A microfiber cleaning system - The future for a sustainable hotel housekeeping

The Artemis Palace Hotel in Rethymnon Crete, one of the first Green Key awarded hotels in Greece, applies a microfiber cleaning system to reduce the use of cleaning products. All national operators had the chance to see how the system works during the control visit they conducted at the national operators meeting 2014 and confirmed the results of the cleaning procedure.

One of the many environmental goals of Green Key is to lead hotel managers to a more environmentally friendly approach in terms of hotel housekeeping, which, in many cases, represents more than 40% of the total operating costs.

One of the proposed cleaning systems, applied in Theartemis Palace Hotel, Rethymnon Crete, is based on the use of microfiber cloths. In that case, the use of detergents is reduced to the absolute minimum and only used in places where disinfection is needed (e.g. toilet seats). All the other surfaces can be cleaned with using just water and a fiber cloth. More than 99% of surface pathogens, grease and dirt are captured in the fibers. The absorption capacity of the cloth is very high due to the fact that one fiber consists of 1056, really thin, microfibers.

Apart from the absorption and cleaning capacity, microfiber cloths lead to great water, detergent and time saving. Based on real data, collected from hotels that apply the system in Greece, the average water and detergent consumption is reduced 68% compared to classic cleaning systems, while the time needed is reduced more than 15%.

One of the “hidden” aspects of the use of this particular system is that there is no need of storing many different detergents. That actually means that the detergent-chemicals storage space is reduced to minimum, the dilutions are easy to be done and only for one detergent. The detergents are environmentally friendly and biodegradable and are not dangerous for human health.

HSPN is working really hard on promoting this technology to all awarded sites, because it is simply the application of the Green Key basic idea that saving is the environmentally way to act. HSPN keeps on trying to inform hotel managers about microfiber cleaning systems. After all, the key issue of the promotion of innovative and efficient technologies and products is education.

To see how Vikan Microfiber is used https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEfCFY1cZCM

BookDifferent.com has high expectations for 2015

Lonneke de Kort, Director Business Development and Sales at BookDifferent.com states that 2015 could be the tipping point for eco-tourism around the world. Her statement is supported by the Hospitality 2015 report issued by Deloitte.

In this report a team of experts of Deloitte analysed the Hospitality Industry with a special interest in the sustainable development of this sector towards 2020. Consumers are increasingly environmentally aware, and this will present great challenges for the industry. The year 2015 will be the tipping point on regulatory, economic and stakeholder level. It will begin to shape new expectations for both leisure and business consumers.  

This means that (business) travellers expect the sector to take their responsibility and integrate going green in their mission. The good news is that this is backed up with a growing number of consumers that are willing to take their responsibility too. Not necessarily by paying a premium for green hotels but by choosing a sustainable alternative when values-plus-value is offered.

And that is great news! 2015 promises to be a year with great opportunities ahead of us. BookDifferent will continue developing the platform that makes it easy for consumers to travel green and social. A great thanks goes out to Green Key and all her members who do the real work! 

Pinepark Holiday Club uses kites to inform children about Green Key

The Green Key awarded hotel, Pinepark Holiday Club in Turkey, organised a kite festival for primary school students to educate them in a playful way about sustainable tourism.

The environmental management team of the Pinepark Holiday Club set up a cooperation with the local primary school to inform the children about sustainable tourism since tourism is heavily blooming in the area. To make it a memorable day for the children they organised a kite festival as a side activity.

First, students were informed about the Green Key label by the manager of the hotel. Afterwards the manager answered all the questions about sustainability, environmental education, etc. Then the children were taken to the beach of the hotel in order to make their own kites which all had the Green Key logo on them. As icing on the cake, they flew the kites all together on the beach. 

Green Key Flanders trains next generation hotel managers about Sustainability

A college for hotel and catering management in Antwerp, Belgium, invited the Green Key national operator of Flanders to give a guest lecture about sustainable hotel management.

Contact between Green Key and the Antwerp College for Hotel and Catering Management was established at a network event organised by the Antwerp Hotel Association where Miriam van Loon, the Green Key national operator, gave a presentation about Green Key. During a conversation with a lecturer from the Hotel Management College, it became clear that although there is a special sub-category of study about sustainable management, the general programme doesn’t offer any courses on sustainability.

Therefore, Miriam van Loon was invited to give a four-hour introduction lecture for all Bachelor students at the Antwerp College for Hotel and Catering Management. The lecture covered sustainability in general sustainable tourism and hotel management with practical examples from Green Key. The lecture ended with a workshop on the ‘creation of a sustainable holiday experience’.

As this lecture was a great success, the cooperation will continue in the coming years. 

Green Key Hotel in Lisbon commits to sustainability and solidarity

The newly awarded Green Key hotel NEYA Lisboa Hotel in Lisbon is proud to announce their commitment attached to their strap line “sustainability has another meaning".

