ECOTEL VISION AND MISSIONECOTEL assists hotels in setting standards in environmental best practices, which in turn helps them cut back on operating costs and increases their overall competitiveness. ECOTEL's mission is "to enable hotels to achieve a strategic and economic advantage through environment-friendly operations, systems and processes while positively impacting their local communities.” ECOTEL aims to do this through its certification and training workshops, which empower hotel communities to improve their standards without compromising the environment.

Why should you choose to be an ECOTEL?Recognition of hotel-specific green operations or practices. Some of our member hotels have incorporated ECOTEL principles into the initial stages of design and construction, while other hotels were certified much after they were up and running. In other words, hotels that have been unable to ‘build in’ environment-friendly/resource-efficient systems at the very outset are not automatically disqualified from applying. Hotels that can demonstrate substantial evidence of reducing, reusing and recycling, as well as of using environmentally-friendly materials and/or technologies where possible, are also encouraged to seek our certification.

Broader in scope than a number of other certification programs. Our emphasis is not as much on the fulfilment of very specific environment requirements (energy per guest-night, for example), as on the gamut of practices and processes based on the Five Globes that enable a hotel to function as a responsible business operation while making a positive impact on its local community.

Spans the positioning spectrum. The certification is not just restricted to hotels with higher positioning and luxury orientation, but spans the width of the positioning spectrum recognising high levels of environment commitment and environment-friendly operations in hotels, irrespective of size, positioning, orientation, or profile.

Specific to hospitality. Being managed by HVS, a global consulting giant in hospitality, it is tailored specifically to this industry.

Rigorous standards. The ECOTEL methodology for certification based upon the Five Globes is very well researched and regularly updated to keep current with scientific advances and international thinking.

What are the benefits for ECOTEL hotels?Lower operating costs, higher profits. Through a focused effort on reducing waste generation and increasing operational efficiencies, ECOTELs have consistently demonstrated that ‘going green’ is good for the bottomline.

Enhanced visibility for members. Members enhance their visibility through the ECOTEL website and

also gain access to the reservation engine and other marketing features therein.

Handholding throughout certification period. Clients are updated and assisted to improve their performance through consultation, training and identification of operational areas where they can improve efficiencies and cut back consumption.

Publicly recognized branding. An ECOTEL branding will gain instant recognition in the public domain for hotels that may not have partnered with international chains. Even for those hotels that are part of an international chain, it offers an additional branding that enhances its image as an environmentally and socially responsible entity.

Value for money. In comparison to other certifications, the ECOTEL Certification offers value for money as the cost of certification has been kept low to enable hotels to truly benefit from the transfer of knowledge.

The methodology for the ECOTEL Certification is centered upon the idea of the Five Globes or five areas of certification, which together encompass the processes, systems and practices that ensure an environmentally responsible hotel operation. An audit is undertaken in each of these globes based on an audit checklist. The audit checklist for each of the globes is very well researched and based on scientific and technological advances and international charters and treaties specific to saving the environment.

Environment Commitment GlobeA hotel demonstrates its environmental commitment through wide ranging programs and best practices that minimise its impact on the environment throughout its value chain while lowering overall business costs. For an ECOTEL hotel, “Environment Commitment” encompasses the three main issues of environment management defined by the first three globes (Waste Management, Energy Management, Water Management) and the fourth globe (Employee Education and Community Involvement). This fifth globe also embraces other aspects, in particular a hotel’s effort to involve and gain support from all concerned parties – management, staff, guests, suppliers, contractors and investors, for its goal of sustainable operations. To qualify for the ECOTEL Environment Commitment globe, a hotel is expected to: 

Have a policy in place that defines its environmental objectives, sets targets, and accordingly programs, processes and best practices through which it seeks to achieve these objectives,Provide the appropriate training and resources to ensure that management and staff are able to implement the environmental policy effectively,Have programs and practices in place for reduction in generation of solid waste and consumption of water and energy that have shown substantial and measurable results,

Adopt environmentally friendly cleaning products and procedures, wherever possible,Integrate environmental considerations into purchasing decisions,Have a green team that includes all staff whose input is critical to make the program work, and that consists of one or more representatives from each department,Raise awareness among employees about climate change and need for environmentally responsible behaviour, as professionals and as members of society,Encourage engagement with the local community to raise environmental awareness and support the community’s green initiatives,Comply with all applicable environmental legislation as a minimum standard, andAim for continuous improvement

 The above criteria serve as a checklist for ECOTEL to determine eligibility for the Environment Commitment globe award. This globe is awarded to hotels that are able to successfully achieve all or most of the above requirements, or show tangible and substantial progress in meeting all or most of the above requirements.

