Sustainable hotel management? Of course!
Incorporating eco-friendly behavior into every day life has become natural for most of us. What is easily manageable for small households, can be a challenging task for hotels. Despite this fact, many hotels found creatives ways to strain the environment as little as possible. Today, we’d like to present you five Green Pearls® hotels, that show which aspects are most important in order to protect the environment as a hotel and how they manage to handle these challenges.
Saving energy with sun and wood
Saving energy might be the first thing, that comes to our mind, when we think about environmental protection. The owners of the Irota Eco Lodge in Hungary, Jeroen van Drunen and Lennard de Klerk, came up with some ideas. Electricity for the three villas in the Irota Eco Lodge, for example, is obtained from two solar power plants. These two even produce more electricity than the hotel needs, so the remaining electricity can go to the local power system. And the sun here can do even more: sun collectors are in charge of warm water. Traditional and highly efficient fire places ensure a comforting warmth in the hotel’s rooms. Additionally, the fire places are fired with local wood. In winter, guests prepare their own meals on a wood fired-oven, which heats the room as well. Could energy conservation be any more cozy?
Plant based water purification
The cleanliness of their water and the conservation of this important resource plays an important role in the Keemala – Beyond Enchanting. Located in the forested hills of the Thai peninsula Phuket, the Keemala collects its waste water in order to water the surrounding fields. Natural sources, such as the river close by also support the water supply. Since harmful environmental factors can never be completely eliminated, the Keemala uses a special type of water treatment: Special plants serve as filters and add oxygen to the water, which micro-organisms that purify the water need to live. Thanks to them, the Keemala needs a lot less chemicals.
Waste treatment – a self evident fact?
Of course, separating your waste. In many countries, for example in Sri Lanka this isn’t a natural task. The Hunas Falls by Amaya takes its responsibility for the breathtaking surrounding nature very seriously and takes care of a sustainable separation and processing of its own waste. That’s the reason why the usage of plastic in Hunas Falls was strongly reduced. Even the drinking water for the guests is only filled in glas bottles. As a matter of fact, reusable products are sold to plastic and metal collectors for them to recycle. A pleasing detail: the hotel donates the proceeds to the employee pension fun. And pigs from the pigsty close by are happy about waste from the kitchen.
Organic groceries and an ocean view
Visiting one of Cerf Island Resort’s restaurants on the Seychelles is an unforgettable experience. You can enjoy your food surrounded by fresh air directly at the beach, including a beautiful ocean view. But nature also plays an important role when it comes to the preparation of the food itself: No plastic is used when serving the meals, the cooks use regional and seasonal organic groceries and fair-trade products fresh from the market.
Architecture in accordance with nature
You may not think of architecture when it comes to saving energy, but this is also a very important factor. Jose Dominic, founder of the hotel group CGH Earth, which the Resort Spice Village in the South of India also belongs to, highly prioritizes local architecture. Hence, mainly regional material have been used for the cottages in the Spice Village, which were also built with traditional methods. The roofs, for example, have been covered with dried elephant grass, that is replaced regularly and guarantees a natural air conditioning in summer. This process is not just environment friendly, but also revives a craftsmanship that had almost been forgotten.
