‘Boutique eco-hotel’ may not be a term that crops up on many holidaymakers’ bucket lists, but that’s exactly what one Bournemouth establishment is offering.

And with more of us than ever now starting to think about our own carbon footprint, the team at The Green House Hotel has announced that they’ve reduced theirs by more than 33 per cent over the last four years.

The Grade II Listed Victorian villa – now an independent luxury 4-star hotel – first opened its doors in 2010 following a £5 million, 18-month refurbishment, with environmental impact at the heart of the process.

Walk around today and you’ll see furniture made from fallen trees, beehives on the roof, and EV charging points.

Outside there’s a wildlife friendly garden complete with bug hotels and native plants, as well as bird and bat boxes.

General Manager Neil Carter outlined the company ethos: “We’ve always strived to be the greenest hotel in the UK. Every decision we make is carefully scrutinised to make sure it has minimal impact on the environment.”

With this in mind, the team began monitoring its carbon output in 2019 using the online carbon management system Climate Essentials.

Credit: The Green House Hotel

Neil said: “The hotel’s baseline is pre-Covid, when we were running normally.

“We’re delighted with 2022’s carbon calculations, our first report against that baseline, which show we’ve reduced our carbon footprint by 33.4 per cent.

“We’ve also found out from Climate Essentials that at 358 tonnes, we’re producing 60 per cent less CO₂e than the industry average on the platform, which is a real achievement.”

The calculations from Climate Essentials were broken down into Scopes 1, 2 and 3, covering everything from the greenhouse gases produced directly by things like boilers and vehicles to the indirect emissions which go into the products and services used by the hotel.

Laura Mitchell of Climax Community, which runs Climate Essentials, said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Neil, of Green House Hotel and Lizzie, of Warrior Agency, the hotel’s Environmental Management team, to start measuring their carbon impact.

“As a hotel they have been working on carbon reduction for years and we are really excited they are now able to start quantifying all of their hard work.”

In light of their promising results, The Green House Hotel has signed up to the SME Climate Hub, a global initiative for small to medium sized businesses committed to halving emissions by 2030.

The team is also exploring carbon offsetting projects for the remaining emissions which, at this stage, cannot be reduced or removed.

Neil added: “The hotel’s journey to become sustainable started with its inception and it will continue as long as we’re still here.

“We need to constantly evolve to ensure we’re as environmentally friendly as possible. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”