Upcycling hotels: 6 sustainable furnishing ideas

It's a great chance to rebuild something yourself and let your handiwork run wild a bit. With an unusual idea and a creative ambience, your upcycling hotel has a unique selling point among the large competition and attracts many interested parties. Especially recently, the demand for sustainable gastronomy and hotel businesses has increased enormously. However, the supply is still rather limited. Such a unique hotel, whose furniture can not be found in any other, the guests remember!

You can not only save valuable resources (e.g. water and energy consumption in the production of new furniture), but also a lot of money! Because upcycling can be super cheap. Often you can find the right things at flea markets or at household liquidations and the like, whereby it is quite cheaper than buying these materials new. There you are quite true to the motto "sustainability through conscious consumption".

Another possibility is to build your hotel not only according to the motto sustainability, but also on topics such as mindfulness and health. Of course, there are no limits. You could offer different courses, e.g. a yoga course, a cooking course with focus on healthy nutrition etc. Another possibility would be to set up a workshop, where craftspeople can, for example, help you with your inventory or tinker and build small things that they can take home as souvenirs. Especially for families, hotels that have a certain offer for young and old are particularly interesting. That's why we've put together 6 ideas below to help you turn your hotel into the ultimate upcycling hotel.

Old food cans usually end up in the trash after a single use. But they are super convertible and can be perfectly upcycled. For example, you can use them as a lampshade. It looks especially cool if you drill different patterns into the cans with a drill. Or you paint them colorful and then they serve as a storage box, for example, for pens or other decorative materials.

Another possibility would be, if you let paint the tins in courses and take them up afterwards with in your assortment. So the individual guests can contribute their part to the decoration of the hotel.

Probably one of the most popular trends for upcycling is the pallet sofa or pallet bed. Super simple and makes a very cozy look. For example, the lounge, balcony or terrace or garden area can also be equipped with pallet furniture. The good thing is that these are relatively robust and do not require much remodeling.

In addition, there are these often on various platforms to give away! But pallets can also be used to build other great things. If there is to be a stage in your hotel, for example, pallets are a great base. If there is a large garden, offers itself e.g. a bee hotel.

From old bottles make lamps, looks especially good with wine bottles / beer bottles, so mainly colorful bottles. Upcycling pros, however, do not leave it alone with a bottle lamp, but use it, for example, as a string of lights for the patio or garden in the evening. From old jam jars you can also make beautiful table decorations or vases. For example, you can wrap colored ribbon around the middle of the jar or paint or spray them.

Our tip: The best paint for this is so-called "glass paint", which you can get in well-stocked hardware stores or of course online.

If you are still looking for an alternative to pallet sofas, you can try your hand at old barrels. To do this, you remove the lid and cut it to size so that the back and backrest remain and then upholster the cut open barrel still cozy! Of course, there are no limits to your creativity.

And it does not necessarily have to be the barrel. An old snowboard board can also be used to build a bench, for example. So you can offer different seating options.

Who has not collected hundreds of old books on shelves? If these already collect and probably will not be read again, then it's time to also recycle the books further.

For example, you can build table legs from old books, or shelves and bedside cabinets. To do this, you can simply attach the books to the wall with the help of angles and already there can be placed, for example, a charging station for smartphones or an alarm clock.

Actually, almost anything can be upcycled. With a little creativity, your junk room becomes a gold mine. For example, if you find an old bicycle that is no longer usable, you can make a coat rack/towel holder out of the individual parts. Or from old cutlery, which you simply bend in half and drill a hole in it and the next towels can be hung up on it. If you find some old chairs, you can go one step further and use them for stairs instead of shelves. This is what the Karls Hotel did and became a real eye-catcher. If you don't need a ladder, but shelves, old suitcases are a great option. Now all you need is a clothes rail? You can easily build one out of old copper pipes.

In addition to the classic tips on how to run your hotel more sustainably, you can find more tipshere .

The question often arises how hygiene - especially in hotels - and sustainability can be combined. Small soap and shampoo cans, which are put down for each person anew and laundry bags and daily towel cleaning do not speak first for a more lasting hotel operation. Nevertheless, you don't necessarily want to cut back in these areas. And you don't have to. By a few small handles you can arrange your hotel also in the topic hygiene somewhat more pollution free.

Which brings us to the second point. The towels of your guests do not necessarily have to be washed every day. Let the people themselves decide when the towel should be washed. By a short introduction, towel on the floor/ in a certain corner, then that means the towel should be washed and the guests want a fresh one. If it is hanging on the hook, it can be used further without any problems. This will also save you water and washing costs.

Also, small soap and shower bottles can be replaced with unpackaged solid soap or reusable and fillable bottles. This way you can save quite a bit of plastic waste.

Here's another idea: soap dispensers can be screwed on from old bottles with screw caps. So you can also provide a cool upcycling product in the bathroom!