Beautiful places, but this is an eco sham! The reasons these places are "green" are pretty silly. For example, the St. Julien Hotel in our town is by far not the greenest hotel around! The fact that you can buy carbon offsets through them to "green" your vacation is just silly. Anyone can do that, without the help of a hotel! And, just down the road is the Boulder Outlook, a hotel that may not be as luxurious, but which is actually dedicated to being green, being a zero waste hotel, planning eco vacations, and reducing energy usage.

From the Boulder Weekly about the Outlook -- not the St. Julien "As the first Zero Waste hotel in Boulder, they think about the planet in every aspect of their business — from using compostable packaging and eco-friendly cleaning supplies to having energy efficient light bulbs and “green-key” paperboard keycards instead of plastic keycards. And not only are they running a green business, they are exposing visitors from all over the country and the world to an approach to living that is sustainable. "