Bäuerle calls the W Doha “one of the leading hotels in Qatar” when it comes to sustainability, which is now Green Key-certified for the third time. He also cites the Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha as being worthy of praise.
He says: “Definitely the Mövenpick Hotel West Bay Doha is one of the leading hotels with this. It’s certified right now with Green Globe, for example. It helps if you have a strong leader like Ghada (Sadek, the general manager) who is passionate about it and brings it to higher levels than just a certification.” He also mentions the Grand Hyatt Doha and the Hilton Doha as being involved in green issues.
He says education is the biggest challenge in getting others to pitch in, and it also has to come from the top management.
| Advertisement |
Bäuerle says: “You can’t go in and tell people what to do if the top is not following the same. However, there’s no point in educating the staff if you don’t provide the right materials or you don’t provide the right facilities.”
But it’s working. Hoteliers in Qatar are apparently now calling for more facilities related to waste management.
The authorities are also on-board and with its latest surveys wants to understand how much waste the hospitality industry is producing, in order to look at what added facilities are needed.
Another challenge is that even if hotels are willing to recycle, Bäuerle says, the costs related are easily three to five times more than what they spend currently, which makes it a tough sell.
But there’s more to sustainability than “going green”, says Bäuerle. “Of course, the environment is one part but you have to talk about people and community outreach. When it comes to this, hotels are already doing quite a lot.”
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