NEYA Lisboa Hotel has just opened one year ago. When it was under construction they followed the GK criteria in order to comply with them since the very beginning. So being awarded the Green Key for their first edition in 2014, this hotel is proud to announce all their commitment attached to their strap line “sustainability has another meaning”.  The hotel has bikes for the guests and staff (including an area in the parking), it has a shopping policy using only national brands, such as for foods and coffee, but also on the furniture. It has solar panels for energy production.  

NEYA Lisboa Hotel contributes to the reduction of negative environmental impact by all practical and sustainable solutions in the daily operations, but also through collaboration/partnerships with organizations that share the same ideals. By collaborating with the 'Cubes of Sustainability', in partnership with the Floresta Unida Foundation, the NEYA Lisboa Hotel commits to preserve the environment and biodiversity. The project aims to the protection of forests by planting trees. Hotel guests can buy such a cube, which holds a tree seed inside, and for every cube that has been sold the Floresta Unida Foundation plants one tree. Through this voluntary awareness campaign, the hotel promotes environmental responsibility on everyone to reduce his environmental footprint.

But the hotel also engages in a social project. The hotel, which is located in front of a pediatric hospital, has two bedrooms available for families that lack the financial ability to follow their children at the hospital and live far from Lisbon.

Green Key awarded hotel in Ukraine organises eco tours for tourists

The Maison Blanche Ecohotel in Ukraine, Green Key certified since 2012, takes tourists on a tour of local and organic farms and trains them in an informal way about sustainable and ecological food production.

The Maison Blanche Ecohotel, which has three Green Key awarded sites in Ukraine, has come up with a new idea to engage tourists in the idea of sustainable tourism. The project emerged out of the years of hosting parties from the organic movement in Ukraine. These guests were interested in visiting organic farms in the surrounding area, eating organic meals and having a look in the hotel’s organic shop. This led to the idea of setting up organic tours for all guests and other tourists visiting Ukraine.

Tours are accessible for all tourists and cost between 19-27 euro per person all included (transportation, excursion, farms, bag of participant, lunch with sweet course). Cost can be held so low thanks to the financial partner Fibl in Switzerland. 

The first Organic Tour was to the organic berry farm of Tregubov Oleksiy, 14 September. Starting from the Kiev’s Natur Boutique organic shop it went to the organic berry farm in Kiev region (with unlimited strawberries, raspberries, blackberries eating and then went to the Maison Blanche Mytnitsya for the organic lunch and excursion.

The second tour in 27 September was to the organic factory Organic Milk. The route of this tour was longer: Natur Boutique organic shop in Kiev – factory of producing organic milk products Organic Milk (in Zhytomyr region) with tasting of different products, a visit of the organic milk farm and dinner and excursion in the other Maison Blanche hotel in Berezivka.

Besides, in the bus on the way to the destination points participants were trained about EcoHotels and the Green Key label and viewed a documentary “The story of stuff”, “Food Inc.” etc.

Moroccan mountain eco-lodge installing a water purification system

The Eco-lodge “Atlas Kasbah”, having had the Green Key eco-label since 2008, has worked on the cleaning of its wastewater.

The Atlas Kasbah Eco-lodge, located in the Atlas mountains in Morocco, has installed a system for the cleaning of its wastewater. The pre-treatment of the greywater aims to eliminate airborne particles and optimize the quality of the discharge before cleaning. The cleaning system thereafter relies on gravity and a thin layer of compact clay are sealing the water flow.  In addition to conventional material, the hotel tests the use of a layer of natural sand containing titanium oxide and a layer of anthracite coal, thus constituting the originality of the process in this pilot project.

During the three years of its existence, the system has showed a satisfactory performance in terms of filtering and therefore water quality output. The physico-chemical tests indicate that the filtered water is suitable for water irrigation of trees.

Green Key is re-confirming the successful cooperation with Radisson Hotel Group

The Radisson Hotel Group and FEE are very happy to announce a new collaboration agreement for the period 2014-2018. The agreement involves cooperation with Radisson hotels in 70 countries in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. The agreement is the continuation of a successful partnership which started in 2010.

Daniel Schaffer (CEO of FEE) says: “The Radisson Hotel Group was the first international hotel chain that FEE had an agreement with in our Green Key programme back in 2010, and we are very happy to confirm the continuation of a successful collaboration for the next five years”. Radisson’s ambition is that all its hotels in the Middle East, Europe and Africa should be eco-labelled by 2015, and Green Key is one of the preferred eco-labels for the hotel chain.

Inge Huijbrechts, Vice-President for Responsible Business at Radisson Hotel Group, adds: “We have signed a long-term agreement with FEE because we see Green Key as an excellent tool for hotels to have a credible eco-label certification. Green Key is specialized in hotels and each hotel is thoroughly audited before a Green Key is awarded. Having all our hotels eco-labelled provides proof to our guests of our responsible business commitment.’

Currently 140 hotels within the Radisson Hotel Group have been granted the Green Key eco-label.