QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA—Meliá Hotels International (Meliá) has extended its global partnership with EarthCheck, a leading sustainable tourism brand, to reinforce its commitment to delivering the highest level of sustainable operations and community engagement.
Ranked as the 16th largest hotel group in the world, Meliá is the market leader in Spain, operating 350 hotels in 35 countries and employing more than 35,000 people.
Meliá has embedded sustainability into their core values, and is dedicated to year-on-year positive improvements. Over the past decade, EarthCheck has assisted them to track more than $1.7 million in energy savings and reduced nearly half a billion liters of potable water consumption.
Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, executive vice chairman and CEO of Meliá, is committed to bringing about positive change and views the EarthCheck program to be a powerful platform to assist them in putting their sustainability vision into action.
Partnership Goes Back to 2001
“The partnership between EarthCheck and Meliá was the logical step after more than 10 years of collaboration,” Jaume says. “Since 2001, when we certified our first hotel, the Meliá Bali, this management system has proven itself in the positive results shown by the hotels holding it. So when we had to choose the appropriate partners to be included in our certification policy, EarthCheck was a must. As one of the leaders in responsible tourism management systems, EarthCheck is aligned with our sustainability strategy.”
Meliá Bali is one of EarthCheck’s star performers at reducing its water, energy and waste consumption and assisting the local community. In 2011, the hotel sourced 90 percent of its consumable goods from within Bali, employed only local contractors, educated their staff on sustainability and has now dedicated 54 percent of its property to habitat conservation.
Stewart Moore, CEO of EC3 Global, congratulated Meliá on its commitment to sustainability and the group’s achievements.
“Meliá is one of EarthCheck’s standout sustainability heroes in the Asian region,” he says. “We are proud to extend our partnership globally and have more of their properties certified. Our aim is to provide Meliá hotels with quantifiable metrics to address their risks, deliver bottom line efficiencies, maximize guest experiences and minimize their environmental footprint.”
Go to EC3 Global and Meliá.
