Green ideals
With an environmental programme in place for some 15 years, Rezidor is at the forefront of green ideals in the hospitality sector and was the first hotel group to offer guests carbon offsetting, aiming to lessen the impact of its annual guest turnover of more than 11 million
Water, waste and energy consumption per guest have been cut by Rezidor for the past four years, and the group has also been named as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2010 and 2011 by the Ethisphere Institute.
In the region, all its hotels are Green Key certified to underline environmental best practices, the first international hotel management company in the region to commit wholesale to these guidelines.
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“We are leading from the front, and hopefully others will follow,” says Marko Hytönen. “The start-up costs may be higher but the impact on the environment and on the bottom line are astonishing.
“As well as saving money by saving energy, we are already in a situation when we negotiate corporate contracts with local companies where their overseas HQs are pressuring them to seek those (hotels) with responsible business practices.”
And while the green movement is less than overwhelming in the Middle East, Hytönen is optimistic that Rezidor can make a difference: “More than half of our hotels are currently eco-labelled, with this number growing rapidly, and we are helping eco-labelling bodies expand their operations to new countries by piloting their criteria at Rezidor hotels — we hope we can do the same in the Middle East”.
Among other CSR initiatives, Rezidor has relaunched its shoebox charity campaign — The Box Appeal — that is currently running for a month at 10 hotels in the region, aiming to encourage donors to fill 10,000 boxes to distribute to labourers, providing every day necessities.
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