Martha’s Vineyard’s Nobnocket Inn Helps Heal Lagoon Pond

The Nobnocket Boutique Inn on Martha's Vineyard, nestled in the center of two acres of sprawling clover lawns and pollinator gardens in Vineyard Haven, is the first hotel on the East Coast to charge guests a “Community Impact Fee.”

According to Simon Hunton, co-owner of the Nobnocket alongside his wife, Annabelle, guests will pay $3 on top of their nightly room rate, and every cent of that fee goes toward the Lagoon Pond Association (LPA) in its efforts to protect and preserve the nearly 550-acre tidal pond adjacent to the Nobnocket. “A lot of hotels, in fact the majority, charge a resort fee of $3 per night per room — we thought about how we could put a twist on this conventional approach, so that guests actually feel like they are contributing to the community they are staying in,” Hunton said.

The Nobnocket’s new donation program will be managed by Kind Traveler, a sustainable tourism company that created a network of hotels and inns looking to support charitable organizations in their communities. Through Kind Traveler, people booking vacations can access a dashboard of resorts that support local conservation organizations, food systems, and more. Starting January 1, 2025, guests staying at the Nobnocket will pay the nightly Community Impact Fee, and be able to sign onto the Kind Traveler website to see a tally of how much money the inn has donated, and how their contribution is positively impacting Lagoon Pond.

When asked why he chose to donate to the LPA, Hunton said he wanted to provide guests with the most proximate and perceivable example of an ecological resource that needs immediate help. Lawn fertilizers and nearby septic systems are leaching large amounts of nitrogen into the pond, causing excessive algae growth and diminishing water quality. The LPA is working to remediate nitrogen pollution in the pond and safeguard the delicate marine ecosystem. “We wanted to find something that made the most sense to people who visit the inn,” Hunton said. “We looked at a number of benevolent organizations on the Island aimed at preserving ecology and biodiversity, but the Nobnocket sits within the Lagoon Pond watershed, our guests go kayaking on the lagoon, so it was something that we felt very connected to.” Hunton added that the LPA doesn’t always get the same level of attention as other environmental organizations on the Vineyard, but said it deserves the same level of support and visibility.

Although the Community Impact Fee will go toward significant initiatives to keep Lagoon Pond a viable water resource for the Vineyard, Hunton said providing education and awareness to seasonal and year-round visitors is just as important as raising money. The Kind Travelers online dashboard will provide real-time data on various LPA conservation efforts, and the Nobnocket will offer educational resources to guests, according to Hunton. Additionally, the LPA is thinking about creating volunteer opportunities for Nobnocket guests who want to play a hands-on role. Whether that’s collecting water quality data from Lagoon Pond, or planting eelgrass as part of larger restoration projects, Hunton said there may soon be opportunities for hotel guests to get out in the field.

The Nobnocket has implemented other eco-friendly practices on their property, including clover lawns that don’t require fertilizer, along with pollinator gardens containing native plant species. The hotel offers reusable aluminum water bottles in place of single-use plastic bottles; and although they haven’t entirely weaned off plastic toiletries, the Nobnocket partnered with Clean the World, a B Corporation that diverts plastic amenities from hospitality organizations away from the landfill. “We ship all our empty shampoo bottles and other empty containers to Clean the World, so they can be reused in third world countries as a sort of upcycled product,” Hunton said. 

Now that the inn has signed onto Kind Traveler’s “Every Stay Gives Back” program, Hunton said he plans to connect with other hotels and inns through the Martha’s Vineyard Lodging Association, and encourage them to also become Kind Traveler destinations. If multiple hotels come together to support a few major Island environmental nonprofits, Hunton said the hospitality industry would be able to make a significant sustainable impact. “We think that this isn’t only the responsible thing to do for hotels like us, but also will draw in guests who want to travel sustainably and make a good mark on wherever they travel,” Hunton said. 

Sustainability was a core principle of Hunton’s when he and his wife took over at the inn about nine years ago. Donating to the LPA, he said, is just a continuation of his efforts to not only contribute to the seasonal and year-round economy on the Vineyard, but also play an active role in protecting the rare and beautiful ecosystem that Islanders and visitors are lucky to enjoy. “Of course tourism is the greatest driver of our little economy here, but it has consequences when it comes to our environmental footprint,” Hunton said. “We need to consider every scale of impact we have, from the individual level, when it comes to our guests, up to the organizational level and the decisions we make as a responsible steward of our land.”