Green is good for airport hotel

Cape Town 150218, UN tourism members visits Hotel Verde , the Greenest hotel in Africa.It is situated near airport. Picture Cindy waxa.Reporter Anel/Argus

Cape Town 150218, UN tourism members visits Hotel Verde , the Greenest hotel in Africa.It is situated near airport. Picture Cindy waxa.Reporter Anel/Argus

Published Feb 20, 2015

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Cape Town – In the heart of busy Airport Industria, there is a wetland, an aqua-ponic herb garden and an eco-pool – all part of Hotel Verde, known as Africa’s greenest hotel.

Yesterday, Taleb Rifai, secretary-general of the UN World Tourism Organisation and David Scowsill, president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, saw first-hand the innovations that have earned this hotel numerous local and international accolades in its first 12 months.

In November, the hotel won the International World Responsible Tourism Award for Best City hotel at the World Travel Market and, most recently, it was included in the top 1 percent of bargain hotels by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site.

Rifai was impressed with the hotel’s approach to sustainability, and asked several questions about the establishment’s green philosophy. Of particular interest were the hotel’s three wind turbines, which stand imposingly in front of the building in line with the height of the roof.

Rifai also wanted to know about how the hotel promotes its green ethos to guests, encouraging them to adopt sustainable practices. The hotel’s general manager, Samantha Annandale, explained that all staff underwent green induction training so that they could share the sustainability philosophy with guests.

Just 400m from an international airport, the hotel has established itself as a global pioneer in responsible tourism initiatives.

All the gym equipment, for example, is power-generating. Take to the treadmill and you generate power for the hotel. Guests are welcomed to the hotel on a green carpet and the three vertical wind turbines.

The foyer and corridors are ablaze with colourful artworks inspired by the work of Grade 11 pupils, while the hotel relies on natural lighting and ventilation.

An eco-wall at the entrance, covered in plants, provides a natural thermal barrier between the lobby and the restaurant.

The lights only go on if someone is in the room and every Wednesday the appliances are switched off for a weekly Earth Hour.

Guests are encouraged to “shower so that we can flush the toilet” as the greywater from the showers is recycled and filtered for use in the loos.

The hotel leases a piece of the adjacent wetland from the City of Cape Town. Here you will find an eco-pool, a wooden walkway and an outdoor gym. The pool uses natural soil filtration and plants instead of chlorine.

The “garden” or wetland is home to hundreds of plants and animals, including two species of snakes which keep the ecosystem in balance.

Stand-alone aquaponic units provide the hotel’s kitchen with fresh salad plants and herbs.

The hotel has a “zero-waste-to-landfill” philosophy and products are recycled and reused where possible. The menus are made from the crates that carried their elevators when they were delivered, for example. All suppliers are based within 160km of the hotel to minimise their carbon footprint.

But it’s the small touches that prove that Hotel Verde is not just paying lip service to the green trend. A notice on the stairwell thanks guests for not taking the lift, while cars with low emissions or containing more than one passenger get preferential parking close to the entrance.

The honey comes from the 60 000 Cape honey bees housed in the eco-area outside. Even the coffee in the rooms is packaged in biodegradable materials.

Cape Argus

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