Better Farm's Partnership with Airbnb Brings Tourism, Sustainability to Redwood

Better Farm since March has hosted more than 60 reservations through Airbnb, furthering the farm's mission of sustainable living—and travel.

Airbnb recently released its first environmental impact study on the sustainability of home sharing—which is what the company is all about—and found that Airbnb guests in North America use a full 63 percent less energy than hotel guests. That's enough to power 19,000 homes for an entire year.

Airbnb was founded in 2008 and allows people to search for alternative lodging to cookie-cutter hotel rooms. The company has more than 800,000 listings in 33,000 cities and 192 countries, largely comprised of room-shares or entire homes available for a night, week, or longer. Hammocks, private castles or islands, or more run-of-the-mill city apartments and bungalows are all listed on the site. Users must register and create a personal online profile before making a booking. Each property is associated with a host whose profile includes recommendations by other users, reviews by previous guests, as well as a response rating and private messaging system.

Here are some more highlights from the study:

• In one year alone, Airbnb guests in North America saved the equivalent of 270 Olympic-sized pools of water while avoiding the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 33,000 cars on North American roads.
• Airbnb hosts also tend to engage in sustainable practices. Nearly 83% of Airbnb hosts in North America report owning at least one energy efficient appliance at their property.
• In North America, 95% of Airbnb hosts say they recycle at least one item type at their property; 94% of guests report that they recycle when possible.
• When staying at an Airbnb, guests are 10-15% more likely to use public transportation, walk or bicycle as their primary mode of transportation than if they had stayed at a hotel.

Check out our listing on Airbnb here.