Press Release
Brussels, 21 January 2016
Thon Hotels, Green Hotels Thon Hotel EU and the Stanhope Hotel’s Green Key label been renewed and Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie awarded for the first time. A new award for Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie On 20th January 2016, after several months’ hard work to comply with the many criteria of the “Green Key” Ecolabel, Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie was awarded the long-awaited label. The “Green Key” is an international Ecolabel awarded to over 2,300 tourist establishments worldwide for their environmental policies and performance. The coveted “Green Key” is well-known internationally and is particularly appreciated by European guests in any urban hotel network. It was set up in Brussels in January 2011 by the Brussels Minister of Tourism with the aim of positioning the Capital of Europe as a sustainable destination. To earn the label, candidates for the “Green Key” must meet a wide range of criteria in areas such as water, energy and waste management, promoting non-polluting mobility and nature activities, cleaning, food, the management of open spaces, the interior environment, administration and office spaces, overall environmental management and guest and staff information and involvement. The label combines environmental performance (strictly Ecolabel criteria) and environmental management criteria. Thon Hotels’ management is aware that natural resources are limited and is committed to reducing the hotel’s impact on the environment while maintaining a high-quality service for its guests. Its primary aim is to reduce pointless waste, apply selective sorting, encourage recycling and reduce water and energy consumption. Significant investment has been allocated to achieve this (replacing window frames, replacing electric bulbs with LEDs, replacing plastic bottles with glass bottles). Thon Hotels is also committed to complying with the Brussels – Capital Region’s environmental legislation but wishes to go further to make the hotel as environmentally-friendly as possible. It trains and encourages its staff to comply with the environmental requirements and criteria. A major awareness-raising event has been organized to ensure that everyone is fully informed and aware of the need for this approach in every part of the hotel and in all the positions. Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie no longer uses chemicals for cleaning; instead, it uses microfibre cloths and ionizers. Flow reducers have been added to shower heads and taps and instructions for “sustainable” use have been added in the bedrooms (re-use of towels and sheets, a € 5.00 voucher offered to guests if they do not want their room cleaned ). The voucher may be used in the hotel’s 91 – restaurant or given to the “Good Planet” association to reconnect children to the nature – check out the video.
In addition, catering products have been replaced by local “fair trade” products (local Belgian products, local organic products). The Management is also seeking to raise awareness among guests to encourage them to help significantly reduce the hotel’s impact on waste production. For all these reasons, the Management of the Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie decided to give its full commitment to obtaining the “Green Key” in order to prove that it was not just spouting words but taking practical actions to reduce the hotel’s ecological footprint. Actions planned for 2016 -
Blood Donor Day at the Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie: Wednesday 13th April 2016 Draw up an organic menu Take part in organic Week Discovery and awareness of flowers, fruit and vegetables in town Take part in European Waste Reduction Week Take part in a book exchange Take part in World Water Day Take part in “Lights Out” Day Buy a We-Bike, a bike that converts human energy into electricity, so that when you pedal, you produce electricity to recharge GSM and tablet batteries, etc.
Two other hotels in the group to which the Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie belongs – the “Thon Hotels” Group – have also been awarded the prestigious “Green Key” Ecolabel, in 2012. They are the Thon Hotel EU and the Stanhope Hotel.
Green Key for Thon Hotel EU Thon Hotel EU has opened in 2012 as an environmental-friendly hotel and is continuously improving. We still go ahead with the green cards which allow people to decline housekeeping service and for this gesture towards nature the hotel offers a € 5.00 voucher that guests can use at The Twelve restaurant or donate to GoodPlanet Belgium. Up till now more then 21 000 green cards have been received which means saving tons of water, cleaning products and electricity. As from this year we launched the green package that already excludes the cleaning service and thus preserves the resources of our planet. Thon Hotels keeps on working together with GoodPlanet Belgium on the project Nature Discovery to help reconnecting children with nature. This year the main project of communication and action has been around insect hotels: information about the different insects that shelter, inspiration to make an insect hotel at home and raising awareness about the important role of insects on the environment.
Thon Hotel EU has an insect hotel since 2014 and we understand the advantages of such investment. Moreover, we have reinstalled since April this year two bee hives on our patio roof top in association with the “Société Royale d’Apiculture de Bruxelles et ses Environs”. The bees have been helping out with pollinating the trees of the surrounding parks and the vegetables of our garden (tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, blackberries, etc.). Moreover, the bees have produced up to 80 kg of very tasteful honey that will be used in the kitchen of our restaurant. A unique product that adds even more value to the already large assortment of home-grown, home-made, fair-trade, seasonal, organic and local products that we use on a daily basis for our famous breakfast buffet and contemporary dishes at our restaurant. To accompany this food, we continue to serve our own unique green beer Thonner’ke. Just as previous years, Thon Hotel EU has participated to the World Water Day by distributing hourglasses to our guest (awareness for water consumption), the European Clean up Day (collected 2 containers of waste in the surrounding streets of the hotel), the Mobility Week (organizing a bicycle exposition and giving our guests the opportunity to go to work with a eco-friendly taxi bike) and the European Week of Waste Reduction (“Give your Book a Second Life” and “Undress to Impress”). Above that we still organise Blood Donation Days in collaboration with the Red Cross. This year with 4 days we have been able to gather 424 donors and safe lives with 205 litters of blood. With all those ongoing actions and with the involvement of all Thon staff members, we are happy to announce that the Green Key label for the Thon Hotel EU has been extended until January 2017. By being a Green Key labelled hotel, our guests can since this year pay their room nights with eco cheques. We will not rest on our laurels: 2016 will be another great year for green projects. The main pro ject that will be launched is the installation of a co-generation system. This heat engine will generate electricity and simultaneously useful heat (instead of losing heat through chimneys when using classical heating engines). Thanks to this co generation system the energy efficiency will improve and greenhouse gas emissions will decrease. Yet another way to preserve our environment while maintaining a high-quality service.
