SANTA FE, N.M.—La Fonda on the Plaza Hotel has been named “Sustainability Champion” in the Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide 2018 Awards of Excellence. Each year, the Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence honor the most exemplary historic hotels, hoteliers, and leadership practices in multiple categories. The winners were chosen from more than 200 nominees.
“Congratulations to the recipients of the 2018 Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence,” said Lawrence Horwitz, Executive Director, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. “These 2018 winners represent more than 400 years of history and include the finest legendary and iconic historic hotels from across the United States of America and from around the world.”
“We are thrilled to be recognized as the Historic Hotels’ 2018 Sustainability Champion,” said La Fonda Chairman of the Board Jennifer Lea Kimball. “At La Fonda, we believe that sustainable operations and historical preservation go together. Both have been major considerations in the renovations we have made to our historic property over the past few years, all with an eye towards preserving the beauty and authenticity of our treasured home.”
For many years, La Fonda has been implementing green initiatives, with the goal of becoming as environmentally-friendly as possible across all operations. The hotel has a sustainability committee led by Food & Beverage Director, Shawn Murphy. Murphy and his team were instrumental in securing a Tier Two Silver Certification for La Fonda from Hospitality Green in its Green Concierge program in 2016.
Examples of Hotels’ Green Initiatives
Following are some examples of the green initiatives and practices that La Fonda has put into place:
- Recycling cardboard, plastic, glass, aluminum, and paper twice weekly. All guestrooms have recycling bins.
- Implementing water-saving measures, including guest towels changed only by request, linens changed every third day, restaurant water served upon request, and conservation signage in all public bathrooms and guestrooms.
- Installation of low-flow toilets, sink faucets, and showerheads.
- Reducing paper consumption, relying on e-mail and message boards, as well as washable cloth napkins, towels, and tablecloths.
- Use of an offsite linen service that processes over 4,000 pounds of linen per hour using a fraction of the water, energy and resources that the hotel’s on-site laundry consumed.
- Recycling computer equipment and fluorescent bulbs.
- Using recycled materials in notepads, brochures, flyers, and other necessary hotel collateral.
- Use of eco-friendly, recycled takeout containers for food and beverage operations.
- Installation of room thermostats with sensors for better control, when guests leave the room.
- Reducing electricity demand with energy-saving light bulbs, hand dryers, flat-screen televisions, and automatic lights in basement storerooms. In addition, each guestroom has a switch that turns off all power when a guest is not present.
- Using nontoxic, soy-based printing inks, low-VOC paints, and environmentally friendly cleaning products that are water-based and contain no fragrances, perfumes or dyes.
- State of the art operational systems—HVAC.
- New high energy efficient Pella wood casement windows.
- Sourcing food locally wherever possible for restaurants and catering operations.
- Active participant in the Clean the World initiatives, recycling thousands of pounds of soap bars.
- Switch from plastic to plant-based, biodegradable straws. Straws are also supplied on request.
- All Nespresso capsules are recycled using the manufacturer-supplied bag.
- Over 4,000 light bulbs were replaced with LED bulbs, which use significantly less energy, emit less heat, have lower CO2 emissions and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Donation of old linens and towels to local animal clinics and the Espanola Animal shelter.
- Sponsorship of the Santa Fe River for clean-up.
