Testimonials and Observations of the Green Hospitality Award Programme

We started working with the GHA in 2009 and the framework and guidance the programme has given us has been invaluable. The reduction in electricity consumption by over 30% alone has had a huge impact on the hotels profitability, with over 250,000 fewer units used than last year. Focusing on reducing our waste also meant we are able to save €6500 on refuse collection, a 32% decrease on 2008. The programme has most importantly allowed us to develop a real culture of environmental management at The Maritime Hotel.

Simon Tiptaft
General Manager, The Maritime Hotel, Bantry

"Since joining the Green Hospitality in 2009 Awards we have made substantial reductions in our waste going to landfill and we have also reduced our water and energy consumptions. Even by changing our light bulbs to low energy bulbs has a positive effect on the environment and we are delighted to see from our own customer satisfaction surveys that our guests are very happy that we are taking a proactive approach to becoming a green hotel. The hotel teams are delighted to have been recognised for their efforts to date with this silver award and environmental management will continue to be a key focus for us going forward."

Eric Murrihy
General Manager, Hotel Doolin

The hotel has been a member of the GHA since 2007. We have reduced waste by c. 25 tonnes
per annum and have reduced energy consumption which saw our costs remain static even whilst
unit prices increased, whilst increasing our business levels.

Fiona O’Shea
Deputy General Manager, Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick

Since joining the Green Hospitality Awards we have reduced our waste going to landfill by 75%,
installed a woodchip Boiler which has reduced our Carbon Emissions as well as reducing our
heating & hot water costs by 50% and have changed over 60% of our bulbs to Low Energy
Bulbs, fitted dispensers in all of our bathrooms for Soap, Shampoo and Shower Gel and changed
all of our shower heads to low flow to reduce our water flow.

Chris Culleton
Purchasing Manager, Ferrycarrig Hotel, Co Wexford

With the Greening Hospitality Awards it was easier to see where we could cut costs with waste,
water and energy using the benchmark workbook and comparing industry averages. Our waste
costs are down 20% and we were given a contact to locate water leaks which will save us in the
region of €25,000 annually.

Simon Mooney
Deputy General Manager, Killashee House Hotel and Villa Spa

The Greening Irish Hotels programme identified savings of more than € 80 million that could be
achieved by the sector (at 2005 prices) – 50% of these were of the No or Low Cost type.

Environmental Research Technological Development & Innovation (ERTDI) Programme 2000-
2006. Cleaner Greener production Programme (CGPP) 2006 – Irish Hospitality Institute
Greening Irish Hotels Final Report. EPA 2006

There’s a lot of movement in green hotels at the moment, the environmentally conscious
Scandinavian model is becoming more common here and I think will grow over time ...On an
individual level, there’s evidence that consumers are becoming more selective in their choice of
hotel, demanding greenness as well as luxury.

Dr John Sweeney
Professor of Geography, NUI Maynooth – H&RT February 2008