Holiday Inn Express & Suites Welland

Supporting our hotels to implement a range of sustainability initiatives is key to ensuring we deliver on the commitments of Journey to Tomorrow, our 10-year responsible business plan. Here’s a snapshot of the progress we’re making across our four EMEAA Business Units, and links to where you can find out more. Sustainable sourcing and procurement There are many new innovations and solutions that will allow our hotels to work with suppliers more sustainably and our CR, Procurement, GXSS and Brand teams are moving fast to implement them. These include: Bedding: Our voco hotels are working with suppliers to take discarded single-use plastic bottles and repurpose them to become filling for duvets and pillows. To date, more than 3m water bottles have been diverted from landfill to help our guests have a great night’s sleep! Dry amenities: In Australia and New Zealand, we have worked with Vanity Group to secure sustainable dry amenity alternatives for guest rooms in Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels. Shower caps, sanitary bags, combs and toothbrushes have been replaced with biodegradable alternatives, and we’re working on extending this great initiative across our Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East markets. Natural cleaning products: A group of Holiday Inn Express hotels in the UK have trialled a new and innovative cleaning technology by Tersano, which turns tap water into a safe, highly effective, multi-use cleaner and sanitiser using ozone. Free from toxic chemicals, not only does this help our hotels reduce single-use plastics, it’s also kinder to our guests, colleagues and the environment. In addition to these great initiatives, we’ve helped owners save money – and look after the environment – during the pandemic by removing in-room items such as pens and notepads. We’re now considering which of these can remain “on request” or removed permanently without negatively impacting the guest experience. And, as you may know, IHG is removing miniatures and transitioning to bulk amenities in a major initiative which is continuing to be rolled out throughout this year. Food waste reduction An estimated one-third of all food produced globally goes to waste. With our hotels serving millions of meals to guests every day, we’re introducing a range of initiatives to tackle the issue: In Australia, we’re working with the NGO OzHarvest to enable our hotels to divert food waste going to landfill by donating it to local communities. Even though many of our properties were closed in 2020, we still provided 7,260 meals to vulnerable people, along with an additional 4,811 as part of our relief efforts for the pandemic and the wildfires to mark an impressive first year of our partnership. Across our hotels in the Middle East and Australia, we have partnered with Winnow Solutions, whose innovative AI technology tracks, measures and reduces food waste, allowing our chefs to adjust their menus and be as efficient as possible. Things are also moving in the UK, where our managed estate is piloting a tool for measuring and setting targets to reduce food waste. If successful, this will be rolled out wider so it can help our other hotels, too. In Europe, we’ve been encouraging our hotels to consider the fantastic Too Good to Go app, which can help them monetise their food waste, while providing a no-cost way to increase brand awareness and hotel footfall. Why not take a look? You could find a delicious meal for a great price, while helping to solve food waste at the same time! Carbon and energy reduction With the hotel sector accounting for around 1% of global carbon emissions, we know it’s important to play our part in protecting our planet, so we’ve set a science-based carbon target to reduce emissions within our business. This means lowering carbon emissions across our estate, and planning for new-build properties to operate with very low or zero emissions by 2030 as we maximise the role of renewable sources of energy. To help us track our progress, each of our hotels has a carbon metric to ensure its footprint remains below its 2019 level, while our IHG Green Engage environmental platform monitors monthly utility use, helping us provide tailored support and targets for our hotels in line with our 2030 ambitions. Our engineering team plays a key role in reducing the carbon footprint of our hotels, as Johnson Thomas – Director, Capital Planning & Projects – SEAK & JAPAC – tells us: “It’s my team’s job to help ensure our hotels play their part in protecting the planet,” explains Johnson. “Our engineers work with around 270 hotels across SEAK and JAPAC to help them implement the top 25 actions that will make the biggest difference in the shortest time. That’s everything from new heating systems and LED lighting, to installing building management systems that use sensors and meters to efficiently control utilities. “Energy is typically the second highest cost for our hotel owners, so they look to IHG for guidance on Green suppliers or new initiatives – like teaming up with investment companies who finance energy-efficient projects, which are then paid for by the hotel’s savings, such as the new air conditioning system in our Holiday Inn in Singapore. “It’s not just about cost, though. Guests are more likely to choose a hotel that cares for the planet, while many of our corporate customers want to see a hotel’s carbon footprint before they book with us.” We’re proud to say that IHG Hotels & Resorts is the first company to join the UK Zero Carbon Forum, which aims to bring the hospitality industry together to figure out a roadmap to Net Zero. Karan Khanna, Managing Director, UK&I, says: ‘Being the first hotel company to join the forum allows IHG Hotels & Resorts to build on our science-based carbon target and learn from other industries, share expertise and become the voice of our sector.”

paperless transactions, recycled paper utensils

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Niagara Regional Health

Daily cleaning of elevators and meeting rooms