The 12 Best Eco-Friendly Hotels in the World

A Sustainability Ranking in partnership with ETIC Hotels

You’re planning a trip and you’re trying to be as ethical and sustainable as possible?
niood lists you the 12 best eco-friendly hotels in the world:

1. Six Senses Fiji
Malolo, Fiji

From $800 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Six Senses Fiji sustainable?
Sustainability programs include conserving energy and rainwater, making our own high-quality drinking water and growing our own organic produce. We have one of the largest off-grid solar installations in the Southern Hemisphere using Tesla batteries, where energy from the sun produces 100% power for the resort and desalination plant. At Cluckingham Palace, over 100 hens and roosters roam, relax and produce fresh eggs for use throughout the resort’s restaurants. Nearby is the protected beehive area, which produces delicious honey and honeycomb.

Six Senses Fiji also collaborates with Rise Beyond the Reef. This NGO works with women in remote communities teaching them to create marketable goods using traditional skills. These goods are used in our villas and restaurants and you can find many items on offer in the resort boutique. The profit from these products goes into alleviating poverty in the communities.

2. The Brando
French Polynesia

From $2,800 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes The Brando sustainable?
We consider ourselves stewards of Tetiaroa, and believe that we have the responsibility to treat it with the highest level of care and respect. Almost all of Tetiaroa is being protected and preserved forever in its natural state.  We have touched the motu on which the resort sits as lightly as possible.

The Brando and all the villas have been designed without beach obstructions to blend harmoniously into the trees. We have used local materials extensively in the design and construction. All building materials used are of local or certified origin, renewable, or incorporate recycled components.  We are using a pioneering deep seawater air-conditioning system to reduce energy demands and rely entirely on renewable energy sources including solar power and biofuel whenever it can be procured.

Setting a new world standard, the resort is close to reach its goal of being carbon neutral and self-sustainable. We have built and gifted an Ecostation to Tetiaroa Society, the nonprofit organization established to lead the scientific and cultural mission to protect the atoll and to inspire sustainable interdependence on Tetiaroa and around the world.

3. Mashpi Lodge
Mashpi, Ecuador

From $1,000 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Mashpi Lodge sustainable?
Mashpi Lodge was built using the latest techniques in sustainable construction, with much of the structure having been preassembled in Quito. It is designed to blend in perfectly with its natural environment, its glass walls making it virtually invisible at times. Stunningly contemporary and featuring modernist design and décor that mixes warm earth tones, steel, stone and glass in striking perspectives, Mashpi Lodge makes for a true cocoon of luxury in the middle of the forest.

4. Azulik Resort
Tulum, Mexico

From $600 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Azulik Resort Tulum sustainable?
All of the villas are hand-built from wood with eco-friendly materials sourced locally.
All of the villas are free from electricity, television, radios, Wi-Fi and lights.
Moreover, the lack of air conditioning will enhance the alluring feeling of disconnection as you unite with nature.

5. Zuri Zanzibar
Kendwa, Tanzania

From $500 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Zuri Zanzibar sustainable?
In June, 2016, we started the ‘Keep Kendwa Clean!’ project together with Zanrec, a waste management company.  For the last two years, our funding has allowed Zanrec to operate the project and provide a healthier environment for the community. We have placed waste collection points around the town, and a local women’s group is collecting trash and keeping the area tidy. By doing this they are also earning additional income for their families.

We at the Zuri Zanzibar want to be part of, and make a contribution to, the Kendwa community, where we are located. We are working together with committees from the village to make longer-term development plans, and in the meantime we have made a one-off contribution to solve some of the immediate issues.

6. Serra Cafema
Namibia

From $500 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Serra Cafema sustainable?
Sierra Cafema is 100% solar powered, with electricity and hot water provided via solar panels and inverters. 
Waste water (sewage and grey water) is treated in an Above Ground Sewerage Plant, ensuring that the water is clean before being allowed to enter the natural environment.
In order to reduce the use of bottled water, reverse osmosis filtration is done on site to provide guests with high-quality drinking water.
Staff are hired from neighbouring communities and undergo continual training and upskilling workshops.

