(Credit: Grupo Piñero)With sustainability a growing priority in the travel industry, Spanish tourism company Grupo Piñero is ramping up its goals with a focus on energy efficiency in an effort to decarbonize its hotels.
The company, which owns Bahia Principe Hotels and Resorts, will invest more than $1.6 million on renewable energy this year as it plans to shift to a 100% renewable energy supply and implement new technologies to reduce energy consumption by 40%. Grupo Piñero also created a circular economy strategic plan, in which it intends to significantly reduce waste and transition to sustainable transportation.
Another piece of the efficiency effort is the development of a hot water distribution system, which Grupo Piñero says will help reduce emissions by 1,722 tons of carbon dioxide. Overall, the company says it reduced energy consumption by 15% per hotel stay in 2021, as well as a 12.6% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the previous year.
Hotels can be intensive energy users, and in the United States the EPA estimates that on average a hotel room spends nearly $2,200 per room each year on energy. Another example of a resort taking on energy efficiency is the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales, which says it saved $125,000 a year from an estimated $1.25 million total energy costs with smart systems, efficient lightbulbs and shutting down facilities that were not in use.
Other sustainable travel initiatives are also gaining traction throughout the industry, such as JetBlue tracking travel emissions and Google adding how hospitality companies are faring with their sustainability efforts to search engine results.
In terms of the circular economy plan Grupo Piñero aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as well as cut its waste in half by 2030 and keep all of its waste from landfills by 2050. The company has been using a recyclable waste management system since 2016, which has helped it recover more than 10,000 tons of recyclable waste.
Last year several large hotel brands, including Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott, joint the World Wildlife Fund to develop an industry standard on waste called the Hotel Waste Management Methodology. Its goal is to keep waste out of landfills as well as to significantly reduce food waste.
Grupo Piñero has hotels and resorts in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica and Spain. It also operates travel tour and reception services.
