A month of Responsible Business Action - Radisson Hotel Group is making a difference

Hotels and corporate offices around the world organized over 1,200 events during the 14th year of the Responsible Business Action Month, a core pillar of the Hotel Group’s overarching Responsible Business program.

Every year, Radisson Hotel Group devotes September as its Responsible Business Action Month. The month is celebrated across the globe, with hotels and corporate offices coming together for various actions to reach out to the community and support those in need. Even though focus is placed on September, many of the global initiatives are taking place year-round. The month is also devoted to contributing to Radisson Hotel Group’s global charity partners such as Just a Drop (Radisson Blu), the Global Food Banking Network (Radisson), Read Indeed (Country Inns & Suites by Radisson Hotels) and Youth Career Initiative (Park Inn by Radisson).

“During September, we make every moment matter by creating a positive impact on local communities through fundraising activities, donations and enthusiastic volunteering by our hotel teams around the globe.” says Inge Huijbrechts, Global Vice President of Responsible Business. During the month, each of Radisson Hotel Group’s brands implement programs that have a positive and unique impact to their communities.

At the Radisson Blu hotels, the Blu Planet program was supported through participation in volunteer activities related to water scarcity and water mindfulness. This included for instance Walks for Water and ocean and river clean-up activities that you can read about in our previous news feature as well as other initiatives. The highlight was the launch of Radisson Blu’s pilot Blu Planet for Housekeeping, which gives guests the opportunity to forego housekeeping services. More than 60 hotels participated in the initiative and for every night a guest opted in, the hotels donated on the guests’ behalf to the charity Just a Drop, which funds drinking water projects in Guatemala, Kenya and India.

Park Inn by Radisson continued with its award-winning initiative Adding Color to Lives with activities in support of helping youths at risk. The initiative was partnered by a world-famous street artist, Joel Bergner, and guided by him, Park Inn by Radisson employees and local youth designed and painted murals in the cities of Stuttgart (Germany), Riga (Latvia), St Petersburg (Russia), Bucharest (Romania) and Sharon, Pa. (U.S.).

Radisson Hotels focused to care and give back to communities by supporting the fight against hunger, serving meals to people in need and through food drives and fundraisers held for local foodbanks while Radisson Hotel Group’s lifestyle select brand Radisson RED had a focus on the sharing economy.  The RED hotels held swapping events for fashion, books and tools and collected donations via the pay forward principle.

Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts continued the work on the “Save Tomorrow’s Trees Today” campaign while Country Inns & Suites by Radisson Hotels collected books for children in need and worked together with local communities on literacy activities.

In response to the series of devastating hurricanes that hit communities in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean in August and September, Radisson Hotel Group teams also came together to raise funds for employees affected and Radisson Hotels deployed a campaign to their members who helped raise 93,000 USD in donations for the American Red Cross.

Source: Radisson Hotel Group

Mon Arbre à Moi – A story of reforestation

The runner-up to the Green Key Best Practice Competition 2017, Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo, inspires with their determined initiative of reforestation.

In January 2017, Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo launched its project Mon Arbre à Moi – My Very Own Tree to reforest a hillside that had been burnt down by an act of arson. The hillside in question overlooks the town of Menton, which borders with the principality of Monaco. As an important number of the staff members live in Menton, the Green Committee at Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo decided to take action and get involved in an important cause for the area.

Mon Arbre à Moi is a significant symbolic initiative that was jointly crafted by the Metropole, the municipality of Menton and the Office National des Forêts (National Forests Office) involving partnerships between several actors. On event day, olive-tree seeds were given to the staff members´ children so that they, together, could plant the first new trees on the burned-out site. A local association, Les Ânes Maritimes, participated by lending their donkeys to help carry the jerry cans needed to water the trees.

The initiative is a long-term project uniting the participants annually on 21 March, celebrated as the International Day of Forests, to visit their trees, to water them and to see how they have grown. Once the trees start to produce olives, the project participants will be invited to harvest them. The olives will then be sent to a local olive oil producer, L´huile Saint Michel, and once produced the olive oil will be given to the guests at the Metropole. Guests will also have a chance to directly participate in the ongoing project by planting their own seeds and thereby help with the reforestation.

