FEE member organisation takes on Green Key programme in Japan

The Japan Alliance of Responsible Travel Agencies (JARTA), the new Green Key National Operator for Japan, is an organisation that is committed to delivering high-quality tourism products and services.

“Japan Alliance of Responsible Travel Agencies, JARTA, is thrilled to be a part of the FEE global family. As we are growing steadily with the members comprising travel agencies, tour operators, and other interested parties in the tourism industry, there is also an increase in demand to seek reliable and like-minded accommodation facilities that unite all of us under the name of responsible and sustainable tourism.” says Masaru Takayama, Green Key National Operator for Japan.

He adds: “We see huge opportunities in working with the Green Key programme as welcoming more responsible travellers is now the national agenda. In addition, Japan boasts of having 35,558 km of coastlines, the 6th longest in the world. We feel responsible to keep our beaches and marinas/ports clean as the oceans and seas have been supporting our diet for thousands of years. Should you plan to travel to Japan, do not hesitate to contact us because our members can offer a unique and responsible holiday that you have always been dreaming of.” says Masaru Takayama from JARTA.

Finn Bolding Thomsen, Green Key International Director, highlights: “We are very happy to have the Japan Alliance of Responsible Travel Agencies as a FEE member organisation. Their work in the responsible tourism industry is important to us and makes JARTA a good fit as the entity responsible for the Green Key programme in Japan. We believe Japan is a remarkable country which needs to be protected and it is vital that the hospitality industry contributes to the responsible actions in Japan through Green Key.”

For more information about Green Key in Japan, please contact the Green Key National Operator, JARTA, Masaru Takayama via phone: +81(0)75-406-7700, e-mail: takayama@eco-tourism.jp or through an online form on their website: https://jarta.org/en/

Green Key accredited Marriott hotel outlines their current sustainable practices and links with the net-zero campaign

The general manager Mr. Franco Vella of the Sheraton Tel Aviv hotel in Israel shares his experience implementing sustainable practices throughout the hotel and how this supports the recently announced Marriott Net-Zero campaign.

What influence will the net-zero target have for your hotel (which changes do you foresee and when)?

We are already doing a lot of eco-conscious initiatives in the hotel, so this is a continuation for us as we are not starting from the bottom. In 2017 we started renovations to become more sustainable; this included changing all the pipe-works so there is no loss of energy if the pipes were old or damaged, plus changing windows to keep heat in. Additionally, we changed to IPM to reduce our consumption of electricity so it is sourced from cleaner methods. Furthermore installing VRF units to use air-conditioning exclusively in areas where it is needed to control the consumption. As well as installing energy-efficient lighting throughout the whole building which has been converted but also to ensure replacements are done to continue being eco-conscious. We also utilise solely already generated fuel for our hot water needs as we try to use the heat generated from air conditioning. Our kitchen equipment has begun to be adapted into more energy-efficient and this will be finalised by the end of the year. 

How can your work with Green Key support the net-zero target?

Green key is very important to us, Green Key advocates to ensure we are always improving our efforts and continuing to make environmentally conscious endeavours. We have stopped including guest utilities in bathrooms and our suppliers do not use any single-use plastics, to ensure the item inside is still sustainable and not plastic and rather a tear box is used to confirm to the guest the product has not been used previously for Covid-19 reasons. We have likewise eliminated plastic water bottles and instead are using glass bottles which we send back to a partner organisation to be refilled. A new project we are working on involves the installation of electric scooters which are run through an app that allows guests to take a tour and so the guests will not use public transport but the tour can take them to areas which large bus tours usually cannot reach. 

As a result of working with the net-zero target, what differences will guests experience at your hotel and how will the local community be involved?

As previously mentioned, this is a continuous process for us, a priority is also that we try to minimise the impact on the guest. With the introduction of glass water bottles, the guests initially complained about not receiving a plastic bottle, however as we explained our reasoning and the importance of the change they understood and were fine with it. We think it is important to inform and try to change the guest's habits and perspective, the guests appreciate the changes we make and know this will be a positive impact on the environment.

