systems upgrades.

Guest Services
The Go-Green Program allows the guest to determine linen exchange frequency and shares the hotel’s investment in the practice.

Waste Management
A strong partnership with San Francisco based Recology. Ongoing staff training is conducted to review best practices in recycling, resource recovery, and the zero-waste initiative.

Electricity Efficiency & Storage
Utilization of STEM system to save electricity on-site for later use. All lighting has been updated to 100% LED efficient light bulbs.

Water Conservation
Flow measurement water devices have been installed in all guest room showers and sinks to limit water waste and measure usage.

Social Responsibility
Hotel Zelos works to maintain a balance that contributes to economic development while improving the quality of life of the guests, employees, stakeholders, and the world community. Social responsibility is woven into the mosaic fabric of beliefs and culture. The goal is to always be a positive force for good and to maintain an equilibrium between the business, the welfare of society and the environment.

• We as a hotel, have replaced single-use shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel containers with larger, pump-topped bottles, keeping around 144,000 tiny plastic bottles out of landfills each year.
• By partnering with Recology, we achieve 75% waste diversion through recycling and composting programs. We also safely recycle electronic waste. As of February 2020, the reduced carbon and electricity efforts at Hotel Spero have saved 245 acres of forest!
• The entire hotel is outfitted with LED lightbulbs, which utilize up to 80% less energy and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent lightbulbs.  
• By using low-flow toilets, faucets, and showerheads, we save 1.1 million gallons of water each year. To date, Hotel Spero’s water conservation and sustainability efforts have saved the equivalent of 75 months of water usage for a typical American family; that’s 25 years’ worth of water!

In 2008 the California Hotel & Lodging Association honored the W San Francisco with a “Good Earthkeeping” award recognizing environmental leadership.

As of its LEED certification, the hotel features energy efficient lighting throughout 70% of its guest rooms and 90% of it’s back-of-house, motion sensors, and efficient HVAC systems that save 300 kWh of energy every year. What is even more amazing is that to further cut down on carbon emissions, the hotel management is considering installing a wind turbine on the hotel’s roof, which, if it goes ahead, would make the hotel the first commercial building in the city to have a turbine.

• Option to reuse towels

Energy Savings
Every room has a thermostat with Eco buttons that controls comfort.

Guest Services
Our Stay Green program is an in-room initiative offered to hotel guests. By displaying the Stay Green door hanger on your guestroom door, and choosing to decline nightly housekeeping services, you will receive a $10 minibar credit.

We invite guests to use our bicycles and scooters for transportation.

Large-format refillable soap, shampoo, and conditioner bottles are used in all guest bathrooms, saving thousands of plastic bottles each month.
We offer contactless/keyless check-in, resulting in a decrease in the use of plastic keycards.
Guests can receive folios electronically, reducing the need for paper usage.

Our housekeeping staff utilizes in-house cleaning products that are non-toxic and hypoallergenic, ensuring that the air in your room is healthy, clean, and fresh.

Waste Management
We have a comprehensive recycling program that includes light bulbs, glass, cardboard, paper, cell phones, batteries, and printer cartridges.

Hotel Zetta features Alexa in-room assistants and QR codes inviting guests to use their voice or personal device for guest requests, reducing waste from delivery of printed copies.

Water Conservation
Our guestrooms and public spaces feature Water-efficient toilets and faucets and showerheads, reducing the usage of water.