Showering is considered more sustainable than bathing. But it all depends on the shower! “Rain showers” and “waterfall showers”, which have long been trendy in luxury hotels, use 20 liters per minute. This means that 100 liters are gone in just 5 minutes. Not so in sustainable hotels! But don’t worry, you won’t have to settle for a trickle – there are innovative astronaut showers and air bubbles – some even with a panoramic view of the outdoors.

Save freshwater with low-flow showers

Low-flow shower – Doesn’t sound like a relaxing hotel stay, does it? It sounds like drips and trickles and low water pressure. All nonsense! When you’re under the shower at Berghotel Rehlegg, you won’t even know you’re being sprayed by a water-saving showerhead. And the 7.5 million liters of water saved per year (the hotel’s own figures) speak for themselves. The fact that the entire mountain hotel is equipped with water-saving shower heads and water-saving bathroom fittings alone means that 41 percent less water is used than in comparable hotels.

The family-run Hotel Klosterbräu in Seefeld, Tyrol, also reported a 30 percent reduction in water consumption after installing flow reducers in all of its showers.

The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA) has also calculated that low-flow showerheads pay off both environmentally and financially: A hotel with 11,000 overnight stays per year (50 rooms, 100 beds and 60 percent occupancy) could save about 1.3 million liters of water and about 4,700 euros in one year by switching from 15-liter to 7-liter shower heads. Without sacrificing guest comfort!

Are low-flow showers fun?

Let’s get back to the question of whether low-flow showers actually provide a good showering experience. Klaus Pichler of the Hotel Weihrerhof in South Tyrol has a very simple answer for you: “Yes, of course.” At the hotel on the Ritten, showers use only 6 liters per minute. “Less than that wouldn’t give you the right vacation-feeling”, he says. But since the sustainable hotel is located directly on Lake Wolfsgruben, one of the cleanest bathing lakes in Italy at an altitude of 1,200 meters, guests can also get wet in a natural way – without using up drinking water resources!

Astronaut showers in the Creativhotel Luise

The sustainable Creativhotel Luise in Erlangen, Germany, even has astronaut showers in the rooms. These were invented by Swedish industrial designer Mehrdad Mahdjoubi while he was researching resource-saving measures for a trip to Mars for NASA. The special feature: You don’t actually shower with less water, but the water is used several times.

The OAS recirculating shower collects used water, filters it, heats it, and pumps it back into the shower head. Thus, an OAS shower requires a total of only 5 liters of water for a complete shower! (Compare that to a 6-liter economy shower, which uses 30 liters for 5 minutes, and a regular 12-liter showerhead, which uses 60 liters – the “average European showerer” is said to use 100 liters per shower).

“You can shower endlessly here,” says Ben Förtsch, owner of Creativhotel Luise. “But without a guilty conscience.” Another water-saving measure was to replace the whirlpool in the spa area with wellness-showers.

Outdoor shower instead of a pool

Many accommodations present now outdoor showers to offer their guests something extra. At the sustainably renovated former stud farm Gut Sonnenhausen near Munich, a charming outdoor shower in the middle of nature is located next to the sauna instead of a plunge pool.

Outdoor Shower as Instagram Spot

At ADLER Lodge RITTEN in South Tyrol, the owners have noticed that the cold water pool and outdoor shower in the forest spa are popular spots for Instagram photos. After all, taking a shower in the mountains isn’t something everyone does!

By the way, you can find out how to best pose for Instagram in our selfie blog-post

The outdoor showers at Keemala on Phuket Island in Thailand are also truly spectacular. Each of the naturally designed villas has a panoramic shower. Because of the elevation, you have a wonderful view of the tropical plants of Thailand all the way to the Indian Ocean while washing your hair.

At Puri Dajuma Cottages & Spa in Bali, Indonesia, you shower outdoors in front of a beautiful natural stone wall. You’ll stay in naturally designed cottages in a tropical garden. In addition to the path to the outdoor shower, paths lead to the beach, the ocean, or the pool.

In the apartments of A’ Cràpa Mangia in southern Italy you are directly on the Mediterranean coast. There is a shower in the bathroom and an outdoor shower with sea view.

Showers with air bubbles

“The fact that wellness is an energy guzzler is something you can talk about all you like,” says hotelier Daniel Ganzer of Naturhotel Outside in an interview with Green PearlsⓇ. The young East Tyrolean has just taken over the management of the sustainable hotel from his parents and will keep the wellness area for guests. But he is now fine-tuning methods to make it more sustainable.

The showers at Naturhotel Outside are currently being converted to a new water-saving system. Shower heads with added air save 30 percent of the water. According to Daniel Ganzer, the new showers use only 5 liters per minute and are also easier to clean due to less limescale.

The fact that you get a real shower experience despite the low water volume of 5 liters is, as mentioned, due to the air bubbles that make the water foamy and bubbly, so you feel like there’s more to it.

Tip: You can also buy a shower head with air bubbles from WOLF Umwelttechnologie for your home. The “BUBBLE-RAIN” shower head was the first shower head ever to be awarded the Blauer Engel “Protects the climate” eco-label from Germany. According to comparative calculations, this shower head saves about 1 kilogram of CO2 per hot shower.

Respect water resources

The reason we should all use water more sparingly is that clean water is becoming increasingly scarce around the world. According to the United Nations (UN-Water), 2.3 billion people already live in water-stressed countries. Here, more fresh water is needed than is available. In addition, global water consumption is increasing every year, while groundwater in many places is suffering as a result of the climate crisis. For example, floods cause groundwater to become saline, and forest fires and droughts reduce groundwater supplies.

You can read more about global water scarcity in our blog post on sustainable rainwater harvesting.

The Naturresort Schindelbruch in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, is concerned about preserving nature. The Harz Mountains are home to numerous springs, lakes, rivers, ponds, and waterfalls, and it is here that one becomes aware of what a great treasure water is. The showers at Naturresort Schindelbruch are equipped with aerators that add air to the water jet, making it pleasantly soft. There are also flow restrictors.

As you can see, even with the water and energy conservation measures in place, there are wonderful showering options at sustainable hotels. The Casa León Royal Retreat in Gran Canaria is also looking to get in on the action. “The switch to water-saving showers is imminent for us,” says the resort.

At home, too, there are plenty of ways to make your showering habits more sustainable. In addition to a new showerhead, you can save water by turning off the faucet while soaping up. The natural cosmetic shampoo and shower gel used at Lifestylehotel SAND on the Baltic Sea is aptly named “Stop the water while using me“. A call we can all take to heart to live a little more sustainably every day.

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