Every Chez Sven guest fills out a short questionnaire at registration. One of the questions: How important to you is our being green? Another, How important to you is eating organic? Guests have the choice of 1, 2, 3, or 4, with 4 meaning “very.” In 2011, most guests circled 3 on both questions. Some circled 3 for the first question, and 4 for the second. Others, 4 for the first, and 3 for the second. When I get two circles around 4, part of me cheers because I know we will have a lot in common. On a recent weekend, the Green Room and Liberty Coin guests circled 4 on both questions. Guess what type of car graced our parking area while they were at Chez Sven? All together now, PRIUS!The Green Room guests, Jack and Anne, instigated the private tour of Hatch Cottage and the Biddle compound with Cape Cod Modern House Trust’s Peter McMahon.
In Liberty Coin that same weekend,
we had photographer Steve Schaub and eleven-year-old daughter Greta. They needed a sugar-free breakfast because the family is conducting a very unusual experiment: for ten months, all family members have eschewed all forms of sugar, except fruit. Steve’s wife is writing a book about the experience. (Check out her blog A Year of No Sugar.)Sven and I enjoyed both visits immensely and hope these guests will return.
Guests who circle 4 are intelligent and environmentally aware. They turn off lights upon departure, they do not leave the heat on unnecessarily while out exploring. Green guests willingly recycle and eschew plastic bags/bottles. These guests are my kind of people. They understand Chez Sven is not a hotel and behave accordingly.
The questionnaire serves two purposes. 1.) It clues me in to appropriate behavior on my part, 2.) It offers the occasion to suggest guests who circle, say 1 on eating organic, might want to think twice when eating strawberries from California, due to pesticide residue.
If you had to fill out our questionnaire, what numbers would your answers be?