We also sell any unused furniture which is in good condition and is sold to community centres so people with different needs are still able to utilise the furniture. An example is that we donated a substantial amount of furniture to an organisation looking after soldiers with PTSD so they can gather together. This also helps the hotel as the furniture which is sold to larger companies, the funds received from the sale is used to assist their associates if they are dealing with any difficulties. 

For more information contact: National Operator for Israel; michal@ecoocean.com

Google announces travel feature to improve the booking experience for eco-conscious travellers

Google has added a new feature to its travel site, making it possible to see whether a hotel is eco-certified or not. Green Key is one of the certification programmes used by Google Travel.

The feature allows tourists to distinguish whether a hotel is committed to contributing towards sustainable methods, the hotel is aware of their environmental impact and take responsibility and participate in sustainable practices.

Whilst searching on Google Travel for a hotel to stay in, the options on the list displayed will show a tag that states "eco-certified" next to a green leaf. This leads to travellers being able to identify hotels that take upon sustainable efforts and practices.

However, not all eco-certified hotels are featured as the tool is optional for hotels that opt-in to self-reporting. The eco-certified establishments would need to adhere to a set of practices provided through an accredited independent organisation such as Green Key.

How to use the feature:

1. On google.com/travel, search for hotels.

2. Select a hotel with an "eco-certified" label.

3. On the hotel's detail page, select the About tab.

4. Scroll down to the "Sustainability" section.

5. Find hotels with sustainability practices.

Nevertheless, it is essential to note that not all establishments participating in sustainable practices are also eco-certified. Google provides a list of twenty-nine reputable green programs, which the hotel selects the one applicable to them which they are contributing to alongside adhering to external on-site audits. Next hotel staff add the hotel to the listing through the free Google My Business Profile.

This new feature enables tourists who are mindful of their environmental impacts while travelling a simpler booking experience. Among travellers desiring further transparency against greenwashing, which has become increasingly popular alongside the desire to locate eco-friendly hotels, the new feature is anticipated to be well received from tourists.

The Alex Hotel in Ireland to receive the Green Key award

The Alex Hotel is committed to ensuring guests have a comfortable stay and receive a high-end experience while still being environmentally conscious through limiting guests energy and water consumption.

The Alex Hotel in Dublin City centre is an award-winning Irish establishment with an iconic industrial and 1950s finish throughout the hotel. The Alex Hotel is part of the O’Callaghan Collection, which involves a group of five high-end and boutique hotels in Dublin and Gibraltar. All hotels have recently completed refurbishments to provide their guests with memorable stays in easily accessible locations.

Additionally, the O'Callaghan Collection are passionate about being aware of their environmental impacts. Thus, the Alex Hotel participates in sustainable practices to reduce its impact on the environment. The group is committed to reducing, reusing, and recycling, water conservation, awareness and education, reduced energy consumption, community initiatives and energy management initiatives.

The Alex Hotel is committed to ensuring the guests have a comfortable stay and receive a high-end experience while still being aware and making a conscious change to limiting guests and employees' energy and water consumption.

Furthermore, the hotel also ensures that the food they use in the restaurant is all sourced from local suppliers to reduce incurred food miles. They are similarly partnering with suppliers who partake within practising with Green policies. Another example they have shared includes using renewable energy for their electricity and using lighting bulbs in rooms and around the hotel, which are created to save energy.

 Learn more about the hotel here.

Agreement with Drinkable Air renewed to reduce water consumption and the disposal of plastic water bottles

Green Key is happy to announce the renewal of its agreement with Drinkable Air Technologies LLC. Drinkable Air products support a lower environmental footprint by reducing water consumption from other sources and minimizing the production and disposal of plastic water bottles.

Drinkable Air Technologies LLC is a US-based Emerging Growth Technology Company that designs, manufactures, assembles and distributes Atmospheric Water Generators ("AWG's"). 

The AWGs of Drinkable Air, Inc. create an unlimited supply of pure drinking water from "the moisture in the air". The purity, freshness, and taste of the water produced are superior to expensive bottled water options, easily demonstrating the cost savings. Drinkable Air products are now in 40 countries.

Today the company offers three scalable (from 10 litres to 280 litres of water per day) products that can extract humidity from the atmosphere. The technology utilizes condensation principles (the same way nature creates rain) to create water where there is no water. These units do not require plumbing or piping. The water is produced, stored and purified by a process that ensures the water is free of bacteria, viruses and impurities and has a superior alkaline value. Water is then dispensed from the units to the end-user as needed.

