The First Facility Management Blog

The hotel chain is coordinating Accor Earth Guest Week from April 15-22 in honor of the 37th annual Earth Day on April 22. As part of this event, Accor North America, which operates more than 1,200 upscale and economy hotels, will plant 20,000 trees representing each Accor employee in North America, implement a 65-point environmental check list at all properties and corporate, and donate $375,000 to educational and charitable groups, while maintaining its ongoing environmental practices. These activities are led and put into action in local communities by Accor North America’s six brands and 1,200 properties in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico: Sofitel, Novotel, Ibis, Red Roof Inn, Studio 6 and Motel 6.

According to the company, the Earth Guest Week efforts are designed to maximize Accor employee involvement in beautifying the planet, educating and helping community members to implement their own Earth Guest initiatives. The posting of 65-point, tri-lingual environmental checklist posters throughout Accor North America’s properties and corporate headquarters is aims to convey to employees pro-environmental actions including training, consumption reduction, monitoring, and analysis. This checklist enables Accor’s employees to reach the ultimate goal of reducing their collective environmental footprint.

Accor North America notes that it supports education and the development of a strong community as the best devices to protect and maintain the earth’s resources. To demonstrate its support, the company has made charitable contributions of $375,000 to several institutions that benefit the local and global community. It is also donating to America’s Second Harvest, the largest relief network in the U.S. whose mission is to eradicate hunger; to the Tom Joyner Foundation to benefit minority students attending college; Canine Companions, an animal assistance program for people with disabilities; and scholarship funds for underprivileged students seeking a career in hospitality to the University of Houston, Johnson & Wales University and Penn State.

Other initiatives include offering organic food on the hotel restaurant menus and donating 10% of sales to America’s Second Harvest; the creation of employee mini organic herb gardens, offering battery recycling locations at select hotels and the corporate headquarters, and hybrid automobile displays.

Several key programs Accor operates year-round are:
* Participation in energy and water conservation programs including creation of a monthly energy/water consumption report to inform each hotel of its month to date progress in regards to consumption savings, taking into consideration variables such as weather and hotel activity levels (all Sofitel, Novotel and Ibis hotels since 2004)
* Water saving shower heads and faucet aerators (all brands)
* Ozone machines were installed on laundry washers; these machines allow the hotel to wash linen and towels with cold water instead of hot and reduce the use of soap/detergent (all Sofitel hotels with laundry)
* Using environmentally sensitive Ecolab™ laundry and cleaning products (all Red Roof, Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations)
* Technologically advanced heating and cooling systems to reduce consumption of power (all brands)
* Fluorescent bulb recycling in all 670 plus corporate-owned Motel 6 and Studio 6 properties by the end of 2007
* Corporate office recycling program
* Printing five million brand directories on recycled paper using Soy ink (all Red Roof, Motel 6, and Studio 6 directories)
* Ongoing retrofitting of fluorescent lighting (all brands)