Hotels missing out on “free and instant opportunity” to cut costs
Hotels are missing a ‘free and instant opportunity’ to cut energy costs and reduce their carbon reduction liabilities, according to an eco-tourism certification body.
Technical director of Green Tourism Business Scheme Jon Proctor said that staff awareness of the need to reduce energy usage could amount to 20 per cent cost savings.
He said: “Straightforward management of lighting and heating and avoiding the ‘standby factor’ with televisions and other equipment through an ‘on demand’ rather than ‘always on’ approach is key.”
Naivety
Experts at the Green Business Tourist scheme claimed today that employee ‘naivety’ costs a typical 50-bedroom property thousands of pounds annually through failure to adopt energy-friendly ‘avoidance-based’ practices.
It added energy saving practices would have the joint effect of cutting hotel energy bills and reducing liabilities under the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) which requires businesses to cut their carbon footprint or face government fines.
In a statement to press today Proctor said: “Staff awareness of basic green thinking generally saves hotels around 20% on their utility bills and by not ensuring that their employees are conscious of the simplest resource-saving activities, hotels are effectively throwing their money away.”
“There is an almost universal misconception among hoteliers that ‘going green’ will be an expensive exercise, but the reality is that the introduction of basic green thinking results in adjustments which typically, and immediately, start to save a property thousands. Sustainability equates to savings.”
Operated by a not-for-profit organisation Green Business, the Green Tourism Business Scheme said it inspects thousands of properties annually as part of its International Centre for Responsible Tourism validated eco-certification programme. The scheme has 2,200 members throughout the UK and Ireland.
