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Greener approach to hotel business lauded in Taipei

The concept of environmental protection is slowly gaining speed and entering the consumer market, starting with green-minded businesses and hotels, the Environmental Protection Ad-ministration (EPA) said during an award ceremony capping the "2008 National Eco-friendly Hotel and Business Group Competition" in Taipei yesterday.

The purpose of the competition was to demonstrate to the business sector that by reducing consumption, reusing and recycling materials, businesses will not only cut costs, but can also "operate on a more sustainable basis because doing so results in a lower environmental impact," agency Deputy Minister Chang Feng-teng (張豐藤) said during the ceremony.

Following the recent development of the tourism industry in Taiwan, there was an urgent need for hotel owners to develop an environmental consciousness, Chang said.

"A mid-sized hotel throws away as much disposable personal items in a week as 100 families in a year," he said.

VOTES

After a two-month online voting process that received 43,000 votes, 19 winning hotels were announced yesterday, whose selection was "based on water and energy conservation policies, usage of bed sheets and towels, quantity of disposable personal items used, recycling habits and purchasing of goods bearing the EPA Green Mark," Chang said, adding that in future these efforts would be listed as standard practice guidelines for all hotels.

In the tourist hotel category, the top-five hotels were the Westin Taipei, the Formosan Naruwan Resort, the Lees Hotel (Kaohsiung), the Howard Hotel (Kaohsiung) and the Parkview Hotel (Hualien), Chang said.

In the lodging hotel category, the top five were the Landis Hotel (Taipei), the Hsin-an Business Hotel (Nantou County), the Fishers Hotel (Taipei County), the Shan-lin Resort (Nantou county) and the La Plaza Hotel (Tainan), he said.

PROGRAMS

Through its "IN is environmental protection" program, the Fisher Hotel in Taipei County's Tamsui Township (淡水) offers guests who bring their own toiletry free afternoon tea for two, Chang said.

For its part, the Hsin-an Business Hotel offers a NT$200 discount on rooms for guests who agree not to change bed sheets and towels from the second night on, he said.
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