Global initiatives
For the global hotel community, this impetus has fuelled a plethora of worthy initiatives, many of which are gravitating towards the Middle East.
One of the leaders in the field, Banyan Tree, has a wider agenda, with a wildlife relocation programme at the Banyan Tree Al Wadi, as well as involvement in a wetland facility, employment of an environmental scientist to run educational initiatives, water recycling and desert irrigation, as well as a programme that has reduced solid waste disposal by 65% in as little as nine months.
Hyatt, meanwhile, has its Hyatt Earth programme to measure environmental performance and enable the introduction of goals to reduce water and energy use, and reduction in waste and gas emissions by 2015 by between 20 and 25%, via the EcoTrack web-based tracking tool — the Grand Hyatt Dubai uses condensation from air-conditioning units in cooling towers to save 30,000 gallons of water per day, for instance.
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Four Seasons, to celebrate its 50th year, has announced a global commitment to plant 10 million trees (including helping enlarging the Cedars of Lebanon forests).
The group also offers environment-friendly options for meetings and events, including local printing and seasonal local menus, and among regional initiatives, the Four Seasons Riyadh has installed water savers, recycled old towels and sheets and installed new hot boilers and steam boilers to reduce carbon emissions, while the Amman hotel has planted 2000 trees, regionalised purchasing where possible, recycled leftover baked goods for animal feed and vegetable frying oil for detergent manufacturing.
The Sharm-El-Sheikh resort has introduced a light dimming system, an on-site sewage treatment plant for recycling waste water for irrigation and is to switch from diesel and LPG to natural gas next year.
Fairmont, too, has a green focus with its Green Partnership that includes Eco-Meet programmes covering food, accommodation and services, plus a new move to Green Key certify all group hotels and a sustainable design policy bringing in LEED principles for new hotels.
It also has a carbon management strategy in place to monitor emissions, and individual hotels such as the Fairmont Nile City arrange grease recycling, charity redistribution of household goods and food and elimination of disposable items.
Green is now in the DNA of Marriott, and director of engineering and green guru, Wael Farouk, a past winner of the Hotelier Middle East Green Hotelier Award, is bringing the company’s ‘ECHO’ principles on conservation to Dubai in the UAE.
“Around 100 tons of materials are recycled from all Marriott hotels in Dubai every year, and we have achieved our goal of 2% savings of energy annually,” says Farouk.
“Private companies are taking our recycled items paying AED 250 (US $68) per metric tonne for paper and plastic and AED 500 ($136) per metric tonne for cans and metals, so we have a win-win scenario making money out of recycling and saving money by reducing trash — we are proud to have reduced by half the amount of trash removed during the past four years.”
Organic gardens, tree planting, Environmental Awareness months and more are on the agenda, while LEED construction is a priority for new hotels as Marriott became the first group to launch a green hotel prototype pre-approved by the US Green Building Council, with the first Courtyard property opening early next year in the US.
Of the major European chains, Accor claims to be in the forefront of the green movement, winning the WTTC’s 2010 Tourism for Tomorrow Award for its global sustainability strategy as well as a fistful of other recognition following its Earth Guest programme set up five years ago.
“Our Accor Environment Charter is very much part of our commitment to owners and investors in the region, comprising 65 actions that hotels are doing to reduce their environmental impact — we work hand in hand with owners during construction to propose tailor-made tools and eco-friendly solutions which result in huge energy savings — retrocom audits can also improve energy performance and require no investment,” says regional managing director, Christophe Landais.
Accor is also moving to offer green meeting options in its regional hotels, while Landais says it is already able to provide corporate customers with precise results on their carbon footprint when guests are booking a room night or organising a meeting.
Interestingly, the group is also incentivising its GMs to reach green standards: “Those who achieve or surpass set objectives such as energy saving platforms are given additional monetary compensations,” says Olivier Hick, director of operations Accor ME, explaining that all the Pullman and Novotel hotels are aiming to have EarthCheck certification by next year.
Value of certifications
Meanwhile, Rezidor too has green priorities, with nearly half of its hotels globally certified to Green Key or other eco-labels: “We have been monitoring energy, waste and water consumption for 10 years, and last year achieved a 12% waste reduction per guest night at Radisson Blu properties and an 8% decrease for Park Inn hotels,” says director of responsible business, Inge Huijbrechts.
In the region, Rezidor claims to be the first international hotel chain to have all hotels across all brands certified by an independent eco-label: “All of the new hotels will be certified within six months of officially opening,” explains area VP Hytönen.
Another chain majoring on certification is Mövenpick, moving fast in the Middle East with all of its 23 hotels here aiming for Green Globe status by the end of the year.
“Generally, the total cost of certification varies between $8000 to $12,000,” says regional VP operations, Gerard Hotelier.
“The certified properties are definitely benefiting by achieving substantial operational savings, and also will answer needs of both corporate and leisure business.”
Cost savings have been underlined by Farnek Avireal which has a five-year Middle East licensing agreement with Green Globe and is assisting properties to meet the 248 standards set out by them.
“All Mövenpick hotels have access to our energy benchmark auditing system which uses internet-based software ‘hotel optimiser’ to calculate CO2 emissions,” says Farnek Avireal general manager, Markus Oberlin, who pointed out that hotels in the region traditionally produced double the amount of CO2 emissions compared with European properties, while using nearly triple the amount of water per guest.
“We estimate that a hotel such as the Mövenpick Tala Bay, for instance, could reduce its carbon emissions by more than 6,250 tonnes annually, while reduced energy consumption could save an average 250-bedroom hotel around $5 per room-night.”
At the Mövenpick El Gouna — recognised by Kuoni-Apollo as the most ‘sustainability conscious’ hotel in its programme — general manager John Wood says that the attitude of developer Orascom has been instrumental in assisting with green initiatives.
“The destination is setting new benchmark standards with 96% of waste from El Gouna hotels and community being recycled, with the goal of zero landfill — organic waste is fed to animals and processed in compost fields, while plastic is shredded and processed to make plastic hangers and garbage bags,” says Wood.
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