First Green Key awarded hotel in Ethiopia

The Radisson Blu Hotel, Addis Ababa is the first Green Key awarded establishment in Ethiopia, raising the number of participating countries to 58!

Copyright Radisson Blu Hotel, Addis Ababa

Radisson Blu Hotel in Addis Ababa is centrally located within Ethiopia’s capital city—adjacent to the United Nations Compound and 6 kilometers from Bole International Airport. The hotel is also a short distance from the city’s main points of interest, such as the Imperial Palace, Meskel Square and Holy Trinity Cathedral.

The hotel has many great social and environmental initiatives such as donating unused linen and clothes to an orphanage, supporting a retirement home and engaging guests in tree planting activities. Furthermore, over 95% of the food and beverages in the hotel are locally sourced.

Learn more about the hotel here

Copyright Radisson Blu Hotel, Addis Ababa

Copyright Radisson Blu Hotel, Addis Ababa

Miskin Manor – a historical hotel with a green twist

Miskin Manor Country Hotel in Wales has been awarded with the Green Key for its work on introducing high sustainability standards in a historical manor without compromising the exclusive feeling of the establishment.

Miskin Manor Country Hotel has a rich history stretching back to the 10th century. Since 1996, the place has been a carefully restored family-run hotel with attention to details in respect of the heritage of the building, surrounding garden and landscape. Today, Miskin Manor Country Hotel is a four-star hotel with 42 unique bedrooms, an award winning restaurant and 25 acres of beautiful garden surrounding the establishment.

Miskin Manor Country Hotel has recently been awarded with the Green Key as the first hotel in South East Wales due to its work with its sustainability performance. The light bulbs have been changed to LED light, the water flow in taps and showers are reduced, the restaurant has a focus on products that are locally produced and the environmental work is communicated to guests in an environmental corner by the lobby.

“As a family we have always worked towards helping our environment for now and the future. It is wonderful that we now have recognition for the effort we are making and we will strive to maintain and improve.  Amongst many things we grow some of our own produce on site, produce water from our own borehole, keep bees and produce honey on site, installed energy efficient lighting throughout the hotel and recycle our waste. It is hoped that other business owners will join us in achieving Green Key throughout Wales.” - Amanda Rosenberg, Managing Director at Miskin Manor.

Nick Ashby, Welsh Green Key coordinator says: “We are proud to have Miskin Manor Country Hotel awarded with Green Key for its balance between history, luxury and sustainability”.

For more information about Miskin Manor Country Hotel, please visit their website.

First four hotels in Macau achieve Green Key status

Four establishments in Macau, China have qualified for the prestigious Green Key award through the achievement of high environmental and sustainability standards

Morpheus, The Countdown and Nüwa at City of Dreams, Macau

The four establishments, owned and operated by Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, are Morpheus, Nüwa and The Countdown at City of Dreams and Studio City.

To achieve their Green Key status, each of the four establishments optimised sustainability efforts to meet the global environmental management standard ISO 14001. The hotels comply with high energy and water saving standards, and have pledged to meet additional water and waste reduction targets for the coming year, with particular focus on plastic and paper materials.

Mr. Lawrence Ho, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Melco Resorts & Entertainment, said “It is a true honour to become Macau’s first and only recipient of the prestigious Green Key award, with four of our hotels concurrently achieving this exceptional accolade in recognition of our dedication towards sustainability. Our existing green initiatives have benefitted strongly from the requirements and recommendations set by the Green Key programme.”

The four hotels engage employees, guests and third party operating businesses in their sustainability efforts. Employees participate in various activities, such as Earth Hour, tree planting and beach cleaning activities, and are also involved in the hotels’ local community projects where materials that can be reused are donated to charitable organisations and to local events on environment and education.

Guests are informed about the hotel’s environmental efforts via TV monitors in the lobby and guest rooms and are encouraged to reuse towels and bed sheets, and to travel via public transportation, etc. In the hotels’ restaurants, green choices are available from the menus which offer over 25 organic food ingredients.