Mon Arbre à Moi proves that it is perfectly possible to be a luxury hotel while cultivating real ecological authenticity and take a stand for the environment. The initiative has helped nature rebuild itself and to recreate the hillside landscape of Menton, and as a long-term act for the planet, only recycled water is used to water the olive trees. The initiative has also been warmly welcomed by guests at the hotel and it has helped in raising awareness on the Metropole’s environmental pledge and green policy.

The reforestation initiative is a strong showcase of different stakeholders coming together and creating partnerships for a central environmental cause, and it is the reason Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo was awarded second place at the 2017 Green Key Best Practice Competition.

Green Key establishments featured in SAS in-flight magazine

Green Key awarded Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, Hotel Kong Arthur and Axel Guldsmeden are listed as sustainable luxury hotels in Copenhagen in the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in-flight magazine Scandinavian Traveler.

The article featuring sustainable luxury in Copenhagen, Denmark presents the three hotels as luxurious sustainable hotels well worth a visit. 

Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers offers organic food, organic personal care products and the only lounge in the city with an indoor forest combined with luxurious and ultramodern surroundings.

The family-run boutique hotel, Hotel Kong Arthur, has an organic menu, a lovely courtyard, an elegant spa and is beautifully located between the lakes and the city center. Both Copenhagen Towers and Kong Arthur have been proud holders of the Green Key, the leading standard of excellence in environmental responsibility and sustainable operation within the tourism industry, for several years.

In the central district of Vesterbro you can find Axel Guldsmeden, offering cozy rooms and an atmospheric spa in addition to being an organic hotel. Axel Guldsmeden is one of the newest members to the Green Key family, having received its first award in October this year.

The article also mentions other sustainable attributes of Copenhagen; the city being named the world’s best city for cyclists and the fact that it has some of the purest bathing and drinking water as well as a thriving organic gourmet food scene.

You can read the full article in the SAS in-flight magazine Scandinavian Traveler online, on board or in the magazine app. 

This is the second time within a short period that Green Key has been mentioned in an in-flight magazine. Green Key on board of Brussels Airlines was featured in the July issue of b.inpired magazine, which focused on sustainable development.  

Source: Scandinavian Traveler

From Georgia to the Netherlands - Radisson is keeping Responsible Business a top priority

From cleaning up the canals of Amsterdam (the Netherlands) to the beaches of Batumi (Georgia), Radisson is active in their support to keep the planet litter-free!

In Batumi, Georgia, the Responsible Business team from the Radisson Blu Hotel Batumi held a beach cleaning activity. During the summer, the beaches are filled with tourists visiting from all over the world. While the hotel loves hosting them, the beach tends to get a bit messy. The hotel, therefore, led by example and picked up garbage along the beach, keeping their 'front yard' looking as great as ever. 

The team from the Radisson Blu Hotel Amsterdam and Radisson Blu Hotel Amsterdam Airport also got together recently for 'Pride Plastic Fishing'. The day after the Amsterdam Canal Pride, the famous canals of Amsterdam need a bit of love and attention and a lot of cleaning up! After a briefing about how to clean the canals, then the team set sail - a great combination of cleaning and sightseeing! 

Source: Radisson

Talking Point: Could your kitchen fats, oils and greases boost the circular economy?

Restaurant kitchens face continuous drainage problems, so hotels need to be more aware of how they dispose of their fats, oils and greases.

Michelle Ringland, head of marketing at drainage specialist Lanes Group wonders whether hotels can find fats, oils and greases (FOG) solution that’s also eco-friendly.

Every year, drainage firms are called to deal with thousands upon thousands of blockages. There are many reasons for these occurring, but the most common cause is when FOGs are poured down drains. These congeal, solidify and eventually block the pipe - both in drains underneath the premises and along the streets in the sewers.

Sending out companies like ours to deal with drainage and sewer issues caused solely by blockages costs water companies, with bill payers having to cover the extra expense.

By virtue of the fact that commercial kitchens deal with such large quantities of oils and fats, it’s particularly crucial that hotel catering staff know exactly what to do with the waste product. But today there’s an eco-friendly solution that even helps hotels play a part in a more circular, sustainable economy.

Concerned that kitchen staff often lack the knowledge of how to deal with FOGs properly, we asked 60 drainage engineers, from a mixture of Lanes Group and other firms, about their experiences of dealing with the hospitality sector.

