Four of Scotland’s much-loved hotels have come together to plant over 1000 trees this Christmas in partnership with Trees for Life – a rewilding charity which plants trees across the Highlands.
In the spirit of COP26 the voco Grand Central and Kimpton Blythswood Square in Glasgow and Kimpton Charlotte Square and InterContinental Edinburgh The George in Edinburgh, all part of IHG Hotels & Resorts, encouraged high profile guests and delegates who stayed in their hotels throughout Glasgow’s climate change summit to refuse daily housekeeping services and help the hotel’s reduce their carbon footprint.
Instead of offering daily towel changes and refreshed bedding, the hotels reduced housekeeping to every three days, reducing the amount of energy they used throughout COP26. To thank guests for accepting the reduced standard, the hotels also chose to further offset their carbon footprint and are now in the process of planting 1000 trees in the Scottish Highlands as a result.
With the help of Trees for Life, an organisation which works to revitalise wild forest areas, providing space for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive, the hotels have acquired their own grove, named IHG Scotland COP26 Grove. The 1000 trees planted will be a healthy mixture of native species, including Scots pine, oak and hazel. The trees will all be planted by the end of 2022 with a promise of never being chopped down or harvested for timber.
The sustainable project comes in addition to other eco-friendly moves made by the hotels throughout 2021.
At the beginning of the year, the iconic voco Grand Central Hotel opened its doors, making a number of sustainable changes including new high-quality bedding made from 100% recycled materials and introducing glass water bottles in every room, saving on average 300 plastic bottles a year per guest room.
InterContinental Edinburgh this year introduced a water bottling plant for water in bedrooms and event spaces, diverting hundreds of thousands of bottles from landfill or recycling a year.
Kimpton and InterContinental Edinburgh also signed up to Guardians of Grub, an initiative that focuses on reducing food waste by working with the hotel’s teams and guests.
The Kimpton Blythswood Square Hotel also opened new iasg restaurant this year, promising to only serve sustainably sourced seafood.
Paul Bray, area general manager – IHG UK North said: ‘We’re delighted to have been able to support the team at Trees for Life towards their mission of rewilding the Scottish Highlands by enabling the restoration of the globally unique Caledonian Forest. We look forward to continuing to make small changes wherever possible within our hotels in order to work towards a greener and more sustainable planet.’
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