What is a Green Hotel?
The hospitality industry has long been charged with lagging behind when it comes to eco-friendly initiatives, claiming that there is a lack of innovative technologies that enable them to retain their aesthetic look and feel, while reducing their environmental impact. Hotels around the globe are now making a huge effort to lower their energy and water usage, and reduce solid wastes. They are installing energy efficient lighting, low flow showers and toilets, participating in recycling programs, and contributing to the local communities.
Below are some of our favorite local green getaway spots and what exactly each hotel or spa is doing to help save our blue planet.
Go eco in the city
The Peech Hotel in Johannesburg’s upmarket suburb of Melrose, is a 16-room eco-boutique hotel . The hotel offers personalised service & a chic, luxurious atmosphere. The rooms are spread over the hotel’s one acre garden and blend contemporary design with the latest technology (free WiFi, iPod docking stations & Plasma TVs). The Peech is the ideal hangout for trendy travellers in the hunt for something out of the ordinary.
The Peech is committed to operating a sustainable hotel and wants a stay at The Peech to have as little an impact as possible on the environment. By renovating an existing structure and introducing eco-friendly solutions like solar water heating, and grey water recycling, The Peech hopes to set an example for other hotels and industries in South Africa.
The Peech´s eco-initiatives include:
- The hotel has over 90 square meters of green space per hotel guest. The hotel’s footprint has been kept to a minimum with expansive green space for guests to relax in.
- The hotel has solar water heating throughout the hotel – guest rooms, kitchen and laundry cutting electricity usage by a third.
- The Garden suites have a grey water recycling. This provides water for garden irrigation cutting down on use of chlorinated municipal water.
- The rooms have double-layer insulation to reduce heat in summer and heat-loss in winter.
- The hotel uses ecological detergents and cleaning agents in the hotel and kitchen.
- The hotel has an on-site water bottling facility that provides drinking water for the bistro and rooms. This cuts out waste from plastic bottles and avoids the need for water deliveries.
- The bistro grows some of its own herbs & vegetables keeping food deliveries down and the kitchen stocked with organic ingredients.
- The hotel recycles as much as is possible in South Africa – cans, paper, cardboard, glass and kitchen oil.
De Noordhoek Hotel is a newly built four star boutique hotel, adjacent to, and posing as the manor house of the Noordhoek Farm Village. Situated at the southern end of Chapman´s Peak Drive, along the renowned Cape Point Route, De Noordhoek Boutique Hotel offers excellent value and comfort to leisure and corporate travelers alike.
De Noordhoek Boutique Hotel is the first hotel in Cape Town to employ solar heating for its hot water needs. Low energy lighting, water saving showers, separation of waste for recycling and general design efficiency all contribute to their responsible tourism ethic. The hotel garden, with the exception of four lemon trees, is indigenous and water wise. Dining tables have been manufactured utilising recycled timber by a local entrepreneur, and personnel employed are all from households within a 10km radius of the hotel.
Into the wild
Vygenhoek Organic Spa is the first dedicated organic spa in South Africa and is recognised as one of the top 10 spas in SA. Vygenhoek is set in the serene country setting of the trout village of Dullstroom and its guests are pampered in an extraordinary, holistic environment.
The spa was conceptualised around holistic wellness, using carefully selected, organic products and treatments. Meals are organic and seasonal. The agriculture practiced on the Vygenhoek estate, which presently focuses mainly on Lavender and Rosemary cultivation, is also conducted through firm organic principles. The oils distilled from the harvested plants are used in the treatments offered and this enhances the unique experience associated with the spa.
Vygenhoek Organic Spa is now also a great place to go with the whole family as they have recently introduced an organic spa kids holistic therapy menu as well.
So the next time you feel the need for a weekend getaway, make it an eco one!
The liveeco team
