Rene Pisters, General Manager of the Thai Garden Resort, recently announced the resort has again successfully extended its Travelife Gold Award.
As the only hotel in Pattaya receiving this prestigious award, the resort has proven to be fully committed to protecting the environment, local culture and heritage, supporting the local economy, respecting and treating employees fairly and last but not least, proving their commitment towards the safeguarding of children.
“It would be great if we could convince more hotels in Pattaya to join the Travelife program in order to get a nicer environment,” Rene said.
What is Travelife?
Travelife is an international certification system, promoting sustainability within the tourism industry. It helps tour operators, hotels and accommodations to manage and monitor their social and environmental impacts, as well as communicate their achievements to customers. It is an easy to use sustainability system which provides members with a practical framework to improve their business.
Travelife provides a range of support to help its members prepare for their independent audit. Hotel and accommodation members whose on-site audit shows they fulfil the requirements of the Travelife sustainability criteria will achieve a Gold award. They can then feature on the Travelife Collection website and their award can be used in promotion by hoteliers and tour operators, alongside other recognitions such as their star rating.
Travelife for Hotels and Accommodations is the only certification scheme that works in partnership with tour operators, both in the UK and internationally, who use the system to increase sustainability in the industry and communicate achievements to customers.
What does the Thai Garden Resort do to operate its resort in a sustainable manner?
Environment
Energy
The Thai Garden Resort has reduced its energy use by installing low-energy lighting, ensuring that in-room air conditioning is set to a minimum temperature, use of natural day-light and shading to achieve energy efficiency target. We also make use of solar panels to heat water being used for the guests’ rooms.
Hot air output from our walk-in refrigerators and freezers is being harvested and used to prepare hot water for use in the hotel.
We ask our guests to re-use their bedsheets and towels to reduce the number of laundry items being washed whereby lots of water is being consumed and our oceans are being polluted.
Waste
We have reduced the amount of waste we produce by waste minimization planning activities, including reducing the amount of resources used, reusing materials and recycling, using refillable containers, buying in bulk, using recycled toilet paper. We refrain from the use of individual packaged items on our buffets wherever possible. In our guest rooms we avoid plastic water bottles and provide drinking water in glass bottles.
Water
The hotel uses various methods to save water, including technologies installed in guest rooms such as low-flow shower heads and taps.
We have 4 deep wells on our property to make use of the ground water.
We recycle water from showers to have it filtrated and use this water for our gardens.
The hotel measures its performance regularly to monitor the impact of its sustainability efforts, report on results and plan improvements.
Supporting people
Travelife certification shows that the hotel is committed to treating people fairly and with respect. As well as providing good working conditions for staff and investing in its employees by providing regular training, the Thai Garden Resort aims to be an active member of the local community. We support local charities as well as orphanages and schools with our Toy for Joy program where we collect donations to support children schooling, clothing and classroom items.
Local economy and businesses
The Thai Garden Resort also supports the local community from an economic perspective by purchasing food and other services from local suppliers and encouraging its guests to visit local restaurants, markets and attractions so that they have an opportunity to spend money and support the local economy.
Communication with guests
The Thai Garden Resort also tries to involve guests in their sustainability activities, such as encouraging guests to recycle whilst they are staying in the hotel, using a towel service to help save water, energy and waste.
A key reason for tourism businesses to care about sustainability is to help protect the unique natural and cultural characteristics of their resort, so it continues to attract tourists in the future. The Thai Garden Resort therefore serves local food, provides information on local customs, heritage sites/places of cultural interest, restaurants, or places to buy locally-made goods or souvenirs.
For more information about the Travelife for Hotels and Accommodations please visit: www.travelife.org or www.travelifecollection.com