Studio City

Finn Bolding Thomsen, International Green Key Director, says: “We are very happy to introduce the Green Key to establishments in Macau through the four hotels operated by Melco Resorts & Entertainment. It is our hope that it will inspire other hotels in the region to reduce their resources and promote sustainable development through the Green Key programme.”

First Green Key awarded hotel in Sierra Leone!

The Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel is the first hotel in Sierra Leone that has achieved the Green Key award. Congratulations!

Green Key is proud to announce the expansion of the programme to a new country: Sierra Leone. The Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko in Freetown is the first hotel in the country that complies with Green Key's strict criteria. The hotel has excellent internal communication concerning sustainability and truly cares for the local community and environment. For example, it supports tree-planting activities in the surroundings and made donations to the victims of the Freetown flood in August 2017. During the Ebola Epidemic in 2014/2015, the hotel hosted international aid agencies that used the hotel facilities as offices and as a research centre. 

Green Key congratulates the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko for its excellent work in sustainability and is proud to have the hotel among its awarded establishments. 

First hotel in South Africa awarded Green Key

Green Key is pleased to announce that the NH The Lord Charles in Cape Town is the first hotel in South Africa to receive our prestigious award. 

NH The Lord Charles has convinced the Green Key Jury with their strong environmental management and dedication to save scarce resources in South Africa.

Besides complying with Green Key’s imperative criteria, the hotel implements a particularly strong focus on reducing the consumption of water through several initiatives around the property. This is a very important aspects in a water scarce country where drought is an ongoing threat.

One of the initiatives implemented by the Lord Charles is their own in house plant nursery, which is used to improve their own gardens at the hotel. Many of the plants grown at this nursery are succulent plants, known as “water wise” plants, which do not require as much watering as conventional garden plants would. By slowly converting the garden to water wise plants, the hotel is able to reduce the amount of water used in their gardens.

Furthermore, the hotel involves its guests and staff in their water-saving initiatives by reminding them throughout the hotel to save water.

Green Key International congratulates NH The Lord Charles on their achievements and is looking forward to seeing a growing number of Green Key awarded hotels in South Africa. 

Green Key International at Stichting KMVK's annual Green Key event

On 8 February Green Key International participated in this years’ Green Key award ceremony in the Netherlands. The event was held in the prestigious NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam.

Every year, the organisation Stichting KMVK - responsible for the Green Key programme in the Netherlands - organises a Green Key event for its awarded establishments to offer them the opportunity to participate in workshops, an inspiration market and to receive their Green Key award in a solemn ceremony. This year, the event was held at the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky which has been Green Key awarded since 2012.

The programme kicked off with the finals of the Green Team Award, which is a yearly competition between the Green Teams of the awarded hotels in the Netherlands. After that, the participants of the inspiration market were given 45 seconds each to present their products and services to the guests of the event. At the inspiration market companies and organisations get the chance to advertise their products and services directly to the awarded establishments. A requirement is that their offers are sustainable or help the establishments to improve their environmental performance.

In the second part of the event, several workshops were held to inspire and inform the establishments and stakeholders about latest sustainability issues. The topics covered were circular economy in the hospitality industry, sustainable seafood, laws & regulations on energy savings, sustainable property management and the Tiny Forest project. Guests were also invited to go on a round tour of the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky to learn about the hotel's sustainability initiatives. The event closed with the handover of the Green Key awards.

The Green Key event in the Netherlands is a good example of national Green Key initiatives where awarded establishments can gain knowledge in sustainability and be inspired by other establishments or stakeholders. 

All hotels of Grupo Posadas in Mexico Green Key awarded!

On 11 January, the remaining 85 hotels of the Grupo Posadas in Mexico have been awarded the Green Key. Now, all of the 160 properties are part of the programme.

Even before the hotel chain's target to have all Grupo Posadas properties awarded by April, the remaining 85 hotels that were not awarded yet achieved the Green Key award already in January. In total, the hotel chain owns 160 properties and several brands such as Fiesta Americana, Fiesta Inn, Live Aqua and One.

