Eyja Guldsmeden Hotel awarded Iceland´s first Green Globe Certification

Eyja
Eyja
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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Green Globe recently awarded Eyja Guldsmenden Hotel its inaugural certification, a boutique hotel in Reykjavik, opened in the spring of 2016.

Eyja Guldsmeden Hotel, a boutique hotel in Reykjavik, opened in the spring of 2016 in the up-and-coming downtown area. Eyja Guldsmeden’s operations follow the guidelines of Guldsmeden Hotels, based on sustainability and ecology.

Green Globe recently awarded Eyja Guldsmenden Hotel its inaugural certification.

The accreditation is evaluated based on the property’s performance of over 300 indicators, across three pillars of sustainable development: economic, environmental and social. The hotel was able to demonstrate innovations that improve the quality of service and comfort for both its customers and employees alongside environmental protection measures and the reduction of its carbon footprint as well as an ongoing commitment to preserving the planet and supporting the local community.

Linda Jóhannsdóttir, Co-founder and CEO of Eyja Guldsmeden Hotel said, “I have a deep passion and belief that we have a responsibility to support and protect our community and our environment. We use sustainable business practices, and this has an impact not only ecologically and socially but also economically.”

Eco-friendly travel options are projected to increase significantly in 2018 in order to meet green travelers’ demands. Business travel is also going greener with many corporations implementing booking policies that require traveling employees stay at sustainable hotels.

“Many hotel guests want to stay in a ‘green’ hotel as it allows them to know that they’re helping to protect the environment. In fact, about 76 percent of travelers say that implementing eco-friendly practices is important in their choice of lodging, and this figure is rising. Having a green certification, such as Green Globe, allows us to draw these ecologically minded guests to our hotel,” added Ms Jóhannsdóttir.

Eyja Guldsmeden adheres to its Sustainability Management Plan (SMP) which has been developed by the Guldsmeden Hotels’ Green Team in accordance with Green Globe Certification Standards.

The Green Team, which manages both new and ongoing sustainability initiatives, worked together with all departments and colleagues to devise and identify sustainability initiatives thus creating a bottom-up approach which will simplify the integration of the SMP across all departments. This is a continual process and the SMP is to be used both internally and externally. Internally, as a guide for work undertaken by staff within individual departments at Guldsmeden Hotels and externally for stakeholders, whether they are guests or suppliers, to understand the way the business is run taking into consideration the triple bottom line.

For further information please click here.

Green Globe is the worldwide sustainability system based on internationally accepted criteria for sustainable operation and management of travel and tourism businesses. Operating under a worldwide license, Green Globe is based in California, USA and is represented in over 83 countries. Green Globe is an Affiliate Member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). For information, please click here.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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