Sol Meliá becomes the world’s first Biosphere Hotel Company

Responsible behavior

For certification, Sol Meliá demonstrates a certain degree of compliance and progress in the criteria applied to environmental, social and cultural factors. These include the standardization of eco-efficient lighting, water and energy saving systems, the involvement of customers in responsible behavior (consumption, waste management, etc), and the way that Sol Meliá interacts with and protects the biodiversity in its immediate environment.

Amongst other advances and achievements, Sol Meliá has eco-efficient lighting systems in all of its new hotels, water recycling systems and other systems to make use of the

In the social arena, Sol Meliá has demonstrated its commitment to sustainable purchasing, purchasing from local suppliers and sustainable origins such as the Good Origin coffee from Marcilla (used in Meliá hotels), food safety and diversity, community involvement and anti-discrimination strategies. The company was able to show the agreements with organizations such as Intermón and UNICEF, the high volume of purchases from local suppliers (approximately 90% of Sol Meliá purchasing worldwide) and from Special Employment Centers, in addition to activities in community involvement and raising awareness, sustainable development courses in hotels, and the Solidarity Day project which now involves 30 company hotels.

Culturally, Sol Meliá is renowned for the integration of local architectural techniques in hotel design, promoting traditional local cuisine amongst guests, respecting local religious practises and historical and artistic heritage. The company has offered local food festivals and art and craft exhibitions in México or the Dominican Republic, added facilities for 8 different religious beliefs in Bali, or respected in full all of the principles of Feng-shui in its architecture in China, amongst others.

Moving in a positive direction

Sol Meliá is now responsible for ensuring the continuity of its achievements and the implementation of further improvements to maintain certification as a “Biosphere Hotel Company” from a point of view which, in the words of its Vice Chairman, “must necessarily be self-critical, so that we are aware where we actually are and where we want to be”.

The program is supported by senior management through the development of sustainability action plans both internally (related to sustainable investment, the involvement of staff and guests, relations with suppliers, tour operators and hotel owners, environmental management processes, community involvement and solidarity, etc) and externally (raising awareness in society and amongst stakeholders, dialogue and alliances with all of them, information and communication on achievements and objectives in Responsible Tourism, etc).

For Sol Meliá, the achievement of this certification is ratification of its policy to implement the principles of Responsible Tourism, one of the strategic priorities also defined by the World Tourism Organisation to guide the recovery of tourism destinations after the crisis and which, in the words of Sebastián Escarrer “are an essential route by which tourism destinations and companies may maximise the positive economic, social and cultural impact of tourism, while also reducing as far as possible any negative environmental and social impact”.

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