Ziwira Travel August

Q: Radisson Blu hotels take action to reduce energy and waterconsumption, and to minimize waste generation. Are hotelenvironmental actions supported by a training programmefor all employees and are guests invited to participate?A: For every person working in our group, it is mandatory tofollow the responsible business training within the first monthof working. We have a hotel trainer who leads the program. Youhave to be a certified trainer to provide the training. The certifiedtrainer will explain about the three pillars (the program itself, andthe targets that we have). It’s not only to give information, butit’s helping people to act responsibly at work, and also at home.Within the training, it intensively covers the three pillars.Q: Can you share some details about the training programoffered to your employees related to energy and waterconsumption?A: Within the training program we cover energy and waterconsumption. We show educational videos – behavior torecognize if there is something wrong with an individual,for instance if a guest is not feeling well (health and safetyprocedures). If there are illegal activities happening in the hotel –how to recognize it and what to do in the situation. Trainees haveto give a commitment as to what they are going to do better, andin preparation to the training, they have to do an exercise onlinewhere they have to find out what their carbon footprint is - so theycan actually see where they’re using a lot of resources. They arehighly educated and motivated to make a change. It is not usualpractice for most hotels to have every single employee trained inthis way. This really shows our staff members how important wethink responsible business is - it’s a cornerstone in our company.If we look at our Scandinavian heritage, we value the responsiblebusiness very much with the structure that we have in place andthe follow up that we have in place.Q: Is Radisson Blu involved in any charitable organizationsto benefit those less fortunate?A: One of the important foundations that we support is the WorldChildhood Foundation, the ambassador is the Princess of Sweden.It supports underprivileged children that don’t have schooling, orare orphaned, etc. We provide them with education, and play abig role. Aside from that charity we contribute to a lot of localcharities. One of the great activities that we do here is the BoxAppeal, which originated 8 years ago. It comes from the Shoe BoxAppeal. What we do, is we collect certain essential items such asclothing, toothbrushes, shaving razors, etc. The box contains 12items which we then give away. We engage our customers to joinand help fill the boxes by giving things that are new and that theydon’t ‘need’ – or they can donate a certain amount of money fromwhich we spend filling those boxes.Q: Tell us about other ways (initiatives, materials used)in which Radisson Blu is catering to the environment, andsupporting ecotourism. Do you see ecotourism increasing inDubai?A: We do get more and more requests asking for certificationslike ‘green key’. I believe 70% of our hotels are now ‘green key’certified – the others are in the process of getting certified. In theMiddle East we will be 100% certified by the end of this year.With ecotourism, we do get a lot of certification requests, buttypically if you look at our Middle Eastern clientele, it is not yetas popular as it is in Europe. People here do prefer a little bit morecomfort, for example when it comes to smart showers. We donotice that if we put it down to a certain amount, guests do expectmore. It is a thin line between luxury and sustainability. We havea very nice best practice in order to look at things we can reducewhich do not affect guests’ experience and comfort.With regard to water, we also look at using the cooling towers ina dry way instead of a wet way. We are also looking at collectingcondensation water to use for air conditioning. Recently at theRadisson Blu Deira Creek, we have used drainage from the icecube machines to save 1,400 litres of water a day. Things wedo for electricity include using smart suction units in kitchenswhich save energy. What is becoming popular in this region isbuilding with a grey water facility. It is quite a big investment,and it requires a large amount of space, however the newly builthotels are definitely taking them into consideration. DEWA arebecoming stricter about having these things in place. Responsiblebusiness in the UAE is very much alive.Q: What was the influence behind helping meetings becomepaperless with free Wi-Fi and your Brain Box breakoutmeeting rooms? Please tell us more about this initiative.A: We have a program called ‘Meetings minus Carbon’. Withthis we calculate how much carbon emissions we have, and forthat we donate a tree in certain areas of the world – this happensautomatically if someone signs up for it. ‘Brain Box’ and ‘BrainFood’ is in ‘smart’ meetings to encourage a healthier life. Insteadof having very sweet pastries we have healthy options such asfruit, vegetables, dried fruit, and nuts. For coffee breaks we makesure that there are a lot of healthy options during meetings. Insteadof soft drinks we have flavored water – healthy snacks. Withregard to our restaurant outlets, we have a standard minimumamount of healthy options on every menu, which is marked witha logo that people will recognize – this is one of our corporatestandards. We are focused on reducing calorie intake because theUAE is very consumer driven and obesity is a major issue. As ahotel we have a responsibility to at least give people the optionof eating healthy.August Issue 1 2015