Waste Management Globe

For the hospitality industry, the waste created by daily operations is an ongoing challenge. In addition to incurring the costs of waste disposal, hotels need to also allocate valuable back-of-the house space for waste to be stored and sorted. There are other concerns as well, namely the health and safety of those coming into contact with the waste, and the noise created by waste compaction and collection.   Much of the waste created in hotels is generated from within the kitchen (organic food waste, packaging, aluminum cans, glass bottles, corks and cooking oils), or from the housekeeping department (cleaning materials and plastic packaging). Waste is not only created in guest rooms but also in public areas, hotel gardens (engine oils, pesticides, paints and preservatives to grass and hedge trimmings) and offices (toner cartridges, paper and cardboard waste). And refurbishment and renovation projects undertaken at the hotel contribute further to the waste generated by the property.   For hotels, a good waste management strategy not only results in greater operational efficiencies, it also helps conserve energy and water. Waste elimination at source and recycling help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the manufacturing stage; these practices also keep waste out of the landfill, thus reducing landfill methane emissions as well. Recycling one tonne of office paper creates 95 percent less air pollution and uses about 60 percent of the energy needed to produce the same amount of paper from trees. Recycling one aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television set for three hours.   The larger benefits associated with good waste management practices, and certainly the huge potential for reducing operational costs, have generated much attention from within the hospitality industry. Numerous hotels, big and small, are implementing waste reduction programs with great success. At least 22 of the Fairmont hotels around the world get their cooking oil converted into forms of bio-fuel, which are then used to power the properties’ shuttle buses and on-property equipment, including golf course maintenance equipment and vineyard

equipment. Taj Hotels’ Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan gets its kitchen and garden waste made into feed for its biogas plants.   As the industry is able to better assess its environmental impact, hotels are likely to come up with more creative solutions for waste reduction. We also expect to see hotels increasingly lean toward suppliers/vendors who provide environmentally friendly materials and equipment, and to whom the hotels can hand back dry waste for recycling. ECOTEL’s Waste Management effort is centred upon the 3Rs of reduce, recycle and reuse:  

Reduce waste production through waste elimination at sourceReduce the toxicity or negative impacts of the generated wasteReuse the materials recovered from the waste stream in their current formsRecycle, compost or recover materials for use as direct or indirect inputs to new productsRecover energy by sending waste to incinerators or other waste handling facilities

  ECOTEL will set up policies and procedures for handling waste and recoverable material including separation, collection, composting, incineration and land filling and establish training programmes as part of the overall ECOTEL training schedule. ECOTEL will monitor waste management over time and modify the system to optimise it for the property in question.  

Energy Management GlobeEnergy is among the fastest-growing cost items for the lodging industry at large, and for the hotel industry in India, we could safely say that it is the single fastest-growing operating expense. In India, Energy as a departmental cost is in the range of 8% to 15% of a hotel’s Gross Revenue. Both in India and elsewhere in the world, energy-efficiency technologies, features and equipment are becoming increasingly sought-after – both in hotel design and construction as well as in the process design of the various operating systems. Double- and triple-glazed windows; solar panels to generate energy for heating water and powering equipment; the use of wind power to substitute/complement traditional energy sources; thermostatic controls in kitchen and airconditioning equipment; and the conversion of kitchen waste into useable fuel are some of the many steps the industry is taking globally, to hold down energy costs and equally to reduce its carbon footprint. The Leela Kempinski in Goa has a process in place by which vented evaporated steam from the boiler is used to heat water instead of being let off into the atmosphere. Another example is that of the ECOTEL-certified Rodas in Mumbai, which has a chilling tank attached to its air conditioning unit, to store cold energy during off-peak hours. This stored energy is then used during the peak hours, thus reducing compressor overloading and cutting power consumption. While design- and operating system-improvements provide the framework for resource conservation in hotel operations, large energy savings also result through the switch to low-cost, easy-to-implement alternatives (such as CFLs and low-flow showerheads) and through a regular schedule of preventive maintenance tasks. The latter point – the need to keep equipments in excellent working condition through regular preventive maintenance – cannot be emphasized enough. Properly insulating exposed hot and cold pipes to minimize energy loss; plugging leaks in ducting and piping equipment; and cleaning boilers, chillers and condenser coils regularly are

measures that are not costly or difficult to implement, but go a long way in restricting energy wastage through daily operations. Actions that restrict energy wastage, such as turning off lights in unoccupied areas; switching off water heaters during peak-load hours; and adjusting indoor air temperatures to meet but not necessarily exceed guests’ comfort expectations, also present significant energy savings opportunities. While many hotels implement such practices with excellent results, other hotels have not been as successful, not least because of insufficient knowledge of energy consumption within individual departments. Currently most hotels in India do not have energy metres in individual departments; ECOTEL recommends that this be implemented, so that energy is accounted on individual operation basis. ECOTEL attempt to assist hotels in increasing their energy efficiency through the following tasks: 

Determining operational efficiency of major equipment such as boilers, chillers and air handling units.Establishing practical benchmarks of energy reduction by studying the patterns of usage and areas where reduction can take place.Identifying practices and activities that result in the unnecessary expenditure of energy in the course of daily operations, and providing guidance in developing alternative practices.Ascertaining if there is a genuine unmet need that current technology, products or commercial models cannot deliver affordably.Increasing awareness of the applications of renewable energy sources.

