To celebrate the partnership between Green Key and Starwood, Green Key International will publish a monthly feature of a Green Key awarded Starwood hotel. In October we showcase The W Doha Hotel & Residences in Qatar, a hotel with serious environmental goals.

As part of Starwood's Make a Green Choice programme and their 30/20 by 20 goals The W Doha Hotel & Residences in Qatar has implemented a series of environmental actions which lead to some very impressive outcomes.

Their goals

Reduce landfill space in Qatar, save money and the environment and to become the no. 1 Green Key certified Hotel in Qatar.

Their actions

A first point of action was recycling. By using 3 bins to segregate plastics, paper and aluminium from food/general waste W Doha managed to save 744m3 of landfill space by recycling about 97780kg of recyclable items over the past 3 years.

The second point of action was reducing water consumption. The hotel experimented with installing 2 bottles in the flush tanks to level out the water pressure to see how much water can be saved. After a couple of test runs, the engineering department reduced the water pressure accordingly and managed to save 3 ltr of water per flush.

Thirdly W Doha helps their guest to make a difference. For each day a guest declines housekeeping service, they are rewarded with 500 Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints® (except on day of departure) redeemable for future stays at any Starwood hotel or for donating them to UNICEF’s environmental work for children.

Their tips

Tip #1
99% of the population already know how to recycle – so it is all about the attitude and systems

Tip#2
There is no need to reinvent the wheel- it’s all about best practice, commitment and adjusting to local circumstances

Tip #3
The experts are all here – we just need to get our hands dirty and make it happen.

Congrats to this amazing hotel that was the first in Qatar to get the Green Key award 2 years in a row. Well done!