Almost all of them (94%) told us they’ve been called out to clear blockages caused by FOGs. Half said that they deal with issues in restaurants several times a week, while 70% said that staff members’ lack of knowledge was the biggest issue.

Below is our key advice to avoid having to spend quite so much on drainage callouts:

• Keep your staff educated

Even when oils are hot, they can still block drains. It’s a misconception made by many, but once the oil cools down it hardens and won’t budge without expert intervention. Putting improved signage around kitchens is a small but important step hotels can make to help reduce blockages. It’s all about modifying people’s behaviour.

• Oils like coconut and rapeseed do just as much damage

‘Fashionable healthy alternative’ oils such as coconut oil are just as harmful to drains as traditional cooking oils and fats, despite what’s sometimes claimed. It’s something that we’ve found many people in the sector seem to forget.

• Waste oil can just be collected

It can be daunting, especially for smaller businesses, to know how to get rid of waste oil - especially if there’s a lot of it from fryers. Fortunately, it’s now possible to simply have it collected for disposal. Services like Uptown Oil collect used oil from your hotel and turn it into biodiesel. Their customers receive a certificate showing their contribution to carbon reduction and cleaner air. They’ll even deliver new sustainable vegetable oil to your hotel, and they can show you ways to get 30% more use from your oils, reducing waste and making your oil consumption more economical and sustainable. The biodiesel they create can be used in most diesel vehicles and unlike fossil fuels, it doesn’t add CO2 to the environment.

By partnering with a company that converts used oil into biodiesel, hotels are helping the environment and contributing to circular economy. Some companies also provide safe containers to store the oil before they pick it up. In the UK the Environment Agency will be able to let you know which services are available in your area. 

• Have a grease trap installed - and make sure it’s emptied regularly

Make sure you’re providing the right facilities so your staff can easily dispose of fats and oils. Some 62% of the engineers we asked pointed out that a lack of appropriate facilities often leads to major drainage problems, and many suggested installing grease traps to combat the issue. Grease traps intercept FOGs before they manage to settle in drains, separating the water from all of those substances you don’t want to go down the pipe. They should be maintained regularly to ensure they’re working well – you’ll probably be shocked by how much oil, fat and grease they collect.

Don’t forget, it’s not just fats, oils and greases that can block drains. Solid food is also found to be a common culprit, so make sure every sink has a strainer. If you have floor drains, remember to never brush excess food down them - it all ends up in the same place after all!

Source: Green Hotelier

Comwell hotels in Denmark gain The Organic Cuisine Label

The Green Key awarded Comwell hotels are moving in the direction of more sustainable operation. Running a hotel is resource demanding and puts strain on the environment and Comwell decided to address the issue by changing their way of operation. Today, all the hotels have gained The Organic Cuisine Label in bronze in addition to their Green Key certification.

The Organic Cuisine Label in bronze indicates that 30-60 % of the food served is organic, which means that the Danish hotel chain with its 15 establishments now serve around 600 000 guests with organic food. The change towards using more sustainable produce has taken under a year and during this time, the Comwell hotels went from serving 5 % organic to an average of 50 % organic produce in their establishments. In addition, over 200 staff members have received training in sustainability.

According to Peter Schelde, CEO of the Comwell hotels, the change is rooted in a vision to contribute to a greener future. Comwell wants to be a forerunner when it comes to sustainable practices and according to Schelde, an organization the size of Comwell can have a real difference on people’s lives and on the environment. The responsible and sustainable use of resources is not only restricted to the restaurants; it is also an essential part of the whole business operation at Comwell and its hotels. “The focus on sustainability is there to increase the overall experience of both guests, staff and cooperation partners”, Schelde says. 

Source: Comwell press release

Green Key and Social Media – Let us grow our reach together!

Does your Green Key awarded establishment have a thriving social media presence? Does your National Operator team already share best practices of awarded establishments? Are you an experienced tourist and travel blogger? Or are you just getting started or thinking about creating an account for your business on a social media platform? Whatever your situation is – let us increase our reach together!