7. Six Senses Yao Noi
Phang-nga, Thailand

From $700 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Six Senses Yao Noi sustainable?
Hornbills, mangroves and clean water are highlighted in our top sustainability programs. Enthusiasts wanting to know more can follow the maps of unique flora and fauna or join us for a tour.

Sustainability is the byword for every department in the resort. Our farm-to-table initiative encompasses the Organic Garden, Mushroom Hut, Goat Farm, Chicken Farm and Duck Farm. We produce our own water and engage in natural waste water treatment. We make many products on-site or work with local suppliers to eliminate the use of plastic packaging and the carbon footprint of deliveries. Our creed: Rethink, Responsible, Respect, Refuse, Reuse and Recycle.

We favor artisans, farmers, fishermen and suppliers who live nearby and believe in the same standards as we do, while donating medical equipment and supporting the amazing Woman’s Club of Koh Yao Noi. Why not join us at a local school to help teach conversational English?

8. Soneva Fushi
Eydhafushi, Maldives

From $3,400 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Soneva Fushi sustainable?
The sun shines a lot in Soneva locations, and so solar is an excellent source of energy for our resorts. The current solar photovoltaic capacity at Soneva Fushi is 694kWp which gives us an annual generation of 956,945 kWh. This reduces our diesel consumption by 287,084 litres. To put it another way, it saves the equivalent greenhouse emissions produced from driving the average car for approximately 3,000,000 km.

The traditional pole and line method used to catch tuna is both environmentally and socially sustainable with its catch levels of one man, one hook, one fish.

The hand-woven fabrics we use in our villa and restaurant interiors come from Barefoot in Sri Lanka. Barefoot works almost exclusively with women in rural communities, allowing them to work locally without having to leave their families.
No child labour is used. There are no factories and no production lines. For over 40 years Barefoot has provided training and fair wages to its workers and an environment conducive to creativity.

9. Song Saa Private Island
Cambodia

From $930 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Song Saa Private Island sustainable?
In line with its promise of being an eco-friendly resort, Song Saa Private Island staff embark on plastic recovery and beach cleaning expeditions twice a day, with guests more than welcome to participate if they so desire. An alternative cathartic ecotourism activity is afforded to guests who partake in kayaking or sailing, with Song Saa staff offering guests reclamation bags crafted from recycled fishing lines, aimed at collecting stray debris encountered in the water, which will then be recycled by the Song Saa team. Staying true to its sustainable tourism development ethos, Song Saa Private Island has been a strong proponent of the Refill Not Landfill cause, with merchandise and water bottles available in the eco-friendly resort island.

Through the Song Saa Foundation, the eco-destination strives towards the protection of ocean habitats and marine life throughout the Cambodian coastline. Song Saa’s marine life commitment is of particular focus, considering the lavish resort is surrounded by Cambodia’s first marine park. Ongoing projects range from the support of community fisheries, development of a coral nursery, and a tropical marine conservation programme. These causes champion the conservation of sea turtles, mangroves, and Cambodia’s rare seagrass meadows.

10. Amankila
Bali, Indonesia

From $600 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes Amankila sustainable?
Amankila is participating in the ROLE Foundation’s “Waste to Wonder” programme, which introduces waste management services and infrastructure development planning at a community level.

11. The Outpost Lodge, in Kruger National Park
South Africa

From $450 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes The Outpost Lodge sustainable?
The principles of sustainable architecture guided Daffonchio’s hand during the entire design process: from the strict regulation of construction activities, careful water management, effective sun-orientation in order to minimise energy usage and a natural air-conditioning system, to the decisions to build around the trees and raise the lodge on stilts for a minimum footprint.

12. 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn, NYC, USA

From $350 per night
ETIC Hotels Green Score: 9.5/10

What makes 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge sustainable?
1 Hotel has implemented a wide range of energy, WATER, and environmental design strategies to keep our footprint small.
It offers hemp-blend Keetsa mattresses, organic cotton sheets, recycled wood room keys and hangars made from 100% post consumer recycled materials are also standard.
They also use a ‘recycle, repurpose and reuse’ approach to waste, energy saving initiatives and a focus on fresh and seasonal food.