A fresh new view

With a passion for delivering topnotch hospitality service without making a dent in the environment, The Cityview continues to dedicate itself to strive for excellence, all they while keeping up with international eco-standards

Eco-friendliness isn’t something that is traditionally associated with the hospitality industry – when care given to deliver the best customer service possible, hotels often go to great lengths to please, albeit doing so in a way that spares nothing in terms of resources. Conservation and preservation are put to the side in favour of service that meets and exceeds client expectation.

But this trend is being challenged by many international organisations as well as eco conscious travellers. Unnecessary wastage is being frowned upon and many hotels are beginning to take notice. However, The Cityview, located in Kowloon’s Yau Ma Tei, has been at the forefront of eco-hospitality long before it’s become the hot button issue that it is today.

The hotel’s general manager Alex Wu and his team has been working for the past several years to lower the hotel’s carbon emission, all the while coming up with creative ways to reduce, reuse and upcycle.

Participating in Earth Check, an international certification that evaluates a hotel’s eco-friendliness, The Cityview has gone from a bronze grading to achieving silver this year. “We’ve improved tremendously in the past year. We’ve excited on the benchmark in seven of the 11 check points, such as electricity use and carbon emission. This is a great achievement for an independent hotel like The Cityview,” Wu explains.

He also goes on to share that The Cityview is the only independently owned and operated hotel in Hong Kong to achieve this Silver Certificate, an achievement that he and his team are extremely proud of. “Because we’ve seen the results of our hard work, we’re currently investing even more into our eco-initiative,” Wu explains. “We’ve purchased new chillers and switched to LED lighting. We are also recycling soap and encouraging our guests to reuse their towels and bed sheets. All of these add up to and play a significant part in our hotel lowering its carbon footprint.”

Most recently, the hotel is developing several projects to further lower its footprint as well as to create unique experiences for guests. “We installing a water plantation system, which we will be installed in our rooftop,” Wu explains. And from this water plantation system, the hotel will be growing its own lettuce and herbs, which along with bringing a welcomed bit of greenery to the space, also cut down on the effects food transportation has on the environment.

And to better understand the hotel’s area of weakness, The Cityview submitted itself to a carbon audit, which gave Wu and his team new perspective on how they can do even more to protect the environment.

“We’ve discovered that 75 per cent of our carbon emission comes from our use of electricity. We’re working on replacing old appliances, which help us be more energy efficient,” he says. Compared to last fiscal year, we have reduced 146 tons of carbon emissions which in turn saving around HK$280,000 electricity fee.

The hotel is not only working within itself to help the environment, but also with guests and local organisations to promote green living.

“We work closely with the charity organization in Hong Kong that distributes food to those in need. We share with them clean leftover foods and it’s a great way for us to help others and cut down on wastage,” says Wu.

The hotel also held a green campaign during Mar to May 2013, which allowed guests to collect points for using public transit, enjoying low carbon meals at the hotel, requesting a checkout with no receipt as well as reusing towels and bed sheets. “With their points, guests can redeem an environmental souvenir. It’s a great way for us to engage our guests in our initiative and allow them to help make a difference on the environment.”

While the hotel works on becoming more eco-friendly for the sake of leaving a positive impact on the environment, the industry is quickly gaining notice.

This past year, the hotel’s been nominated, shortlisted and named for several reputable awards, which recognises its contribution to leading the industry both locally and internationally. And most recently, the hotel took home a certificate of merit from the Hong Kong Award for Environment Excellence, an achievement that Wu is clearly proud of. But it doesn’t stop here for The Cityview – “As we continue to revamp our guestrooms throughout the next year, we will be installing energy conversation lighting in the rooms.
 

--
FAST FACTS:

• Oct 2013 - The Cityview participated in Yan Oi Tong Plastic Recycling Partnership Scheme 2012 and awarded with Second Runner-up by Yan Oi Tong EcoPark Plastic Resources Recycling Centre.

• Jun 2013 - The Cityview earns 2013 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence

• Jun 2013 - AsiaRooms.com Hotel Awards 2013 recognised The Cityview as one of the 10 hotels which implement Best Eco-Friendly Initiative to protect and conserve the environment. We are the only Hong Kong hotel being awarded.

• Jun 2013 - GHM Gold Pearls Awards 2013 recognized The Cityview as The Best City Hotel

• May 2013 - Recognized by the community as one of the most prestigious environmental award schemes in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence encourages businesses to adopt green management and also give them an opportunity to benchmark their environmental excellence. The Cityview is happy to be one of the winners to receive Certificate of Merit on Hotels and Recreational Clubs Sector, which is also the only individual hotel in Hong Kong awarded.

• Jan 2013 - The high standard of environmental performance practiced by The Cityview has been recognized by EarthCheck; the world's leading certifier of travel and tourism organisations. The Cityview has joined industry leaders from 70 countries with more than 1,300 companies by being awarded EarthCheck Silver Certified status, which is also the only individual hotel in Hong Kong got such achievement. To gain this, we have had to report our environmental footprint to independent auditors and adhere to internationally recognized standard of Best Practice.