Ireland’s top ten Green Hotels, as verified by The Green Hospitality Programme, were announced at the ‘Responsible Tourism Conference’ which took place in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Lane in Dublin this week.
Based on 2013 environmental benchmark figures produced by hotels, The Green Hospitality Programme has produced its first league table listing for the Greenest Hotels In Ireland, based on what Irish hotels are doing to reduce their environmental footprint. Benchmarks for waste, energy water and carbon footprint were considered.
Coming out on top was The Westport Woods Hotel, Westport, Co. Mayo, which was one of the first hotels to join the Programme in 2004. The hotel has been actively involved in reducing its environmental footprint ever since and has exceeded its goals.
The Westport Woods Hotel, Westport was rated the number one hotel in the Waste Management category and number one in the CO2 Management category. This was achieved by placing a huge focus on energy awareness, building design for efficiency and the use of biomass to provide heating for pool and hotel. Michael Lennon from The Westport Hotel said “For the last 10 years we have sought out ideas and technologies which make our hotel more efficient. Efficiency and customer comfort is a way of life at the Westport Woods Hotel. We wish to thank the Green Hospitality Programme for their support.”
In 2nd place was The River Lee Hotel, Cork City. This hotel has been a committed Green Hospitality member since 2009 and holds the Green Hospitality Gold Award. Ruairi O’Connor, General Manager of the hotel said “We are thrilled with our achievement this year in achieving no 2 greenest hotel in Ireland. Over the past number of years Scott Barclay and his team have excelled at bringing Environmental and community participation into everyday life at our business.”
In 3rd place was Garryvoe Hotel, Co. Cork, a committed Green Hospitality member since 2007. The hotel also holds the highest certification level available to Green Hospitality hotels, the Platinum Award and has been innovative in energy management and even installed one of the first cryogenic CHP plants in 2011. Stephen Belton Managing Director of the Garryvoe Hotel said ‘’We are absolutely delighted to be in the top 10 hotels in Ireland for Best Environmental practices, being surrounded by beautiful green farmland and overlooking five miles of a spectacular bay it completely makes sense for us to be fully committed to the best in Environmental practices, every year we strive to become more carbon neutral and look towards our responsibilities as far as our local environmental is concerned. Many thanks again for honour.”
The league table is the first of many initiatives to celebrate and recognise hotels that have made commendable changes to go green, and in turn make savings for their business.
James Hogan of The Green Hospitality Programme spoke of the importance of the hospitality sector going ‘green’ “Green hospitality has saved our members €35,000 / annum on average, through ‘no cost’ and ‘low cos’ measures. Reducing ones environmental footprint, by reducing waste is good for business and the environment”
For more information, visit www.ghaward.ie
