French hotels charge less if guests take shorter showers

A French hotel brand is now charging guests less for their stay if they take shorter showers, it has announced, to celebrate the United Nations’ World Water Day.

Nomad Hotels - which has three-star hotels in Le Havre, Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, and soon in Dijon - is encouraging its guests to take ‘eco-responsible’ measures, in a bid to highlight the global awareness day, which takes place every year on March 22.

Each guest is invited to choose the ‘Économie d’eau (water saving)’ option, which limits each person to 100 litres of water per night (with a reduced flow beyond that).

This is a fairly significant limit; the average shower uses 12 litres of water per minute (power showers can use up to 15). For a 10 minute shower, that equates to 150 litres of water, says water saving campaigner Waterwise.

Each room is also equipped with a tablet that allows guests to track their water consumption, as well as control the lights, air conditioning, and blinds.

In return for limiting their water use, each guest receives a symbolic €1 reduction in their room rate per night.

To help save even further, the showers in the rooms are equipped with shower heads that save three to four litres of water per minute; rainwater is recovered for flushing the toilets; and solar panels are used to heat the water tanks.

Read more: Seven tips on how to save water and reduce your bills in France

"We wanted customers to take charge of their own stay,” said Gurvan Branellec, CEO of Oceania Hotels, the family-run group that created Nomad Hotels in 2014, to Le Figaro. “Thanks to small symbolic savings, we are encouraging them to make responsible gestures that count for the environment.”

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36% water saving

Mr Branellec added that the group’s eco-friendly measures had enabled its hotels to save 36% on water consumption compared to the national average (190 litres per night instead of 300 litres, for a double-occupancy room).

The hotel brand has also now received the European Ecolabel, an accolade recognised Europe-wide for companies that commit to eco-friendly and sustainable measures.

The measures come as France continues to suffer from the results of growing drought, with communes being asked to save water earlier and earlier, and some set to run out of drinking water by spring or summer.

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