While the certification initially applies only to the City Lodge Hotel brand, the group has largely implemented the same technology and procedures in its Courtyard Hotel, Town Lodge and Road Lodge brands. Green Leaf Eco Standard is an initiative of the Wilderness Foundation, aimed at enabling and certifying the balance between business and nature.
Over the past three years, the City Lodge Hotel Group has rolled out a group-wide energy-efficiency initiative across all four of its brands with the emphasis focused on the installation of LED lighting (around 40,000 bulbs) and heat pumps, and the monitoring and reduction of energy consumption. The group is also a member of Eskom's 49M energy-efficiency campaign, which commits partners to a 15% reduction in electricity usage.
More recently, the group has embarked on a water-efficiency programme across the City Lodge Hotel brand, focusing on efficient flow technology on shower heads and taps, dual-flush toilets and the reusing of towels. The intention is to roll this out across the other three brands.
Attention has also gone into improving waste management as part of the certification for the City Lodge Hotel brand. This has included the separation of different types of waste on site, the transport of waste to recycling centres and the transport of non-recyclable waste to landfill sites.
According to Clifford Ross, the group's CEO: "We're proud of achieving this latest certification as it recognises the serious attention we have paid to reducing our carbon footprint and maximising our effective use of electricity and water and responsible disposal of recyclable and non-recyclable waste.
"Standards for responsible tourism have also been incorporated into the certification we have received, further demonstrating our commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility in our operations," he added.
Andrew Phillips, CEO of Green Leaf Eco Standard said: "I have had the pleasure of witnessing the leadership group of City Lodge initiate a responsible tourism mindset change throughout its hotel brands and to now formally sign off on core certification under the Green Leaf Eco Standard certification programme is recognition well deserved."
Significantly, City Lodge's Green Leaf certification complements the City Lodge Earth Day initiative, which was launched on social media platforms at the beginning of June. The core message of this campaign is that every day is Earth Day. The pay-off line is "no planet no you; no you, no us."
Marketing collateral is being developed to communicate this messaging to guests within hotels enabling them to participate in the campaign in a practical way.
