Say goodbye to those tiny plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel ubiquitously encountered in hotel rooms around the world. With growing public awareness of the ways in plastic waste is threatening the global environment, they simply could not last.
Leading the effort among hoteliers is British-based multinational hospitality company, InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG), which owns such familiar hospitality brands as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Six Senses and Kimpton.
IHG announced just today that it is taking the industry-leading step to remove the miniature bottles in almost 8443,000 guest rooms across its entire hotel estate, by switching to full-size bathroom amenities, with the transition to be completed by the year 2021.
This eco-conscious pledge makes IHG the first global hotel company to commit all of its brands to eliminating the small, single-use bottles and adopting bulk-size amenities for guest use instead.
With roughly 200 million bathroom miniatures currently in use across its family of hotels every year, IHG anticipates that the change will yield a significant reduction in plastic waste.
This move builds on the company's 2018 pledge to discontinue use of plastic straws in all of its hotels by the end of this year-a new standard that represents an average of 50 million straws removed from use annually-in addition to several, broader, waste-reduction initiatives already in place.
"We've already made great strides in this area, with almost a third of our estate already adopting the change, and we're proud to lead our industry by making this a brand standard for every single IHG hotel," said Keith Barr, CEO, IHG, in a statement. "We're passionate about sustainability and we'll continue to explore ways to make a positive difference to the environment and our local communities."
IHG cites that hotel guests themselves are increasingly calling for their stays to be made more sustainable without any adverse impact on the quality of their experience.
The company points to the fact that the substitution of bulk-size bathroom products has already been tried and tested in several of its brands, which work closely with suppliers to provide dispensers and products that retain a quality feel, and that guests' feedback has been extremely positive.
"It's more important than ever that companies challenge themselves to operate responsibly-we know it's what our guests, owners, colleagues, investors and suppliers rightly expect. Switching to larger-size amenities across more than 5,600 hotels around the world is a big step in the right direction and will allow us to significantly reduce our waste footprint and environmental impact as we make the change," Barr affirmed.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
