Green Key establishment Atlas Kasbah Ecolodge in Morocco wins international tourism award

Atlas Kasbah Ecolodge from Morocco won the attractive 2015 World Responsible Tourism Awards in the category “best hotel for local sourcing” during an international tourism fair in London.

The 2015 World Responsible Tourism Awards were handed out on 4 November 2015 during the World Travel Market in London.

The Green Key establishment Atlas Kasbah Ecolodge in Morocco won the gold award in the category “Best Hotel for Local Sourcing”. The establishment won the award with the following motivation: "This eco-Kasbah was built from scratch in 2009 in the Argan Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO site to protect the endemic argan tree. This Kasbah was built with a view to protecting and proud-sharing the Berber heritage, that of the owner, Hassan Aboutayeb. Pride, protection and pristine beauty oozes from every hand crafted corner of this 11 bedroom Kasbah, just twenty minutes from Agadir in the High Atlas Mountains."

Green Key International would like to warmly congratulate Atlas Kasbah Ecolodge with the prestigious award! We are very proud to have the establishment taking part in the Green Key programme.

Green Key attending the World Travel Market

On 2-5 November 2015, Green Key is attending one of the largest tourism fairs worldwide, the World Travel Market in London, England. 

The annual international tourism fair, the World Travel Market is taking place on 2-5 November 2015 in London. The fair has a range of events related to the trends in sustainable tourism. Among other issues, there will this year be workshops discussing good practices on carbon resource efficiency and whether the tourism industry is doing enough to address climate change. There will also be sessions dealing with corporate social responsibility in the hospitality sector, e.g. how to increase local economic benefits of tourism, child protection and gender equality.  

Green Key’s International Director, Finn Bolding Thomsen, is attending workshops of relevance for the Green Key programme as well as using the opportunity to meet and network with a number of Green Key’s international partners attending the World Travel Market.  

Launch of new Green Key website

Green Key International is happy to announce the launch of the new Green Key website at www.greenkey.global.

The new website has a new look and feel. Important elements from the previous website are also found in the new website: the map with the Green Key awarded establishments as well as information about the Green Key criteria, main partners, national and international contacts, etc.

The news section will continue to be an important source of information about the developments in Green Key and examples of best practices from Green Key awarded establishments.

Other features have been improved, such as step-by-step information about the application process and how to join the Green Key programme.

The new website is built to be user friendly when seen on smaller devices, such as smart phones and tablets.

Finn Bolding Thomsen, International Green Key Director, says: “We are proud to announce the launch of the new website, an important tool in our communication and PR efforts. It has been our intention that the new website should be useful both for customers searching for Green Key awarded establishments and for businesses looking to join a certification scheme such as Green Key.”

The new website has two new features: an online self-assessment form to quickly assess the readiness of a hotel in relation to joining Green Key as well as an online application form for hotels in countries without national operators to easily apply for Green Key. Finn Bolding Thomsen adds: “We hope that the new features will be helpful for hotels considering joining Green Key. In the near future, we are planning to launch other new features on the Green Key website. We would be happy to receive any comments or suggestions for the new website”, concludes Finn Bolding Thomsen.

Radisson Blu Bucharest engages the community through Green Activities

In 2015, Radisson Blu Bucharest organised a series of Green Activities to get the community and staff involved in their sustainable Action Plan. 

Earth Hour @ Radisson Blu Bucharest 2015

28th of March – Earth Hour Celebration - The worldwide movement for the planet organized by the World Wild Found for Nature (WWF). The event is held worldwide annually encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the last Saturday in March, as a symbol for their commitment to the planet. It was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then it has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide. Today, Earth Hour engages a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues. The one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement. In this year Radisson Blu Bucharest Hotel was, as in previous years, part of this event turned off the interior/exterior lights without affect hotel activities or safety of guests/employees. The guests were informed about event with letter sent to their room and on the hotel lobby screens. 

26th of September – Let’s Do It Romania! – Yearly event with the main purpose to clean of the garbage from the surrounding forests of the big cities. Radisson BLU hotel employees joined again to this ecologic initiative as in the previous years and with our company logistic support they will demonstrate once again their green attitude towards the environment.

October 2015– Tree planting campaign – Annual event with participation of Radisson BLU employees and with materials support from our suppliers, coordinated with the local authorities to improve the area covered with trees from different types of species in Izvor Park.

