Why Leopold Hotel Oudenaarde is an eco-friendly Hotel?
Sustainability and climate change are huge issues for our generation and something that Leopold Hotel Oudenaarde takes very seriously. We are proud to have earned our Green Hotel Certification from Green Key Global and continue to uphold the high standard set out by the organisation to ensure our hotel has as little impact as possible on the environment. Here are some of the main changes we have made to become an environmentally friendly hotel.
What is the Green Key Eco-Rating Program?
‘The Green Key award is a leading standard of excellence in the field of environmental responsibility and sustainable operation within the tourism industry.’ In other words, the prestigious award proves our commitment to keeping Belgium as green as possible. It’s also a promise to our guests that by opting to stay with us, you are helping to make a difference on an environmental and sustainability level. The criteria set by Green Key are tested regularly to ensure that the high standards are being met in every way. In Leopold Hotel Oudenaarde we are proud of our achievement and plan to maintain and renew our award every year. We’d also like to educate our guests on how best to travel to have as little impact as possible.
How can our guests help?
We encourage our guests to opt-out of daily housekeeping if they are staying more than one night. Daily hotel housekeeping has a huge impact on the environment, using thousands of litres of water, a huge amount of chemicals and supplies and taking up countless man-hours. If just 15% of hotel guests opt-out of daily housekeeping throughout a stay of two or more nights, the results would include significant reductions in water, chemicals and energy used in cleaning and washing of linen and towels.
We also encourage guests to reuse towels as often as they would at home and to sort their rubbish into recyclable and non-recyclable so they housekeeping staff can dispose of it correctly. We encourage guests to be aware of the energy they use in the hotel, switching off lights and plugging out devices if not in use. We want to educate our guests on sustainable travel so they can use these lessons for any further hotel stays.
How do we help?
The food and drink we offer in the hotel is locally sourced where possible. Buying from local suppliers and growers not only helps to promote our local economy and promotes jobs in the area, it also cuts down on the impact that transport and importing has on the environment. Our delicious breakfast buffet has a wide range of hot and cold dishes which are locally sourced where possible.
We often print paper signs for our guest rooms advising them where the fresh towels are, or to use as “Do not Disturb” signs. To save paper and ink and to reduce waste, we have replaced the paper signs with reusable plastic ones which can be reused forever.
In each of our guest bathrooms, we leave a pair of plastic cups for our guests’ convenience. They often come in handy when brushing your teeth or rinsing your mouth. To save waste and cut down on single-use plastic, we have replaced them with reusable cups.
Our housekeeping team always do their part to keep their jobs as environmentally aware as possible. Recently, all harsh chemicals used in the hotel were replaced with more eco-friendly alternatives. That means, fewer chemicals are being flushed or washed down the sink and entering our water supply.
Our central ordering system is set up so that the hotel buys in bulk. We try to avoid making many small orders, preferring to order a large quantity at once and storing it for future use. When we maximise our orders, it means fewer deliveries are needed, cutting down on transport and carbon emissions created by trucks and cars.
Leopold Hotel Oudenaarde strives to maintain our high standards of green hotel certification and maintain our Green Key eco-rating as an environmentally friendly hotel. We’d love to hear your ideas on how to reduce our impact on the environment too! Don’t forget to use our official website to avail of our best available rates, making sure you aren’t wasting your hard-earned cash.
