Here is a copy of my September 2008 Newsletter with an update on the Caribbean's Green Hotels.

Go Green on Your Next Caribbean Vacation!   When I started my business, I wanted to focus solely on Eco-Friendly Caribbean Hotels. However, my Small Business advisors convinced me to aim for a wider market and sell the entire Caribbean because 11 years ago, there simply weren’t very many GREEN hotels in the Caribbean. Fast forward to today, and earth friendly travel options are not only available almost everywhere but some level of conservation efforts are becoming the norm in most hotels.   

Quick Caribbean Green Facts:· 57 Hotels in the Caribbean are certified by the Green Globe Certification program. Of the handful of Eco-Certification programs, the Green Globe is one of the most stringent. Contact Us for a Custom Rate Quote! · Sandals & Beaches, one of the Caribbean’s most prominent resort chains, has ensured that ALL of their resorts are Green Globe Certified. Contact Us for a Custom Rate Quote! · All Almond Resorts are Green Globe Certified. Contact Us for a Custom Rate Quote! · Carbon Offset Programs are popping up everywhere. I am still undecided if these actually do as much good as they declare – but I do like Carbon Footprint Calculator on the TerraPass website.  

Some of my favorite Green Hotels: · Tiamo, full of rustic charm, located on South Andros Island in the Bahamas is almost a zero-waste property. Not only do they treat all water used on property, only offer eco-friendly products for use at their resort, but they will kindly ask you to carry trash off the island with you – washed thoroughly and neatly packaged of course. Contact Us for a Custom Rate Quote! · Hix Island House in Vieques Puerto Rico, a chic contemporary boutique hotel, uses solar panels to warm your showers and collects and cleans water for reuse watering the banana, guava, and mango trees that grow on property.  Contact Us for a Custom Rate Quote!  

Coming Soon: · The handsome Leonardo Di Caprio has purchased Blackadore Caye in Belize and is in the processing of turning it into a high-end self-sufficient retreat.  

We Do Our Part & You Can Too:· Caribbean Journey no longer stocks brochures in our offices. With the new media outlets, brochures are not in as much demand as they once were. Combine that with the fast pace at which hotels are making changes to their property and brochures must be reprinted every 3-4 months, sending the outdated ones to the trash. · When we travel to the Caribbean we avoid US chains and eat local. For every KFC, Burger King, or other foreign-owned chained, the majority of the food they sell must be flown in. · Water is a precious commodity everywhere but especially in the Caribbean where processing plants often incur higher costs than third world economies can keep up with. We save water when we travel by keeping our showers short and only requesting that our towels and linens be changed every few days instead of every day. · Perhaps our years of living in Phoenix & Miami have given us a strong tolerance for heat, but when we travel we turn the Air Conditioning off when we leave the room. · We give a portion of our profits to Caribbean Organizations working towards Sustainability.