Alto Hotel


Prior to certification, Alto Hotel had already committed to reducing their carbon footprint through offsetting emissions from electricity usage, fuel and flights directly with their service providers. NoCO2 certification furthers the hotel's strong commitment to sustainability and demonstrates ongoing efforts to contribute to a healthier environment.  

The Alto Hotel on Bourke has enhanced its reputation as one of Melbourne's leading hotels in guest satisfaction as well as innovation by becoming the Australia's first carbon neutral hotel. Some food & beverage style hotels, cabins and cottages have offset carbon from some of their services or provide an option for guests to pay for offsets, however Alto is the first city hotel to provide all of its services and facilities as carbon neutral within its pricing.

The Alto Hotel is a leader in sustainable tourism

"We have already been recognised as a leader in sustainable tourism yet wanted to ensure we continue to innovate and show that it is possible to have guilt free travel without compromising on quality or service," said Gary Stickland, General Manager of Alto Hotel on Bourke."Instead of simply paying someone to make our environmental footprint go away we have ensured that we have minimised our output as much as practical first, then made the decision to offset the remaining carbon that we have not been able to remove from our operations" he said. "All of our environmental initiatives have been made by considering our guests first. This means that some guests are not even aware that they have stayed in a sustainable hotel as we have designed our programs to effectively be behind the scenes and not require any effort from our guests, unless they want to be more involved." The hotel provides the key ingredient for the potential to have a low carbon holiday or business trip to Melbourne.

To achieve NoCO2 certification, Alto Hotel undertook a comprehensive carbon emissions audit that captured and quantified all of the hotel's greenhouse gas emissions. The audit included emissions from fuel and energy consumption onsite; staff travel, water and waste usage and flights taken by Alto Hotel staff. In addition, the embodied emissions in the hotel's assets and expenses items were also audited to capture indirect emissions from supply chain purchases and any products bought, used and sold through the hotel.



Visit online at http://www.altohotel.com.au/.

Environmental Enterprises

Environmental Enterprises are Importers / Wholesalers of fully certified biodegradable & compostable catering & packaging products. They supply Australia wide to Government departments, Councils, schools, Tafes, Universities, festivals, restaurants, caterers & the public. A family owned & operated environmental packaging company since 1997 & original suppliers to the Sydney Olympic Games (2000) & Melbourne Commonwealth Games (2006).

Environmental Enterprises supply the following biodegradable and compostible products:

• cutlery
• plates
• bowls
• hot cups
• cold cups
• lids
• fast food containers
• garbage bags
• shopping bags

Visit online at http://www.environmentalenterprises.com.au/.

Hughes Adelaide

Hughes' fleet of limousines and coaches is Australia's only national, chauffeur driven limousine service and is serviced by a 24 hour a day, state-of-the-art reservations system. With international affiliates around the globe, Hughes is the answer to all your personal transport requirements.

Hughes is the only Quality Endorsed limousine company in Australia which has been awarded the global quality standard AS/NZS ISO 9001:2000. This dedication to the highest of standards underlies our commitment to providing our clients with superior service, reliability and care. locally, interstate and overseas.

Immaculately presented vehicles with professional, reliable chauffeurs and an unsurpassed service commitment ensures that wherever your journey takes you, Hughes will make it memorable.

Visit online at http://www.hughesadelaide.com.

Mercure Meetings

Mercure Hotels offer quality 3.5-4 star accommodation to make your stay away from home as comfortable and convenient as possible.

Mercure is part of the Accor group, a European leader and major global player in travel, tourism and corporate services.

Mercure Hotels have engaged the Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI) to consult on the group’s Carbon Neutral conferencing program launched in 2008 – ‘Mercure Meetings’.  To enable Mercure Hotels to offset the emissions from their conferences, CRI provided the hotels with a conference calculator that takes into account emissions from energy usage such as heating, lighting and cooking; as well as food and stationery provided at the conferences.

Providing those calculators will give the Mercure Hotels a significant competitive edge over other, emissions intensive conference venue providers.

Visit online at http://www.accorhotels.com.au/mercuremeetings/default.aspx.

Mercure Meetings New Zealand

MERCURE MEETINGS – CARBON NEUTRAL OFFERING

The Carbon Reduction Institute is proud to partner with Mercure in New Zealand for the first nation-wide carbon neutral meeting offering from a major hotel chain.

The Mercure Meetings offering is specifically designed to measure and offset the greenhouse gas footprint produced by each meeting service. Each Mercure hotel then funds the cost of the offsets and will not pass them on to you.

The Carbon Reduction Institute in conjunction with Mercure calculates the emissions from the following:

                - energy used to heat, cool and ventilate the venue

- electricity consumed by lighting and AV equipment used

- emissions embodied in the food and beverage packages supplied for the event

The emissions from these services are calculated based on the running sheet of the event using published life cycle data, an input/output analysis of the New Zealand economy and emission factors provided by industry bodies, universities and the Ministry for the Environment. These emissions are then offset using carbon credits that are certified under the internationally recognised Voluntary Carbon Standard.

Currently the offsets will be funding the ‘Household Energy Efficient Lighting Project’ (HELP), implemented by Energy Mad (a New Zealand based company). With the aim to lessen climate change through economical energy savings, Energy Mad have partnered with electricity networks and retail outlets encouraging consumers to purchase the Ecobulb (Australasia’s highest performance energy saving bulb) at a heavily discounted rate. By installing Ecobulbs to replace incandescent light bulbs, the initiative leads to a direct reduction in fossil fuel electricity generation and reduces consumer’s electricity bills and wastage in our landfills.

What is not included in the emissions calculation is the travel by attendees to get to and from the event as well as any material brought in by the event organisers. The emissions from these sources are often the largest contributor to the total emission of an event, therefore the total event should not be referred to as carbon neutral unless these emissions have been calculated and offset.

* Mercure Meetings is not offered by Mercure Dunedin Leisure Lodge

Visit online at http://www.mercuremeetings.co.nz/.

Rendezvous Hotel Perth

Rendezvous Hotel Perth, an iconic beachfront hotel overlooking the soft white sand of Scarborough Beach and the sparkling blue water of the Indian Ocean. Just a 30-minute drive from Perth Airport and only 15 minutes from Perth’s central business district, you will appreciate having the beach at your doorstep and easy access to some of the area’s main attractions.

Visit online at http://www.rendezvoushotels.com/perth/.

The Observatory

The Observatory Resort Hotel - Port Macquarie's best address - opened in 2004. Located above green parklands overlooking Port Macquarie's magnificent main beach, Town Beach, it features 88 deluxe apartments in a range of configurations over its seven storeys, and beautiful ocean views.

The Observatory has been accorded multiple awards for hospitality and tourism excellence, among them by Mid-north Coast Tourism, NSW Tourism and the Hotel Motel Accommodation Association of Australia and in the National Customer Service Awards.

The Observatory warmly welcomes guests visiting for business, conferences, tours and independent leisure to its centrally located spacious accommodation with state of the art appointments, premium restaurant and spa facilities and luxurious all-weather swimming pool.

Visit online at http://www.observatory.net.au/.