A company-wide commitment to adopting environmentally friendly practices saw Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts cut energy and water consumption by record levels across its Middle East portfolio in 2014.

A range of innovative hotel-led initiatives, many pioneered by general managers and staff members, led to energy and water reductions of 7.8 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively in 2014, compared to 2013.

To put this into perspective, the company’s Middle East hotels saved 271,000 hours of energy over the course of the year, which is the equivalent of one 75-watt incandescent light bulb running constantly for 31 years.

They also saved enough water to fill 46 Olympic-sized swimming pools or 105 million 1.5-litre bottles of water.

“One of our core values at Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is to always conduct business in a responsible way, encompassing sustainability practices that not only address current needs but preserve the environment for generations to come,” said Gerard Hotelier, vice president of Operations, Middle East and South Asia of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts.

“This commitment has inspired our team members to think carefully and creatively about how they can reduce the use of the Earth’s natural resources while enhancing the guest experience and developing the wellbeing of our employees and the local community.”

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is the most Green Globe certified hotel company in the world and all of its green initiatives fall under the company’s global sustainability programme called ‘Shine’, which concentrates on three areas - Environment, Employer and Social Sustainability - with a focus on Education.

These initiatives have paid dividends with the group’s Middle East hotels introducing a range of environmentally friendly practices from  ‘green’ meetings packages with naturally-lit rooms, paperless solutions and sustainable food choices at Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Lakes Towers in Dubai, to energy- and water-saving strategies such as the use of LED lightbulbs, motion-sensor light timers and special water faucets at Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Al Bida’a Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the Mövenpick Hotel & Apartments Bur Dubai has introduced Green Wrap Technology, using a steel framework and filtration system that increases the reliability of the hotel’s air-coolers and even provides additional shading and protection against sandstorms. It’s a move that has reduced the electricity bill for these ‘chillers’ by a significant 16 per cent.

The list of green innovations goes on, with Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea becoming the first hotel in the Middle East to use solar-powered club cars for guest transportation.
 
“In 2014, the average sustainability performance of Mövenpick properties in the Middle East was 84 per cent, which is 1 per cent above the Green Globe international industry average,” said Hotelier.

Over the last five years, Green Globe CEO Guido Bauer has been overseeing the annual sustainability certifications of Mövenpick properties worldwide and has been impressed with the level of commitment by the company’s portfolio of hotels.

“Mövenpick’s Middle East properties were some of the first to benefit from our continuous improvement certification programme having found numerous ways to improve environmental aspects of their surrounding communities. Most impressive is this region’s measurable gains in reducing global carbon pollution while conserving water, which is a most precious resource for all in the Middle East,” said Bauer.

“Green Globe will be promoting many of Mövenpick’s Middle East hotels to Gold Member status later this year in recognition of their year-on-year improvement and dedication to sustainability,” he said. – TradeArabia News Service