8 EnviroThings You Don’t Have to Worry About in Vegas

I recently got a “back of house” tour of the huge Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) property on the Strip, thanks to Jenny Yu-Mattson, Executive Director of Global Sustainability. LVS hosts some 50,000 visitors per day (18 million per year!) in more than 15 million square feet of space at The Venetian, The Palazzo and meeting and convention space. According to Trade Show Executive, Sands Expo and The Venetian Congress Center comprise the fifth largest meeting venue in the country.

So, after a half-day tour, what did this enviro-cynic learn? I mean, seriously. I’m tired of those confounded cards in my hotel room asking me to please reuse towels and sleep on the same sheets – all in the name of the hotel’s so-called greenness. Not that I mind reusing linens because I do at home — for probably too many days at a time.

But whether or not it’s The Venetian with its splashy gondola rides in the middle of the desert in Las Vegas, or the Holiday Inn in AnyWheresVille, USA, I know there’s got to be a lot more water-saving tactics going on behind the scenes that hotel guests should know about. Why should we care? We Americans take our water for granted. The majority of us don’t know where our water comes from, and we get cranky when we conserve and water rates still go up. (Witness this story fresh out of Yorba Linda, California.) Not many people comprehend the tremendous water infrastructure that brings us reliable, clean water every day, or the innovation that’s going on behind the scenes to make our communities more water efficient.

I learned from Jenny at LVS that I shouldn’t freak out about those “green hotel” cards, at least at The Venetian or The Palazzo. Not because LVS doesn’t display those cards, because they do. Jenny and her LVS team confirmed on our tour that there’s a whole lot more going on underneath all this Vegas opulence that I believe significantly mitigates the footprint of the gamer, vacationer or conference-goer.

As Jenny puts it, “Our mission is to be sustainable without compromising the luxury experience of our guests.” I agree with this strategy, for the most part. Look at Tesla, a luxury brand that doesn’t position itself primarily as a “green” brand. However, most of us know Tesla is a pioneer in the electric vehicle world. Why can’t or don’t luxury hotels do likewise, and let us visitors know the cool environmental steps they’re taking so we don’t have to? We can handle it, and still feel confident we’re well-pampered.

After my tour of the giant property — and conversations with Jenny about balancing luxury with sustainability — I’ve identified 8 EnviroThings you don’t have to worry about when visiting The Venetian, The Palazzo and Sands Expo.

See the full list here