If you would like to learn more about the Radisson Blu Bucharest please visit their website

Efficient recycling at GLO Hotel Sello as an example for others at Sello Shopping Centre

Green Key awarded GLO Hotel Sello is located at the Sello Shopping Centre in Espoo, Finland. They implemented a new recycling process in the GLO Hotel restaurant (GLO Grill Kitchen) which became an an example for other businesses in the Shopping Centre. 

Lotta Toivonen, GLO Hotels

GLO Grill Kitchen has worked hard to increase the amount of recyclable waste. The kitchen is busy and serves several hundreds of customers every day. When the recycling started, it initially felt like an extra task in the hectic daily work. The kitchen appointed  a recycling ambassador among them whose task was to help everybody keep in mind the importance and effects of recycling. Recycling gradually became an inherent part of the daily routines: the glass jars and metal cans are rinsed or soaked, and recycled immediately and not as an extra task. Now the staff feels that recycling is easy and a natural part of their daily work. They sort all bio and energy waste, glass, cardboard and metal. Also porcelain waste is separated. As a result the mixed waste container in the kitchen has become obsolete.

Restaurant Manager Liisa Tiussa is very proud of the results and especially for the fact that their kitchen now works very efficiently and benefits the environment. Great work GLO Hotel Sello!

Green Key participates in the first Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum

On 3 October 2015, the Green Key national operator from Puerto Rico, Ms. Maria Elena Garcia, and Mr. Eddie Ramirez, owner of a Green Key B&B in Old San Juan Puerto Rico, represented Green Key at the first Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum (CHIEF). 

The title of the panel discussion was "Is there a return on investment (ROI) on being environmentally certified?" The panel was moderated by the experienced Ms. Nancy Loman Scanlon PhD CHE, who is the Associate Professor of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management of the Florida International University Biscayne Bay Campus and is as well the Co-Chair of the American Hotel & Lodging Association Sustainability Committee. The panel also had the participation of Mr. Ewald K. Biemans, who is the owner & CEO of the Bucuti & Tara Beach Resorts in Eagle Beach, Aruba.

The panel discussion had a great turn out of participants from many different island nations of the smaller antilles of the Caribbean like St. Lucia, Martinique, St. Marteen, Aruba, and of course many participants from the host country, Puerto Rico.

Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Biemans were able to present the green practices and initiatives, which they have incorporated in their respective accommodations and the approximate time span until they began to appreciate a return on their investment. Ms. Garcia concentrated her presentation on the participants questions about the process it entails to be a Green Key accommodation and the registration costs of this eco label certification. The panel was able to present a clear and accurate picture of the ROI in being a environmentally certified accommodation. 

Siberian Green Key hotel active in social responsibility

The Green Key awarded Cronwell Resort Ugorskaya Dolina is working very actively with its social responsibility. 

Cronwell Resort Ugorskaya Dolina is located in Khanty-Mansiysk, a city located east of the Ural Mountains in Siberia, Russia. As part of its social responsibility, the hotel is providing space for the local ethnography museum to display exhibitions about the native population of the region. Guests staying in the hotel can without entrance fee visit the exhibition and learn more about the everyday life of the local Khanty and Mansi tribes.

The hotel is also active in supporting the local community in other ways. The hotel has been engaged in a project of having children at a nearby local orphanage drawing pictures, and the hotel has been selling the drawings to raise funding for more activities for the children in the orphanage.

To spread the knowledge about the unique cider tree growing in Siberia, the hotel is planning to be engaged in handing out cider seeds to guests visiting the hotel, and nearby schools involved in the Eco-Schools programme will be preparing instructions about how to grow the cider tree. 

W Doha Hotel & Residences Qatar goes Green

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!  

Green Key launched in South Africa

Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), FEE’s member organisation in South Africa, has decided to launch Green Key in South Africa.

Vincent Shacks, new Green Key operator for South Africa explains: “Building on the success of the Blue Flag and Eco-Schools programmes in South Africa, WESSA has been carefully evaluating the possibility for introducing Green Key in our country. Knowing the success of the programme globally, we have concluded that there is a good potential for Green Key here. I would therefore encourage any hotel, eco-lodge and other tourism establishment interested in pursuing the Green Key label to contact us in WESSA”

Finn Bolding Thomsen, International Green Key Director adds: “I am pleased that WESSA has decided to make the Green Key programme now also easily available to tourism establishments in South Africa, and with WESSA being in charge of the work, I am very confident that Green Key will become a success in South Africa.”