Do you feel guilty turning on the Air Conditioning?

At Vintage Travel, we are in a quandary, balancing client needs with ecological concerns.

Accepting that we cannot avoid transport issues, -being an overseas operator, we have to look to other areas to go green where we can.

Over the past few years, we have been encouraging owners to ‘upgrade’ their properties in line with ever more sophisticated client expectations, -and to install Air Conditioning.

Many of our houses now have this facility, however, we have now taken time out to consider its impact to date, the amount of electricity used, and whether we should continue down this route.

Whilst the benefits are numerous, we have been considering the arguments against, to review and decide upon our future stance.

It was not long ago that AC would only be found in better class hotels, certainly not in many villas, and where found, tended to be only in bedrooms. Were times really that uncomfortable, having nothing more complicated than fans?

Doors & windows could be left open to generate a cooling through draft, fan assisted where necessary, and giving easy passage out to the terrace & pool. – (something to be avoided while using AC to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness).

At night in the bedroom, whilst keeping cool, is the noise generated an annoyance, a price worth paying, or would a bedroom ceiling fan and an open window be enough? (Assuming fly screens & security are considered)

Do you get tired of telling the kids to close doors to keep the cool in/ heat out? Are closed patio doors a concern?

Do you like the idea of having the facility of AC, but in reality find that it is an inconvenience and not used, other than in extremes.

All new cars seem to now have AC as standard, and as a result we all seem to feel that we cannot live without it. What we are considering is if this is really something essential to our customers in a holiday property.

We’d love to hear your views on this. Why are more of us seemingly unconcerned that AC is to be expected in every room in every property?