Further information about Drinkable Air can be found on their website: www.drinkableair.tech

Green Key to contribute to specialisation course on sustainable tourism in Cambodia

In collaboration with École d'Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule (EHT) and the German agency GIZ Regional Economic Development Program IV (GIZ RED IV), Green Key on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education is offering a specialisation course on sustainability in tourism and hospitality to tourism professionals in Cambodia.

Copyright: Visme

Tourism and hospitality, one of the largest industries worldwide, currently faces many challenges, among them the responsibility to become more sustainable. When international tourists start returning to Cambodia, quality standards will be essential, and actors in the tourism and hospitality sector should start developing quality sustainable practices. As the awareness to make sustainable travel choices increases, seeking innovative principles for long-term sustainable solutions for the hospitality and tourism industry is of vital importance.

To stimulate a continuous stream of new ideas and best practices, we invite tourism and hospitality actors to join this short specialization course in collaboration with the École d'Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule (EHT), the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), and the German agency GIZ Regional Economic Development Program IV (GIZ RED IV).

The course explores the conceptual foundations of sustainable development and discusses existing challenges in the context of Cambodia.

On behalf of FEE and Green Key, Isabel Lissner, International Green Key Coordinator, will facilitate one out of three modules of this course, focusing on the concept of sustainability, sustainable tourism and eco-certification in tourism and hospitality.

“We very much welcomed this opportunity as it is part of Green Key’s strategy to collaborate with educational institutions to integrate sustainable tourism and eco-certification in the curricula of hospitality schools and universities. In this way, we can ensure that the new generation of tourism professionals is well aware of how to build a sustainable industry that benefits the guests, host community and our planet”.

News from our corporate partner: Purezza Premium Water

Green Key is happy to see how its corporate partner, Purezza Premium Water, keeps striving for more sustainability in the hospitality industry through its mission of removing single-use bottles.

Green Key and Purezza

Green Key and Purezza have decided to join forces since 2020 due to Purezza’s sustainability mission. Reducing the high levels of single-use packaging within the hotel industry is an important initiative that is right at the top of priorities in many establishments right now. Removing single-use bottled water from the supply chain and replacing these with a re-usable bottle solution is one of the most cost-effective methods an establishment can implement to make a really positive, immediate impact on achieving its green objectives.

About Purezza

Purezza Premium Water provides high-quality, sustainable water dispensing solutions and re-usable bottles that help venues replace single-use bottles and eliminate transport and delivery costs. As a global provider of freshly dispensed drinking water solutions that has direct supply and distribution in more than 60 countries, Purezza offers a comprehensive package to help hotels remove single-use bottles from almost any space where beverages are served. This includes solutions for the restaurant, bar, in-room, poolside, conference and event areas.

Purezza Premium Water provides guidance on how to implement dispensing services for venues of any size; from a simple installation for a café or restaurant, right up to a full-scale operation, such as dedicated bottling rooms for international hotel chains. Purezza has dispensing systems to suit any space and output requirements and world-leading technology to maximise hygiene and safety. Their flagship dispensing machine, the P2 Firewall™ Bar Classe Series, is the world’s first and only water dispenser in the hospitality industry to incorporate the highly-certified Firewall™ UVC purification technology.  Firewall™ technology has been tested and proven up to 99.99% effective in eliminating bacteria and viruses from drinking water and 99.99% effective against COVID-19. The Classe Series is also the only hospitality water dispenser to achieve the highly regarded HACCP certification globally.

Purezza’s eco-friendly, reusable bottle range replaces expensive pre-packaged water and, in both function and form, provides the ultimate in hygiene requirements whilst simultaneously elevating the user experience for both the venue and the customer.

 A step closer to sustainability

Choosing alternative water solutions like Purezza is a giant step towards adopting sustainable practices and achieving a venue’s environmental goals. Purezza has a high level of expertise through its core products, complemented by its extensive, multi-national client support and customer service network. Green Key International is happy to have Purezza as a corporate partner with the same missions of reducing the environmental footprint.