Green Key International is aiming at increasing its presence in its social media channels to raise awareness on Green Key and contribute to more environmentally friendly and sustainable operation within the tourism industry. We recognize that our awarded establishments, National Operators and guests involved in environmentally friendly and sustainable travel are invaluable resources in spreading the word on sustainable operation.

We therefore encourage you to share your best stories and practices, your green initiatives and environmental actions or simply the everyday goings-on at your establishment, National Operator office or environmentally conscious travels. We would be delighted to share your stories with our network – and thereby increase the reach of your establishment, Green Key and promote the valuable work that you do for a sustainable tourism operation.

You can share your stories, pictures and news by tagging us on our different social media channels:

@greenkeyint on Instagram and Twitter
@Green Key or @GreenKeyInt on Facebook and
@Green Key International on LinkedIn

By submitting your stories, pictures, news etc. you are giving us permission to share and post your material on the Green Key International social media channels.

We are looking forward to your pictures and stories!

First ever industry-wide global commitment to sustainability

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) announced four Goals agreed upon by leading global hotel groups, uniting the hotel industry for a sustainable future.

Picture: ITP Twitter page

The agreed Goals focus on carbon, water, youth employment and human rights, and are aligned by a focus on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also called the Global Goals. In addition, they mark the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, the year that highlights industry cooperation in tackling issues and the sharing of best practices.

The four Goals are developed around the core sustainability issues that affect responsible hospitality providers on a global scale. The Goals therefore serve as a strong call to action and act as the key reference point to drive progress towards sustainability in the hospitality industry. The alliance of ITP and the world’s most prevailing hotel companies responsible for over 25,000 hotels, has a single ambition: to lead through example with clear and quantifiable commitments to sustainability.

The central parts of the ITP Goals include:

Youth employment, with a goal to collectively impact one million youths through employability programmes by 2030. This goal subsequently doubles the industry’s current impact on youth unemployment.

Carbon, with a focus on embracing science-based targets and encouraging the wider industry to participate in reducing emissions at scale.

Water, addressing the issue by embedding water stewardship programmes in order to reduce the number of people affected by water scarcity. It also focuses on improving water-use efficiency and on identifying ways to address the issue of water scarcity.

Human rights, concentrating on raising awareness of risks connected with human rights and addressing risks arising in the labour supply chain and during the construction of hotels. In addition, the goal has a focus on embedding human rights into corporate governance.

Dr Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) said in a written endorsement: “For 25 years the hotel industry under ITP’s leadership has advanced sustainable tourism; developing tools and resources for hotels and lodgings around the world, sharing knowledge and working together for a more responsible future. ITP’s Goals are the next step to ensure continued sustainable development in our sector, setting clear aims for 2030, and bringing the hotel sector together to align with the Global Goals.”

Wolfgang M. Neumann, ITP Governing Council Chair and industry thought-leader, commented: “We have agreed on a total of four core Goals, with two addressing environmental issues (climate and water), and two supporting the people who work in the hotel industry and its supply chain. This even balance between planet and people reflects the passions and dedication of ITP members to make a real and lasting difference to a broad range of issues against which commitments can be agreed."

“ITP believes that the hotel industry can be a force for good and make a positive contribution to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and to the COP21 climate agreements. Our vision for 2030 is for sustainable growth and a fairer future for all. We understand that bigger impacts can be achieved faster through the industry working together at scale; for this reason we invite other hotel companies to join with us in our commitment to these four critical goals.”, Neumann continued. 

For more information on ITP and the Four Goals, visit the International Tourism Partnership website.

Source: ITP Press Release

Stanhope Hotel cleans up Brussels

Green Key awarded Stanhope Hotel supports clean-up actions in the city of Brussels (Belgium)

Stanhope Hotel believes that environmental responsibility goes hand in hand with social responsibility - and they do not limit themselves when looking for projects. This year they decided to join Thon EU, Thon Hotel Bristol Hotel and Thon Hotel Brussels City Center with their participation to the ‘Lets Clean up Europe’ action. The hotel gathered its Green team and started collecting litter out of the streets surrounding the Stanhope Hotel, sorting it as much as possible!

Stanhope Hotel is already very active in waste prevention by reducing, reusing and recycling as much waste as possible, but with this extra effort, they are hoping it will help to avoid tonnes of litter ending up in oceans, beaches, forests or elsewhere in nature.