Green Key for Stanhope Hotel The Stanhope Hotel, also at the cutting edge of every ‘green' approach initiated here since 2009, was amongst the first batch of hotels to receive the 'Green Key' label in May 2012 and has never stopped developing and refining its activities since. The different initiatives delivered by Stanhope Hotel are similar to those implemented by the Thon Hotel EU (Client Eco-cheque, European Week for Waste Reduction, recycling, waste sorting, awareness-raising for personnel, etc.) but since the hotel is a prestigious turn-of-the-century Brussels residence the building has been adapted gradually. For example, 95 % of our electric light bulbs have been replaced by LEDs, plastic bottles have been replaced by glass bottles. A treated water fountain is available for conference rooms, the restaurant, room service, buffet waste is reduced (more individual packaging of food). We have benefited from an audit of our product usage and have participated in the project ‘Alimentation durable hors cantines' (Sustainable Food Planning, excluding Canteens) organised by ‘Bruxelles
Environnement' (Brussels Institute for Environmental Management - IBGE) and many items have been replaced by local Fairtrade products. A big awareness raising event has been organised so that hotel staff are kept up-to-date and made aware that this approach is essential at all levels within the hotel and in all its operations. As from Spring 2013, the Restaurant Brighton presents “healthy sustainable gastronomy”. The term “healthy sustainable gastronomy” (I.N. – Intelligent Nutrition) has been devised, turned into a reality and implemented nutritionists. Our chef Laurent Gauze has followed the appropriate training courses and our restaurant has now been awarded the SIIN label (SIIN – Scientific Institute for Intelligent Nutrition). Eating “I.N.” is a way of life as well as an art of living that combines pleasure, conviviality, a quest for well-being and health and a responsible commitment. Intelligent nutrition is a Nutrition-Health-Sustainability package that is respectful of man’s health and that of his planet. It is a set of clear, precise, reliable recommendations aimed at anyone looking to enjoy a healthy, authentic diet. At maintenance level, for example, we no longer use chemical products; all cleaning is carried out with microfibre cloths and by air purifiers. Water flow restrictors have been placed in shower heads and taps and instructions for ‘sustainable' procedures and usage have been placed in the rooms (switching off/dimming of lights, re-using towels, pre-waste sorting, minibar recommendations, etc.). In addition to many other ‘greener issues', the Stanhope Hotel also offers a green package: ‘A Green Stay in Brussels' (149 €/2 guests), comprising one night including breakfast, a plan of green walks in Brussels, a ‘Villo’ map of self-service bike rentals, metro ticket, 1 hour free internet access, access to sauna and fitness and a later checkout time (3 PM). These are just a few examples of the initiatives developed to meet the various criteria required for ‘Green Key' accreditation. Some of the yearly actions organized since 2012 at Stanhope Hotel :
To celebrate the Earth Hour happening worldwide in March, guests are invited to switch off the lights in the rooms from 7.30 PM to 9.30 PM and to join us for a ‘Happy Earth Hour’ at the hotel’s Library Bar to taste the specially created cocktail « Green Passion » in a charming candle ambiance.
During the European Bio Week, a bio menu is created by the Chef Laurent Gauze for the Brighton Restaurant.
Mobility week: The guests showing a public transport tickets upon check-in are rewarded with a voucher for a green cocktail at the bar of the hotel!
To celebrate the Obscurity Night local happening in October, guests are invited to switch off the lights in the rooms from 7.30 PM to 9.30 PM and to join us for a ‘Happy Obscurity Hour’ at the hotel’s Library Bar to taste the specially created cocktail « Green Passion » in a charming candle ambiance.
Stanhope Hotel participates to the European Week for Waste Reduction by organizing a "Recycling Expo" in the lobby of the Hotel. An awareness project inviting our guests to discover our efforts in terms of waste reduction trough the Recycling Art presented by Brussels creators and Stanhope Green Team.
Thon Hotels Group is looking to undertake a number of actions to make its own contribution to society’s commitment to urban ecology. It is hoping to help Europe’s political leaders assume their responsibility for preserving biodiversity in our towns and cities.
The group “Green Team” is made up of: THON HOTEL BRISTOL STEPHANIE Mrs. Christine Delord Avenue Louise 91 – 93, B-1050 Brussels Tel.: 02 543 33 65 – christine.delord@thonhotels.be www.thonhotels.com/bristolstephanie bristolstephanie THON HOTEL EU « Your Top Eco-Friendly hotel in Brussels » – check out the video ! Ms Elise Gillet Rue de la Loi 75, B-1040 Brussels Tel.: 02 204 39 22 – elise.gillet@thonhotels.be www.thonhotels.com/eu thonhoteleu
STANHOPE HOTEL Mrs. Ilse Huenaerts Rue du Commerce 9, B-1000 Brussels Tel.: 02 506 90 01 – ilse.huenaerts@thonhotels.be www.thonhotels.com/stanhope stanhopebrussels