2017 SUSTAINABLE HOTEL AWARD WINNERS

Sustainable DesignSustainable Investment Positive Community Impact

SUSTAINABLE HOTEL AWARD

SUSTAINABLE DESIGNSUSTAINABLE HOTEL AWARD

CEMPEDAK PRIVATE ISLANDRIAU PROVINCE, INDONESIA Close your eyes. Now imagine a tiny tropical island, covered in forest, bathed in sunlight and lapped by the clear blue sea. Now imagine no phone, no wifi, no television, no aircon nor mini bar. Imagine your room is made of bamboo, the roof is grass, and your furniture is made of construction off cuts. Imagine one restaurant and a single menu.

Now imagine 70% occupancy and an average ADR between US$330 and US$440 a night - in your first year and while construction continues.

Working closely with the architect, local bamboo specialists and the landscape designer, the owners have worked with the natural surroundings, enabling 2/3 of the island to remain untouched. The landscape design has predominately used plants propagated from the island.

Through the combination of minimising electrical devices, while incorporating highly efficient DC ceiling fans - with bamboo blades of course, gardens to filter waste water rendering it reusable, solar hot water systems, low energy relay lighting systems and gas-powered hand pulled espresso machines, the power consumption is around 300kW/hr per day across the entire resort, designed to run on a single 24kW generator.

The owners, and their design team, have proved that investment in sustainable design pays dividends, where a combination of low building costs, low operating costs and high occupancy can add up to a highly profitable hotel.

SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT

SONEVA FUSHI MALDIVES

Soneva Fushi was built in 1995 with a vision of natural excellence extending beyond guests to the local surroundings and community. On a remote island without access to an electric grid or potable water, their approach to sustainability shows remarkable financial ingenuity and ROI, including structuring a Purchase Power Agreement to source electricity from a 700kW on-site solar installation reducing annual energy spend by 20% with no up-front costs.

A Total Impact Assessment tool was created to monitor natural and social capital holistically. To address the impact of guests flying to the island, a 2% environmental levy on all room rates was introduced in 2008. The funds (US$6M to-date) are used for social carbon projects, including 50% subsidies for efficient stoves for impoverished families to utilize instead of cutting forest wood for pollutive burning. Reforestation projects are also funded on the island and in northern Thailand. Both stoves and reforestation projects are certified Gold Standard carbon credits, and the collective results have benefitted 185,000 people and mitigated the hotel’s entire carbon footprint since 2014, including guest flights.

They also capitalize on waste as a resource, including an on-site glass studio that creates innovative art from the operation’s glass waste for in-house display and sold to guests. This initiative, along with onsite vegetable production with food waste composting, generated USD265,000 in value in 2016.

50% of the hotel’s occupancy is repeat business, an exemplary case of willingness to pay more for proper environmental and social benefit when done well.

SUSTAINABLE HOTEL AWARD

POSITIVE COMMUNITY IMPACTSUSTAINABLE HOTEL AWARD

SHANGRI-LA HOTELS & RESORTSGROUP-WIDE “ROOTED IN NATURE” INITIATIVE

In 2014, Shangri-La launched the “Rooted in Nature” initiative to align its Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability goals to set a global standard for culinary social responsibility and positive community impact. Created based on guest feedback indicating a strong demand for local, sustainable menu options, Rooted in Nature aligns company-level strategy and targets with local community benefit and guest experience.

A goal was set to procure 50%/75% of menu items by 2017/2020 directly from local, small scale producers and fish traders producing quality ingredients supplied by farmers, herders, fishers, butchers, bakers and artisans preserving traditional knowledge and techniques, and working with respect for the environment, landscape and animal welfare. The initiative leverages hotel’s spending power to increase the economic livelihood for local producers, preserve the local culinary traditions and heritage, and provide interesting, unique content to educate and inspire guests.

Through 2016, Shangri-la was close to achieving its target, with nearly 2,000 Rooted in Nature dishes offered across the portfolio’s restaurants that met at least one of the criteria of being locally grown (20km radius), chemical-free, sustainably sourced, or certified organic or fair trade. Suppliers have been given support and training, and feedback indicates that 86% of the program’s suppliers increased their revenues as a result, and 41% have committed to changing their way of farming to incorporate more sustainable practices. Each of the hotels has a unique Rooted in Nature story to tell in terms of its tailored philosophy, positive community impact, property benefit, and media exposure.

HICAP SUSTAINABLE HOTEL AWARDS

Robert Day, Senior Vice President, WATG

Lyndall DeMarco, Managing Director, Only Sustainability Pty Ltd

Prashant Kapoor, EDGE Program Lead and Principal Specialist Green Buildings, IFC

Eric Ricaurte, Founder & CEOGreenview

Masaru Takayama, Founder and Chair, Asian Ecotourism Network

The HICAP Sustainable Hotel Awards is registered with Tourism4Development, set up by the United Nations/World Tourism Organization in conjunction with The United Nations 70th General Assembly, designating 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development – a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the contribution of sustainable tourism to development among public and private sector decision-makers and the public, while mobilizing all stakeholders to work together in making tourism a catalyst for change.

SUSTAINABLE HOTEL AWARDS

JUDGING COMMITTEE

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

DEVELOPMENT