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For more information, visit www.purezzawater.com

Green Key welcomes a new partner: Story Hospitality

STORY Hospitality, an integrated and innovative hospitality management platform, is partnering with Green Key. This partnership aims to support all hotels under STORY Hospitality portfolio with tools and resources for sustainability certification.

The partnership with Green Key is part of a broader initiative within STORY Hospitality to encourage and promote an environmentally-conscious focus within its hotels and amongst team members. STORY Hospitality strives to continuously communicate its sustainable efforts to its guests to create awareness and encourage them to join in the simplest practices to reach lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Claudio Capaccioli, CEO of Story Hospitality, says: “At STORY Hospitality, we have a strong commitment to sustainability and our mission is to continually look for ways to preserve and protect natural resources by reducing waste and energy while providing the best of experiences and services to our guests. We are delighted to have partnered with Green Key, the world’s leading sustainability certification programme for the hospitality industry. Green Key will support us by strengthening our sustainable practices across all our properties”.

Besides being enthusiastic about this new partnership, CEO Claudio Capaccioli reflects on the importance of integrating sustainability in the hospitality sector and the responsibility the latter carries:

“The hospitality industry plays a key role in the UAE and it’s important that the sector recognises their responsibility towards sustainability especially in the current scenario. We are looking forward to having all our hotels receiving the Green Key recognition for its sustainability efforts soon”.

Green Key is very happy to welcome STORY Hospitality and start this collaboration with the goal of making sustainability the number one priority!

Finn Bolding Thomsen, Green Key International Director, adds: “As the world’s leading eco-label with awarded establishments in 65 countries, we are experienced in working with sustainability at hotels in different parts of the world. We are very proud to be chosen as STORY Hospitality’s certification programme partner and we are looking forward to the cooperation.”

For more information about STORY Hospitality visit https://story-hospitality.com/. 

Green Key hotel receives recognition for its focus on sustainability and eco-living practices

Green Key awarded Hotel Kallichoron Art Boutique Hotel (Greece) has received the Gold and Platinum Green Awards in the category Services for its overall sustainability strategy and programme “Kallichoron Goes Green”, aiming to reduce carbon footprint and encourage travellers to embrace sustainable practices during their holidays.

Kallichoron’s great achievements during the pandemic

Green Key is thrilled to highlight the results at Kallichoron. Reaching these achievements under the current conditions the world is living in is very special. However, there has been a positive interest in sustainability within the hospitality industry. In this particular moment, Green Awards have rewarded the businesses which have shown agility, adaptability and have perceived the business disruption caused by the pandemic as an opportunity to revise their business model and bring sustainability to their core strategy. This is precisely what our Green Key awarded Kallichoron Art Boutique Hotel has been able to do.

Some reflections from the Co-founders

Besides making us proud, Kallichoron Co-founders have shown their appreciation and desire to keep striving for more sustainable tourism:

Maria Mavroudi, Co-founder and General Manager: “We are delighted to receive this award, which is special to us, as it reflects our commitment to work towards sustainable tourism, support local community and welfare. Purpose defines the identity of a business and the reason it exists, forming the benchmark for every decision. At Kallichoron, and as we grow as a hotel business, what drives everything we do is our collective and individual commitment to operate in a responsible manner and in line with our values. The trust of our guests, community and our people place at Kallichoron, alongside our high standards to ethical behaviour, is fundamental to our actions and this award encourages us to work harder."

Carolina Alkalai, co-founder and Hotel Manager of Kallichoron continued "This award is yet another incentive to continue offering great, innovative services to our guests, in a sustainable manner and with responsibility. And it is the right thing to do for our planet and future generations. Thank you for your support all these years, and we hope we don’t ever disappoint!”

Green Awards

Green Awards were organized for the first time this year by the Boussias Group, under the auspices of the Panhellenic Association of Chemical Engineers and the Environmental Scientists of Greece (EPPE) and the support of HSBC Bank and KLORANE.

Keep up the good work!

Green Key is proud to see the growth of Kallichoron with regard to sustainability. We hope this development continues and we look forward to seeing your progress and devotion to sustainable tourism.

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For additional information about Kallichoron Hotel:

www.kallichoron.gr

For more info about Green Awards:

https://www.greenawards.gr