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Turning the guests green
Eight months ago, the Edinburgh Radisson SAS hotel took the unprecedented step of employing a full-time environmental consultant. Since then, their electricity bill and natural-gas emissions have been cut by 10% in each area, their waste volume has been reduced by at least 50%, and their high profile green credentials have attracted a substantial amount of new business.
Jo Skailes meets the hotel's 'green girl' who's responsible for the groundbreaking changes…
Increasingly, guests and clients expect hotels and conference centres to be actively environmentally friendly. For Alexandra Hammond, the 25-year-old American Responsible-Business Consultant charged with greening up the Radisson SAS on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, any business that turns a blind eye to the green issue must have something very strong to offer instead:
'Environmental policies such as cutting emissions, reducing waste, saving water and offsetting carbon footprints must be a key part of business-planning for the hospitality industry,' she says. 'They don't have to be costly or complicated but they need to have an impact on energy usage and emissions, which in turn will have a positive effect on the business's energy costs.'
Staff at the Radisson, for whom the environmental message is a key part of their training, have installed a range of energy-saving measures. These include lighting sensors; energy-efficient light-bulbs; a timer-controlled ventilation system which dramatically reduces natural-gas emissions per occupied room; a cardboard baler and industrial can-crusher. The combination of reductive procedures has contributed to slashing the hotel's storage needs, volume of waste and council uplifts.
Under Alexandra's guidance, the Edinburgh Radisson SAS are also piloting new ways to save on linen-washing, and guests who use their towels more than once will be left a thank-you card explaining how much water and electricity has been saved.
Additionally, for every delegate attending a meeting, the hotel is giving a sum of money to carbon-offsetting projects across the world, through Climate Care.
'Guests and clients are increasingly concerned about this issue, and businesses need to address their environmental impact more and more.'
However, it is not merely for reasons of environmental friendliness that the Radisson is investing so much time, effort and capital in its quest to save the planet: 'These measures have also saved us an enormous amount of money,' adds Alexandra, proudly. 'The electricity bill, for example, is normally around £200,000 a year but we have already made savings of around 10 percent of that in the last 12 months. There are a lot of things that can be done very easily for not much outlay.'
And what benefits these achievements are already bringing. Indeed, fewer than 24 hours after receiving the Green Tourism Business Scheme Gold Award in May, seven months before target, they received a business-booking worth £10,000. 'The client had heard about the award and on that basis wanted to work with us. Companies are really latching onto this now.'
For Alexandra and the rest of the staff at the Royal Mile Radisson, it is the only way forward in these times of increasing worry over the state of our planet:
'Hotels that ignore environmental issues had better have something else to bring the guests in. The companies that tackle these issues head-on, however, are going to be the leaders of the next generation.'
In light of this particular hotel's success in this area, the future is most definitely green.
This article has been edited from its original version. For the complete feature, please see Catering in Scotland magazine September/October 2007.
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