Green Meetings
Book conference hotels with a responsible mindset
Sustainability is a key issue - for each and every one of us. We can see how relevant the topic of environmental protection is in many different industries - including the hotel and events sector. Guests today are more concerned than ever with finding environmentally-friendly lodgings and facilities, and they want hotels committed to sustainability that use resources carefully. Sustainability is not only a wide-ranging topic, it also helps secure the future of companies that implement it.
Environmental certifications
The certification of hotels through eco-labelling has become a key method of demonstrating their commitment to environmental responsibility. However, these certifications not only serve as proof of environmentally friendly business practices, but also provide guests with initial guidance when choosing sustainable accommodation. Leading environmental certifications in the hotel industry and their corresponding categorisation criteria are explained in more detail here.
DEHOGA Environmental Check
The DEHOGA Environmental Check is an initiative of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association for the assessment and certification of environmentally friendly practices in the catering and hotel industry. The categorisation into the three seal classes Gold, Silver and Bronze is based on the fulfilment of criteria in the categories of energy consumption, water consumption, waste generation and food. The aim is not to exceed specified consumption limits and to procure the best possible quantity of organic, fairly traded and regional products.
GREENSIGN
The GreenSign Institute checks and certifies corporate sustainability on the basis of 100 criteria and also supports the development process. Categories such as management, quality management, environmental impact and regionality are analysed and the companies are classified according to a level system. The higher the level, the more extensive the measures. For example, Level 1 hotels start at 20% and can move up to Level 5 when they reach 100%.
GREEN KEY
The Green Key certification is recognised as the leading standard for environmental responsibility and sustainability in the tourism industry. In 60 countries worldwide, establishments in 13 categories are audited annually after certification to ensure that they maintain or improve their standards. Important criteria here are energy and water supply, waste disposal, management, environmentally friendly activities and food supply.
Further sustainability aspects when booking a conference
In addition to environmental seals and certifications, there are other criteria for sustainable conference bookings. For example, travelling to the conference also plays a decisive role. It is worth using the BWH Hotels event ticket in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn. For conference participants travelling by e-car, it is important to know whether there are e-charging stations at the conference hotel. Conference planners can be sure to act sustainably with the green BWH conference booking.
Book your meetings sustainable
Plant a tree for every conference participant! Organizing a completely sustainable event is not easy. All processes involved, from arrival to lodgings to suppliers, consumable materials and energy efficiency, need to be looked at through a “green” lens. We offer you an easy option to book your future conferences more sustainably: You can plant a tree for each conference participant through our cooperating partner Click A Tree for just 3 EUR (net) per person. By doing so, you not only fight climate change, you also create jobs within communities in developing countries.
Just add sustainability to your conference booking via MICE Desk now!
Good to know: Click A Tree is official partner from GreenSign!
Refuel here - traveling sustainably
In an era of mobile sustainability, many conference hotels within the BWH Hotel Group offer charging stations for electric and hybrid vehicles directly at the hotel. In addition, many hotels provide e-charging stations in the direct vicinity. That means conference participants have an extensive network of charging options for electric vehicles. The number of available e-charging stations directly at each hotel location, and the distance of available e-charging stations from the hotel are stated in each hotel portrait in this publication.
You can also find all conference hotels with e-charging stations at a glance in the following overview.
Hotspot for e-mobility: Best Western Premier Hotel Villa Stokkum in Hanau with the largest range of e-charging points in the
Rhine-Main region.
Earth. People. Community.
At BWH Hotels, we believe we have a shared responsibility to be conscientious stewards within our global community. Through our Earth, People, and Community (“EPC”) effort, our goal is to strengthen one community at a time by partnering with our hoteliers and providing the necessary tools to enact meaningful change. Our hotel family is deeply committed to implementing environmentally friendly practices, fostering a culture where diversity is celebrated, and giving back to those in need. The values that have shaped our EPC effort are the heart of our organization, representing who we are as hospitality leaders, hoteliers, and associates. Together we can truly make a lasting impact on our world and ensure a bright future for generations to come.
Sustainable conference hotels by conviction
Best Western Plus BierKulturHotel Schwanen
Sustainability and beer culture come together at the Best Western Plus BierKulturHotel Schwanen. Here, environmental protection is integrated into everyday hotel life and combined with the hotel's own facilities. In exchange for daily room cleaning, you get up to 2 free beers per stay and benefit not only from the enjoyment of the hotel's own brewery, but also from the green conscience of saved resources such as water and energy.
Thanks to excellent insulation and our own combined heat and power plant, you will be cosy and warm during your conferences in winter and pleasantly cool in summer, so that conference guests can devote themselves fully to the content and feel comfortable. Such holistic concepts, which are underpinned by 100% climate-neutral electricity and gas, are rightly rewarded with the gold seal by the DEHOGA environmental check.
V8 Hotel Motorworld Region Stuttgart
The V8 Hotel Motorworld Region Stuttgart, which has been awarded the gold label by the DEHOGA environmental check, not only welcomes you with exceptional conference rooms, but also with an outstanding environmental concept. In addition to social sustainability, which is characterised among other things by the promotion of inclusion and barrier-free access, the conference hotel also focuses on economic and ecological sustainability. Attention is paid to supply chains characterised by sustainability, regional purchasing and great importance is attached to avoiding unnecessary packaging waste, relying on compostable or recyclable solutions as far as possible.
