The organizers of the annual Hotel Investment Conference Asia
Pacific (HICAP) are pleased to announce the winners for the HICAP 2020
Sustainable Hotel Awards. The 31st annual
HICAP will be held virtually 21-23 October 2020.
The annual HICAP Sustainable Hotel Awards are designed to
recognize hotels in the Asia Pacific region creating innovative new methods,
strategies and technologies to face today’s sustainable development challenge,
while providing tangible examples of sustainable best practices that can be
replicated and adapted across the region.
In the category of Climate Action, the winner is Fairmont
Singapore & Swissôtel The Stamford in Singapore. In 2019, the hotels
became the first urban hotel project in the world to create a rooftop
Aquaponics farm—a combination of an aquaculture (fish farm) and a hydroponics
farm producing almost all the light greens and leaves needed in its restaurants.
It’s an innovative and sustainable concept for an urban hotel as Aquaponic
farming consumes 90% less water than traditional farming methods, excludes the
use of purchased or manufactured fertilizers (the fish waste is converted to
nitrates which becomes fertilizer), and reduces the supply chain’s carbon
footprint by eliminating transportation, farm equipment, fuel, water usage,
plastic and waste. Their production self-sufficiency is measured as: 100% for
micro-greens, nasturtium and tilapia, 84% for mixed salad leaves, almost 70%
for Pak Choi and Nai Bai, 52% for basil, 35% for water spinach, and 10% of
their fish needs.
In the category of Positive Community Impact there are two
winners. The first winner is Six Senses Yao Noi in Thailand. The community
on Yao Noi Island maintains traditional fishing practices, lacks potable water
and has been dependent on plastic bottled water. To address this, Six Senses
expanded its Clean Water Project to the Island, providing free access to clean
drinking water using onsite water filtration and glass bottling. Fifty percent
of the revenue generated from the sale of the drinking water to resort guests
goes directly to clean water projects, while the hotel sends its engineering
team for the installations. The communities are encouraged to utilize the clean
water systems by refilling their reusable water bottles at no cost. To date,
the Clean Water Project is active in more than 32 locations, including 15
filtration and dispensing units on Yao Noi Island, improving 102,976 lives by
providing access to clean drinking water. Assuming an average of 2 bottles per
person per day means over 73 million plastic bottles are annually eliminated.
The second winner in the Positive Community Impact category
is Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism (PHIST) in Thailand.
Co-organized by the Phuket Hotels Association (PHA), C9 Hotelworks, and
Greenview, PHIST is a first-of-its-kind, innovative annual event rallying the
hotel industry and its stakeholders for sustainability and community benefit.
Attracting over 1,000 delegates annually, PHIST serves as a model for
sustainability gatherings, offering free admission and integrating local
students and speakers of diverse age, gender and ethnicity alongside top hotel
and travel professionals in a high-energy event challenging the status quo and
driving an action agenda, not just talk. For the inaugural event, 71 hotels
signed the “Phuket Pledge” to eliminate single-use plastic bottles resulting in
a 51% reduction and 4.4 million bottles avoided in 2019. The Great Big Green
Guide, a collection of eco-friendly ideas and practices, was also launched
during the event. PHIST also works to inspire the next generation with a series
of children’s workshops and activities.
In the category of Sustainable Design, the winner is Parkroyal
Collection Pickering in Singapore. The Parkroyal Collection Pickering is a
great example of what new urban developments should look like moving forward.
It achieves a green plot ratio of 12, which is 4 times the requirement of the
Singapore Building and Construction Authority for Green Mark Platinum
accreditation. The building’s narrow footprint allows daylight to reach most
internal spaces, while the west facing façade integrates green elements to
cut/absorb the sun’s heat for keeping the building cooler. 50% of the hotel
corridors are naturally ventilated and landscape features provide a great guest
experience, while also reducing energy consumption. Technology is well used,
from high efficiency centralized chillers to solar power. Energy and water
conservation are promoted using sensors to monitor light, carbon monoxide and
occupancy of spaces, while irrigation sensors monitor the water need in the
extensive 15,000-sqare-meter landscape areas. NEWater, together with rain
harvesting, is used for the irrigation of the tropical landscape.