The Bath hotel setting the standard for environmental sustainability

The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa is the first hotel in the Southwest to achieve Green Key accreditation

By Alastair Salmon

Bath’s Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa has been awarded for its commitment to environmental sustainability.

The hotel is the first in the Southwest to receive the Green Key accreditation. It comes as a result of rigorous assessment to ensure the business adheres to the Foundation for Environmental Education criteria.

“Travel and tourism do impact the environment, so we felt we had a responsibility in some small way to try to mitigate any impact we have and make a positive difference.”

The accreditation is the culmination of years of work to move the business in a more sustainable direction. Last year they introduced new boiler systems to improve energy efficiency, and 90% of the hotel’s lighting is now LED, significantly reducing their energy consumption.

In addition, Royal Crescent has pushed to reduce single-use products and packaging:

“We do have a lot of reusable things in the hotel, and we started to look at all of those; the toiletries, the coffee capsules, the tea, coffee, sugar, all those little things that go into the rooms, and we think how we could make this more sustainable so that we’re not actually throwing things away every day.”

Other solutions the hotel found included moving away from plastics in favour of glass and teaming with Clean the World who collect leftover soaps to be shipped worldwide to be reused.

“The more you delve into sustainability, the more of these fantastic initiatives you can find out about and be part of.”

Looking toward the future, Royal Crescent have no plans to slow down. As part of the accreditation, they are expected to make a 5% improvement every year, and the hotel has goals to strive for carbon neutrality in the coming years. They also aim to ensure all food provided on the premises is sourced locally, finding the best suppliers for specific items they serve. To learn more about the Green Key accreditation and what changes you can make to improve your own business, visit Green Key’s website here