International tourism organism Global Business Travel Association has rewarded NH Hoteles for the sustainable services it offers its guests during their business trips
? Thanks to numerous initiatives, the Group has managed to reduce energy consumption by 25%, its water usage by 30% and waste generation by 34% in just four years
NH Hoteles has received another new international award for its sustainable development initiatives and commitment to the environment. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the leading global business travel and corporate meeting organisation, has awarded the Company its Icarus Project Gold Medal.
This makes NH Hoteles the first hotel group in the world to obtain this accolade at the global level. The prize reflects the Group?s ongoing investment in innovative sustainability measures as well as its work to integrate its sustainability efforts into the environmental, social and economic dimensions of the hotel chain?s everyday operations.
Since embarking on its 2008-2012 Environmental Action Plan, NH Hoteles has undertaken a series of innovative sustainability initiatives which have enabled it to deliver all its targets – namely energy savings of 25%, water savings of 30% and reductions in carbon emissions and waste generation of 44% and 34%, respectively.
One of the key specific factors for the GBTA in awarding this prize was the sustainable development initiatives offered by NH Hoteles in the business travel segment. The Group provides its clients with a series of products, including laundry bags, pens and the bathroom amenities made using a plastic additive that catalyses these materials? natural degradation process. The towels in the hotel chain?s guest rooms come with the ECOLABEL, the European environmentally-friendly seal that analyses a product?s impact on the environment throughout its entire life cycle.
Elsewhere, all NH Hoteles guests that want to minimise the carbon footprint generated by their travels and stays at the Group?s hotels can do so by using the emissions calculator hosted on the chain?s corporate website. Moreover, thanks to the Ecomeeting concept, clients can request meeting rooms that use all manner of ecological, sustainable and fair trade materials. Thanks to this innovative initiative, the Group offset over 2,000 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2012.
Meanwhile, NH Hoteles? restaurants have added in its ?Antiox? breakfasts a range of organic foods to its gourmet offering. These products satisfy the demands of the Group?s most environmentally-conscious guests. The Company?s establishments also serve fair trade coffee, thereby contributing to social and economic development in depressed economies and guaranteeing compliance with ethical and environmentally-friendly agreements that are beneficial to both parties.
[box type=”tick”]About NH Hoteles
NH Hoteles (www.nh-hotels.com) is Europe?s third-ranked business hotel chain. It operates close to 400 hotels with almost 60,000 rooms in 26 countries across Europe, the Americas and Africa. NH Hoteles currently has 20 new hotels under construction which will add over 2,500 new rooms to its portfolio. NH Hoteles is traded on the Madrid stock exchange.[/box]