WORLDWIDE: A new hotel booking platform, A’ARU Collective, has launched promising to “change the way luxury travellers book environmental and socially responsible travel”.
The platform is being headed up by Kelly Forbes who has previously worked with luxury hotel brands including Kempinski and The Leela.
To be considered for the platform properties must meet a minimum of three of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
For more information on the goals, and how hotels are aligning their sustainability frameworks to include them, see:
What are the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals and how do they impact the hospitality sector?
Launch properties include:
- Six Senses Zighy Bay in Oman, which recycles or upcycles 80 percent of its organic and glass waste, and produces its own bottled water via reverse osmosis – with the salt water which is filtered out during the process being used in the hotel’s saltwater pool
- Santo Pure in Santorini, which has been certified by voluntary eco-certification programme Green Key
- Chedi Lustica Bay in Montenegro, which gets all its power from hydro-electric stations, supported by wind turbines, and works with UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to hire political refugees
Commenting on the launch Forbes said: “Sustainability has become a buzzword, with brands often doing the bare minimum to tick boxes, with little measurable results. But some regenerative hotels have been going deeper than this for a long time by making a positive, tangible impact on the communities around them.
“A’ARU Collective provides a solution for many who might not have the time or knowledge to research a hotel’s sustainability credentials, but who earnestly want to make a difference and become better, more conscious travellers.
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