Rezidor to cut energy use by 25% in five years

Rezidor has launched its environmentally responsible initiative which will see energy usage slashed by 25% across all hotels under the company, including Radisson Blus, Park Inn by Radissons and Hotel Missoni.

In the Think Planet scheme, the hotel group has given itself a five-year target to achieve the cut in energy usage.

The initiative was first announced in January internally, with staff training videos and documents being sent out in April to properties, but full details have only just been released.

All 31 of the company’s hotels in the Middle East are already eco-labelled by Green Key, which is externally audited, and each new hotel will be eco-labelled within six months of opening, Rezidor’s director of responsible business Inge Huijbrechts said.

“It is of course very much to do with our footprint as a company – buildings are responsible for 30% of global CO2 and about the same in energy use, so we want to focus on our hotels. So we have taken the commitment to save 25% energy usage within five years,” Huijbrechts said.

She added that the first stages would be on changing the mindset of staff through training videos, as well as installing small changes, such as aerators for taps and motion sensors for lights.

“Just to put things in perspective, the Rezidor Hotel Group, with our 330-plus hotels in operation, we consume 1.1 terawatt hours each year. Our savings over five years will be 830 gigawatts, which is 1.5 times consumption of all households in Iceland, so we will make an enormous difference by reducing this energy consumption,” Huijbrechts added.