Novotel Suva, as well as some 4,000 Accor hotels and resorts throughout the rest of the world, demonstrate their commitment to sustainability on a daily basis, through the group’s ongoing Earth Guest program.
Accor introduced their Earth Guest program in 2006 to join together Accor’s social and environmental responsibility initiatives. The idea is that we are all ‘guests of the Earth’ and should take time to give back to the planet and its people.
A number of initiatives have significantly strengthened the sustainability practices of Novotel Suva in conjunction with all Accor hotels in Fiji – Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa, Novotel Nadi and Mercure Hotel Nadi.
Green Globe Certification
All four of Accor’s Fiji hotels are committed to achieving full Green Globe certification in 2009 and have already reached benchmark status. Green Globe is an international environmental accreditation organisation for travel and tourism operators that examines aspects including water and energy saving, recycling, waste reduction, procurement and community involvement. Certification is measured against strict and specific criteria and accreditation is achieved once an organisation has proven itself to be following best-practice environmental procedures.
Environmental Charter
Each Accor hotel works towards compliance of the group’s 65 point international Environmental Charter, which lays out practical ways to address matters of sustainability, both social and environmental. Many of the goals have already been achieved in hotels and each year the hotels work towards implementing more of these actions progressively.
Cure Kids Fiji
When Accor opened its first hotel in Fiji in 2005, employees wanted to get behind a local cause to demonstrate their commitment to the country. The group worked with New Zealand charity Cure Kids to set up Cure Kids Fiji, which funds vital medicine and equipment to help save the lives of the children of Fiji.
Accor has now raised more than FJ$600,000 for Cure Kids Fiji, which has funded items including kidney vaccines, paediatric probes, infant incubators, a portable echocardiography machine and specialist training for paediatric staff at Lautoka Hospital. The program has now been expanded to provide equipment to Nadi Hospital
and Suva’s Colonial War Memorial Hospital.
Accor employees from Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand took part in the second ‘Accor Race to Survive to Cure Kids’ event last year, pushing their minds and bodies to the limit for the children in an intense five day endurance race of outrigging, running,
> swimming and mountain biking in the Fiji Islands. These events have been the major source of funds so far, with more than $FJ310,000 raised in the 2008 event alone. Cure Kids Fiji has become a crucial part of the culture of Accor’s Fiji hotels and employees participate in a number of other events and activities to raise money and awareness.
Procurement
Accor’s procurement team assists the hotels in reaching their environmental goals by partnering with suppliers that also embrace good environmental practices. For example, the hotels use a sustainable range of cleaning and hygiene products such as soap
dispensers that are designed to reduce the amount of chemicals and water consumed.
Recycling and reducing waste
Initiatives to reduce energy, water and material waste include recycling stations at all hotels for glass, metal cans, plastic and paper, guest options to reuse towels and bed linen, using organic restaurant and garden waste as compost and eliminating the burning of waste, which releases harmful toxins into the environment. Paper products such as serviettes, toilet paper, paper hand-towels and the majority of printed items are from fully recycled materials.
The hotels are also currently working on a project in which used cooking oil is collected and recycled for bio-diesel as an alternative fuel and Novotel Nadi and Mercure Nadi promote the use of their free airport shuttles for groups rather than individual taxis to reduce carbon output.