Water Management GlobeThe rampant overusing and wasting of water – mainly due to its consistent under-pricing in many parts o f the world - has led to a water-scarcity challenge that has serious implications for the world economy. Global freshwater withdrawals (for agriculture, industry and other uses) grew nine-fold from 1990 to 2000 against a four-fold growth in population, highlights the World Economic Forum Water Initiative, a forecast report prepared for discussion at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in 2009. The document further states that with business-as-usual practices, by 2025 water scarcity could affect annual crop yield to the equivalent of losing the entire grain crops of India and the USA combined (30% of global cereal production).

Currently, 2.8 billion people, or 44% of the world’s population live in areas of high water stress. This figure is expected to rise to 3.9 billion by 2030. India, together with Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and parts of South America and China, will be the most severely affected: In India, water availability per person is projected to fall by half by 2050. Already, the water table is falling more than one metre per year in parts of India, and over-abstraction of freshwater has led to a groundwater overdraft of as much as 56%. Moreover, the agriculture sector will continue to be squeezed to meet the rapidly-rising demand for water from the industrial and energy sectors.   In many parts of the world, the industrial sector is stepping up efforts towards a more judicious use of water. Several international hotel chains, and many large and small independently-

managed properties, are also making significant strides in implementing water conservation practices. Their efforts range from towel and sheet reuse programs to water-efficient bathroom fixtures (such as low-flow toilet flushes and showerheads and sensor-controlled sink faucets), to the collection of rainwater and run-off water for landscape irrigation. Other initiatives include the installing of recycling plants for the treatment of grey water, which is subsequently reused — for irrigation, in cooling circuits, and even as toilet water and for floor washing. Xeriscape landscaping (landscaping using cacti, rock garden formations and plants that need little water) is gaining popularity, and some hotels have adopted the more efficient method of water sprinklers to irrigate their green areas as opposed to the traditional method of watering.   ECOTEL aims to assist hotels in optimising their water availability by the following hierarchy of tasks:  

Reduce water wastageIncrease water reservoir storageEncourage prudent use of reservoir storageAugment conjunctive surface-water and ground-water managementRecycle water

  For the property in question, ECOTEL will perform a comprehensive audit of its water distribution system. ECOTEL will work with the property to frame guidelines and set in place systems for efficient water management, and the same will be monitored and reviewed periodically. Staff training programmes will be conducted as part of the overall ECOTEL training schedule.

Employee Education and Community InvolvementFor a hotel, training its staff to its environmental programme is no less important than the programme itself. A well-thought-out and well-executed education and training effort is a prerequisite for environmental initiatives to be both successful and sustainable. The basic purpose of staff training is to instruct and guide hotel employees about the procedures and practices they must follow, for their department to achieve its environmental targets. There is also a larger purpose: the need to educate employees about the company’s environmental and/or responsible business policy. And it is not enough for individuals to be simply aware of their company’s policy and ethos; they need, through education and training, to develop the sensitivities that enable them to contribute both within, and to, an eco-friendly environment. In developing training programmes, management is faced with at least two main questions: the ‘how to’ of staff education and training; that is, will the education and information sessions take place in a large, formal set-up involving staff across departments and operations and take the aid of presentations and information manuals? Or will the education and training take place within individual departments, involving small groups and their particular supervisors? Moreover, what combination of these alternatives will be utilised? The second question is ‘how often’; in other words, how frequently must training take place to keep the hotel’s environmental programme in the forefront of everyone’s minds? 

Regular and frequent meetings help hotels maintain staff awareness of its efforts and targets; they also provide opportunities to educate and share information with team members—about the need for sustainable hotel operations and how their individual and collective efforts can make a difference. In addition to updating staff on the progress achieved, managers can use briefing sessions to let their respective teams know how savings will be used by the hotel. The knowledge that the money saved through their efforts will fund a particular social or environmental project (or provide a similar tangible benefit), strengthens employees’ interest and participation in the programme. A hotel’s community awareness and outreach effort is a good barometer of its environmental commitment. And the success of these efforts is driven by employees’ belief in their hotel’s environmental programme. Community Development initiatives are therefore awarded points under this fourth globe – Employee Education and Community Involvement.