Thai Garden GM Rene Pisters
takes guests out for a morning ride.
Peter Kühlwein
From eliminating individual packets of butter to
installing solar panels, the Thai Garden Resort’s award-winning commitment
to environmental conservation is a mix of management philosophy and
financial investment.
The Pattaya hotel recently was awarded the Travelife
gold-level award from British travel association ABTA for a “very high
commitment” to sustainable tourism and the hotel’s encouragement of others
to do the same. General Manager Rene Pisters said winning the certification
was a grueling process, but worth in the end.
“Travelife conducts comprehensive hotel checkups,”
Pisters said. “There are unannounced visits by the Travelife inspectors, who
check the energy invoices, do interviews with the hotel staff and survey the
use of chemical agents at the hotel, to mention only a very small part of
the tests.”
Showers and toilets are checked for their water
consumption and as the circumstances require, measures have to be adopted to
lower the water expenditure, he said. Sometimes the measures are as simple
as putting liter-bottles of water inside a toilet’s water tank. In other
cases, water-pressure is lowered to drop consumption.
“But of course it won’t work without some investment,”
Pisters admitted. “We installed solar panels on our roofs and are able to
provide the whole resort with hot water from the solar system. We lowered
our gas consumption by 80 percent.”
Water is also heated by the hot air churned out by
compressors on the hotel’s many refrigerators and freezers, something normal
households could do, he said. The resort also collects and filters shower
water to its gardens, lowering water use further.
Then there’s simply the decisions of management: Small,
individually packed portions of butter, marmalade or cosmetics have been
banned from breakfast tables and restrooms due to the copious amount of
plastic waste involved.
“We are just one hotel business out of many in Pattaya
and we can only contribute our own share to protect the environment,”
Pisters said. “But imagine what savings potential there is in all of the
city’s 703 hotels?”
By utilizing Travelife tools, which ABTA promotes to help
hotels and tour operators monitor and manage their social and environmental
impacts, the Thai Garden Resort encourages guests to get involved in
conservation. Towels and bedding are only changed on demand. An extra key
must be used to turn on power.
“If you are on a day trip, you don’t let the water run in
your room all day long. So, why should the electricity be turned on during
that time?” Pisters asked. “We purchased the best Daikin air conditioners
available for our guests and cooling a room down to the desired temperature
requires just a few minutes.”
Hotel staffers are proud of having won the Travelife
recognition and realize many holidaymakers are looking for “green” hotels.
As part of its membership, Thai Garden Resort must promote the Travelife
product on its brochure.
“Travelers study their travel brochures and check for the hotel category
first. But they also look for other aspects to make up their decision and
environmental aspects are fundamental and a growing issue in this decision
making process,” the general manager said.