Atrium Hotel Mainz
The Atrium Hotel Mainz is more than aware of its social and ecological responsibility. Starting with the respect that the hotel feels and lives for its employees and suppliers, it also pays attention to ecologically sustainable, preferably regional and certified organic supply chains as part of its voluntary social commitment. For over 20 years, the hotel has supported social organisations such as the Commit Club, an association for the disabled, and environmental protection projects such as the Unicef water project and Taste the Waste.
In addition, the hotel obtains its electricity from 100% ecological sources and thus decimates its carbon footprint, not only when it comes to food. So you can organise your conferences with a green conscience in a hotel that has been awarded the silver seal by DEHOGA Umweltcheck and be sure that your breaks will be accompanied by socially and ecologically valuable Manos Bio-TransFair coffee.
Best Western Plus Kurhotel an der Obermaintherme Bad Staffelstein
The Best Western Plus Kurhotel an der Obermaintherme in Bad Staffelstein has firmly established sustainable measures in its operations and has been awarded the Dehoga Environmental Check in Gold. The conference hotel pursues a total of 67 measures for environmental protection and sustainability and is a member of the "United Against Waste e.V." association, which stands for the respectful use of food as a resource. In line with this, it has developed its own sustainable kitchen concept, in which all ingredients used must fulfil at least three of five sustainability criteria. No wonder it is certified organic and pays attention to both the quality of the food and the packaging materials.
The entire spa and conference hotel is now heated with 100% green electricity, relies on its own photovoltaic systems and is certified in the CO² footprint climate efficiency class A. If your conference guests are travelling with an electric vehicle, the hotel provides green electricity via a total of 10 charging stations with type 2 wallboxes. In short, climate and environmental protection has been a way of life here for 12 years. Find out more here.
Best Western Hotel Polisina in Ochsenfurt
The Best Western Hotel Polisina in Ochsenfurt pursues a consistent sustainable concept and is constantly expanding its measures and initiatives. For this, it was awarded the GreenSign certificate and is a member of the Environmental and Climate Pact of Bavaria. The three-star superior hotel, which is located in the midst of greenery, relies among other things on energy-saving measures, local suppliers, nature conservation projects and sets the tone for sustainability with green campaigns. A big bonus is the production of electricity and heat via the hotel's own combined heat and power plant, which covers a large part of its own energy needs.
Regionality of food and beverages is a top priority in the Polisina kitchen: the hotel prefers to source its products from regional suppliers in Franconia or produces them itself, has its own fruit and bee meadows and its own herb garden. The water for all plants comes from the hotel's own well. To give something back to the local environment, the hotel has also reforested 8,000 square meters of forest in the region.
Best Western Plus Palatin Kongresshotel Wiesloch
The Palatin has previously been named the best sustainable and best conference hotel in Baden-Württemberg. During the most recent round of certifications by CERTIFIED, which are conducted on site every three years, the hotel was named a Certified Green Hotel with a grade of “very good,” and a Certified Conference Hotel with a grade of “excellent”. The goal is to consistently improve the environmental-friendliness of all hotel operations and in the event center, and to promote social engagement.
The issue of sustainability is a focus of everything the hotel does, and the hotel describes all of its sustainability activities as part of a “green pathway” in a picture gallery. A photovoltaic system on the roof and three in-house cogeneration plants supply the hotel with 100% climate-friendly electricity; excess energy is fed into the public grid. The hotel's HR policies are also focused on sustainability, which is reflected in their certification as an “Excellent Training Company” and “Fair Job Hotel.”
ATLANTIC Congress Hotel Essen
In the sustainably managed ATLANTIC Congress Hotel Essen, your event will be an experience in the 10 conference rooms with an event area of 1,200 m². Directly at the 65 ha large Grugapark - whose view you can best enjoy from the roof terrace - the subway station in front of the hotel offers an environmentally friendly journey by public transport. Environmentally friendly measures and facilities such as sensors and water-saving taps, motion detectors and light timers in the public areas, environmentally friendly paper bags instead of plastic laundry bags, the use of glass instead of plastic straws, an own e-car charging station and much more are a matter of course for the team of the ATLANTIC.
The hotel also cooperates with the children & youth initiative "Plant-for-the-Planet": a tree is currently planted for every event booked. In all minibars, guests will also find "Die gute Schokolade" (The Good Chocolate), the sale of which enables the planting of further trees. Also in the area of CSR, the ATLANTIC supports social projects and social actions such as the homeless aid "Essen packt an", the "Patientenhilfe Darmkrebs" or "Refill Deutschland". So it is not surprising that the hotel is one of the signatories of "fairpflichtet", the sustainability code of the German-speaking event industry.
Learn more about other BWH conference hotels that have made an extra commitment to the environment and have received sustainability certifications. Contact your MICE Desk.
Each BWH Hotels℠ property is independently owned and operated.