The Carbon Offset Concierge Providing Guests With a Guilt-Free Vacation


Jareth Vermeulen, Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort

Skift Take

Jareth Vermeulen is tasked with showing tourism’s greener side at Aruba’s Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort.

It’s an unusual job title, but one Jareth Vermeulen wears with pride at Aruba's Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort. After all, it’s just picked up a Global United Nations 2020 Climate Action Award. But is a Carbon Offset Concierge really the type of person you want to mingle with at the omelet station during breakfast? Aren’t vacations meant to help you get away from the stresses of life? Vermeulen, who is also the property's sustainability and certifications manager, said that guests are often seeking him out, not the other way round. “I saw one guest recently with one of our beach clean-up t-shirts from 2015,” he said. “I approached him to introduce myself, and he said ‘I was looking for you’. He had questions.” Guests are fairly environmentally aware, it turns out, as the resort has transformed itself into a carbon-n