At The Charles Hotel in Massachusetts, parking fees for large cars is compulsory. Thankfully, wearing high-waist pants are optional.
Pride-dodging guests that turn up at The Charles Hotel in Massachusetts in small insidious battery-powered cars will be greeted with open arms.
In a new enviro-initiative, The Charles Hotel will scan their hotel guests' choice of transport as they enter the hotel garage. If a vehicle is judged eco-worthy (ie: smaller than 12 feet long) the hotel will graciously reward the driver with reduced parking fees.
Guests that have the audacity of turning up at the hotel in a planet-wrecking vehicle as judged by the hotel (ie: over 12 feet long) will be singled out and charged full-whack.
Drivers of regular vehicles may feel somewhat aggrieved as they rub shoulders with smug Prius owners in the hotel's parking facility. While rewarding guests is a good thing, I can't help wondering if it is wise for a hotel to separate a selection of their guests and inflict them with higher fees and enviro-guilt.
To add insult to injury, the hotel has consumed valuable parking space by installing taxpayer subsidised stations where car tyres can be pumped with energy saving air and nifty "juice bars" for taxpayer subsidised electric cars to recharge.
Are some accommodation providers pushing the environmental envelope too far at the risk of pissing off their guests?
It is interesting to note the pithy observations uploaded on TripAdvisor from one guest that recently stayed at The Charles Hotel:
"The Charles seeks to cut their linen budget through the usual guilt-inducing signs about their passion for the environment and all the water wasted around the globe cleaning hotel towels and sheets. But they take it a step further than most. In order to receive fresh sheets, you must hang a sign on your door announcing to all the well-meaning people walking by that you are squandering the planet’s water supply. The sign may be green, but it felt more like a modern-day Scarlet Letter in the best tradition of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There is another way to obtain fresh bedding without announcing your wishes to the world: (1) place bedding in shower stall; (2) turn on shower; and (3) depart for lunch."The above review seems to be written with an uncanny style - Has Cactus Kate stayed at The Charles Hotel recently?