The Green Key was awarded by Daniel Schaffer, CEO of the Foundation for Environmental Education and Joaquín Díaz Ríos, Green Key National Operator in Mexico during a solemn ceremony in the Grand Fiesta Americana Puerto Vallarta.

Due to the cooperation with Grupo Posadas Mexico is now among the top ten Green Key countries in the world.

75 Posadas hotels awarded with Green Key in Mexico

The number of Green Key awarded establishments in Mexico got an increase of 75 Hotels when Grupo Posadas reached their goals for environmental practices. 

The 75 Posadas hotels represent the brands Live Aqua, Grand Fiesta Americana, Fiesta Americana, The Explorean by Fiesta Americana, Fiesta Inn, One and Gamma. 

After an extensive evaluation covering the 13 Green Key criteria categories, such as environmental management, staff involvement, social responsibility and environmental activities, the hotels could reach the goal of gaining the Green Key award. This was achieved thanks to the sustainable initiatives, structural renovations in some of the hotels and the innovating practices and services of the hotels. The coordinated efforts of Green Key Mexico and Posadas in regard to maintenance and the accomplishment of the regulations, means that Posadas now complies with high standards in the field of sustainable tourism.

The establishments in Mexico that apply for a Green Key are awarded by a National Steering Committee with representatives from the Tourism Ministry, Energy Ministry, Environmental Ministry and The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit international organization with conservation of biodiversity and the environment as their goal. 

During the awards ceremony that took place at the Fiesta Americana Parque Toreo hotel, Enrique Calderón, Vice President of Hotel Operations at Grupo Posadas, commented: "A few months ago, we received with pride and satisfaction the Green Key certification for 3 of our hotels. Today, we are even more proud to receive this same certification, but for 75 properties; this is no more than a reflection of our goal to operate attractive, functional and environmentally friendly hotels."

Pablo Azcárraga, CEO of Grupo Posadas, said: “This is without a doubt the goal of a great effort, we must keep on working. We have to be an example for Mexico and an example on the international level of sustainability within tourism."

Prominent individuals present at the award ceremony included Enrique de la Madrid, Secretary of Tourism, Mariana Boy Tamborrell, General Manager of Urban Development of Tourism, José Salvador Sánchez Estrada, Undersecretary of Quality and Regulation of the Ministry of Tourism, and Joaquín Arturo Díaz Ríos, CEO of The Foundation for Environmental Education Mexico.

The awarding of the 75 Posadas hotels is a great success for Mexico and the whole Green Key programme. Mexico is now in the top 10 of countries with the most Green Key awarded establishments. 

Posadas is the largest Mexican hotel chain, with 158 hotels and more than 25,000 rooms in Mexico. 

Dayz Rønbjerg receives Green Key award

The establishment is the first holiday park in Denmark to receive the Green Key award. With the award, Dayz Rønbjerg joins the company of international holiday parks putting high priority on environmentally friendly and sustainable operation.

“With the certification of Dayz Rønbjerg, we have taken an important step towards our strategic goal for all our holiday parks to be Green Key certified by 2018”, says Sales & Marketing Manager of Dayz by Landal GreenParks Kent Lodberg. “To protect the environment is more important than ever before, and it is becoming an increasingly important subject for Danish guests, so we are simultaneously preparing for the green guests of the future with the certification”, he continues.   

Kirsten Poulsen, Director of Firstmove specializing in future insights, says that working with high environmental and sustainability standards is not only worthwhile, but also necessary if an establishment wants to be attractive to future guests. “Guests are increasingly putting more emphasis on sustainability and this can be a decisive factor when choosing one establishment above the other”.

Employees Piertel Maartje Jonker and Casper Lemvig celebrating the Green Key award of Dayz Rønbjerg.

Dayz by Landal GreenParks is part of the Dutch Landal GreenParks that operates more than 80 holiday parks in Europe - 74 of these are Green Key certified.  

Source: Dayz by Landal GreenParks