Stay smart and green
Whether you offer a high-end luxury experience or a convenient corporate stay, you can
make a number of simple changes to reduce environmental impacts, cut costs and keep
guests happy.
A Toga change
From the luxury Adina Apartment Hotels to the modern and individual Vibe Hotels, Toga
Hotels manages more than 7,000 rooms across Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Keen to
reduce its environmental footprint and costs, Toga Hotels recently undertook a City of
Sydney-led waste and water sustainability audit on all ten of its Sydney properties. Mark
Ronfeldt, Director of Operations, Toga Hotels said: “We wanted a detailed understanding of
how we could get the best return on investment and how to ensure we didn’t have a
negative guest experience – and that was exactly what we got.”
Water
A number of easy, cost-effective savings were identified in all buildings, including:
• installing flow regulators in basin taps and pressure compensating washers (PCWs) in
showers
• retrofitting kitchen taps in serviced apartments with flow regulators
• reducing flush rates of some toilets
• repairing leaks
• regular checks and maintenance across the entire Sydney portfolio, it was estimated this
would result in 23% average water savings in each building, and $172, 000 saving on water
bills each year across the Sydney portfolio, an average of over $17,000 in each building.
According to Mark, each hotel achieved the savings suggested, and in some cases, even
more. “It helped our individual hotel teams really understand the impact of simple changes
and how to achieve results without having any impact on guest experience. The audit
showed just how much water you could save restricting water flow on hand basins –
something guests don’t notice – and how you could restrict the shower flow without
impacting on the quality of the shower.”
Waste
A waste audit identified ways of reducing general waste going to landfill, including
introducing commingled recycling bins for plastics, glass and aluminium, placing additional
recycling signage near bins and introducing smaller organics collection bins for kitchen
waste.
Changes made across the portfolio have resulted in 20% less waste to landfill and 30%
savings in the cost of garbage disposal.
“We’re considering in-room separation right now – we’ve just found bins that look good and
encourage guests to separate waste,” Mark said
Energy
Over the last 12 months, Toga Hotels has also introduced a number of initiatives to reduce
energy use,
including:
• installing LED lighting in public spaces
• fitting air-conditioning sensors in gyms
• changing car park lights from T8 to T5
• installing variable speed drives on swimming pool pumps, cooling systems and major
water pumps Toga Hotels is also doing life-cycle costings on all major plant and equipment
that needs replacing in order to ensure it gets the best energy outcome.
The results achieved 10% energy savings across the portfolio in 12 months.
National change
Since undertaking the City’s audits, Toga Hotels has rolled out changes across its entire
portfolio of Australian properties, and is incorporating lessons learnt into the design of its
new hotels.
“The great results we had in Sydney led to changes across the country and the
recommendations weren’t hard to implement at all,” Mark said. “It’s very possible to build a
beautiful five star hotel and to do so efficiently and sustainably.”
“We’ve had no (negative) feedback at all from the guests – not even from the showers.”
Mark Rondfeldt Director of Operations, Toga Hotels
Adina Apartment Hotel Sydney (formerly the Medina Grand)
Rating: four and a half stars
The Adina Apartment Hotel Sydney provides luxury accommodation in the heart of the city.
It has 144 stylish one, two and three-bedroom serviced apartments with fully equipped
kitchens, laundry facilities and living spaces. Guests also have access to a swimming pool,
spa and gym.
Water
Recommended changes included repairing leaks and installing flow regulators on basin and
kitchen taps, as well as PCWs in showers.
They were able to achieve 21% water savings per year, $17,933 cost savings per year, and
an estimated payback period of 5 months.
Installing PCWs in showers was the most cost effective change, saving 6,806 L/day and
$7,874 per annum.
Waste
Recommended changes include additional commingled recycling for glass, aluminium and
plastic, and additional paper and cardboard collection.
Outcomes included a total of $2,630 cost savings per year, and the reduction of 126 tonnes
of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
Vibe Hotel Sydney
Rating: four stars
The Vibe Hotel Sydney offers all the modern comforts with a trendy twist. Guests in each of
their 191 rooms enjoy facilities such as a pool, sauna, bar and restaurant.
Water
Recommended changes included repairing leaks and installing flow regulators on basin and
kitchen taps, as well as PCWs in showers.
The results were 23% water savings per year, $22, 889 cost savings per year, with an
estimated payback period of just three months.
Installing PCWs in showers was the most cost effective change, saving 11,820 L/day and
$14,615 per annum.
Waste
Recommended changes include additional commingled recycling for glass, aluminium and
plastic, and additional paper and cardboard collection.
The results were a total of $2,110 cost savings per year, and the reduction of 188 tonnes of
greenhouse gas emissions each year.