Seychelles – January 2020 - Green Globe recently awarded its prestigious certification to Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa. The resort and its sister property Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Spa are the first Hilton hotels to be certified by Green Globe in the Africa and Indian Ocean Region.

The Green Globe certification is a structured assessment of the sustainability performance of travel and tourism businesses and their supply chain partners. The Green Globe Standard includes 44 core criteria supported by over 380 compliance indicators including impactful eco-friendly projects and local community support.

Additionally, Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort and Spa was awarded the prestigious “Eco-Friendly Enterprise of the Year” at the 8th Seychelles Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) Business Awards ceremony held on Friday, January 17th at the Avani Hotel.

Key stakeholders such as companies, entrepreneurs and individuals of the private sector were recognized and rewarded for their outstanding contribution to the country's economy, business, society and community.

Moreover, on the same day, the resort has been crowned Africa and Indian Ocean's winner of the Hilton “Driving Value” initiative, which focuses on reducing energy and water consumption while maintaining the best quality of service for guests and team members.

Established on Silhouette since 2011, Hilton Labriz is and remains a major player when one thinks of redefining the notion of “Conscious Travelling” as the hotel never ceases to amaze with a wide range of sustainability initiatives, becoming a true example of corporate social responsibility.

The resort is devoted to the conservation and rehabilitation of Silhouette Island, hand in hand with the Island Conservation Society and the Island Development Company to make it among the finest restored tropical island ecosystems in the world and promote true 'eco-tourism'. Best practices are created and shared with both team members and guests to create memories of a pristine island experience.

Being a large resort in an even larger national park, framed by a marine park, it is an unique opportunity to work in harmony with and give back to nature through numerous eco-friendly projects and initiatives.

Hilton Seychelles Labriz has installed its own water bottling plant on Mont Dauban, the highest peak on Silhouette Island. The water is filtered and placed in reusable glass bottles that are used on Silhouette and sent to the two sister properties, Hilton Northolme and DoubleTree Allamanda. The final goal is to go 100% plastic free by using those glass bottles and pasta straws in rooms and restaurants.

In addition, unlimited complimentary water is available to all guests visiting Hilton Labriz, as they are provided with stainless steel bottles upon arrival that they can refill at hydration stations throughout the resort. The combined efforts of the Hilton hotels in Seychelles have saved 20,000 plastic bottles/411 kgs of plastic each month since January 2018.

The energy saving initiatives undertaken by Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa are truly unique and have had a great impact, saving thousands of kilowatts per hour and cubic meters of water each year. All villas and public areas are equipped with LED bulbs rather than halogen lights, saving more than 267,165 KhW per year. All villas are controlled automatically, meaning that lights and air conditioning will switch off when the doors remain open for more than 30 minutes, saving 38,400 khW per year. Additionally, the installation of occupancy sensors at the back of house and office areas save 7500 khW per year.

The installation of low flow rate showers in 60 villas save 1,120 m3 of water per year and the low flow aerator in team member accommodation areas saves 5,700 m3 of water per month.

LED Tubes for back of house areas save 27,000 khW per year, while the food waste grinder installation saves 60% of of past diesel consumption and the kitchen hood optimization system saves around 88,915 khW per year.

Additionally, two types of power generation sources were installed on the island: Hydro Power and a Wind Turbin, having respectively a power generation capacity of over 13,490 kWh and 18,396 kWh per year.

The impact of these initiatives is measured through Lightstay, an award-winning Hilton platform, which manages and reports hotels environmental and social impacts across Hilton's global portfolio of over nearly 5,000 hotels. Since LightStay's launch, Hilton is proud to have saved over $1billion worldwide by operating sustainably and managing energy, carbon, water and waste.

Sustainable and local sourcing is a priority, and in support of this the resort has implemented its own on-site organic garden, in which it grows over 200 different kinds of herbs and vegetables; 100 kilograms are harvested each week to be used in the restaurants.

The resort has recently executed an aquaponics project, which is a combination of aquaculture (growing aquatic animals) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water without using soil). Plants are fed the aquatic animals' discharge or waste. In return, the vegetables clean the water that the fish live in.

In addition, the Hilton Seychelles Group launched its own “Soap for Hope” recycling initiative with supplier Diversey. The hotels are currently in partnership with The President's Village, an organization that supports youth from challenging backgrounds. Young people are trained to recycle the soap by salvaging the hotel's soap waste and produce new soap bars, which is then supplied to the local community.

The group has also undertaken several campaigns in order to promote local youth education in tourism by organizing countless fairs at local tourism universities and academies involving team members from the three properties to spread their knowledge and inspire youth.

Numerous partnerships have been introduced in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Tourism to give practical knowledge to students by placing them in the different departments of the resorts, resulting in employment opportunities in the future.

As the great philosopher, Plato, once said “The beginning is the most important part of the work” and these actions are just the beginning of many more positive initiatives to come.

-Ends-

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you need any further information about these awards.

Good Results PR

T: 02033975180

E: genevieved@goodresults.co.uk 

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