Hotels in France embrace the virtues of going green

Wood-burning stoves, in-room recycling, fine cuisine featuring local produce: from bed-and-breakfasts to five-star palaces, France’s hotel industry is opening its eyes to the lucrative advantages of going green.

Director general of Concorde Hotels, Bernard Granier said: “our goal is to limit our impact on the environment and considerably reduce our carbon emissions,”

The chic Fouquet’s Barriere, wants to cut its CO2 output — offers guests the use of a hybrid car or an electric scooter.

At the stately Bristol — leftovers from its three-star restaurants and kitchens are put through an industrial-sized processor that extracts water used to clean the floors.

Outside the French capital, more modest establishments are going beyond the usual norm of installing energy-efficient lightbulbs or asking guests to refrain from using too many bath towels.

The Temmos group of five three- and four-star hotels in the French Alps is striving to have all its properties bedecked with European Eco-label and international Green Globe certification.

Having recognised how going green can be good for business, the Gites de France network of bed-and-breakfasts has doubled to around 100 its number of certified “eco-gites” with such features as solar heating.

Source: Hotels in France embrace the virtues of going green – france24

Date: 06 July 2010