H10 Hotels presents Stay Green, the Sustainability Plan developed by the company, as a result of its commitment to the environment and society, in order to drive and promote responsible tourism in all its locations. Stay Green represents the sustainable philosophy of H10 Hotels that permeates all its activity from its origins, guided by the company's sensitivity, commitment and responsibility to care for and preserve the environment.

This new strategic plan brings together and strengthens all the actions and measures developed by the chain in recent years, started in 2010, promoting it with new lines of action and incorporating all its Corporate Social Responsibility work.

Stay Green: Contributing to the international public agenda

In order to continue to meet sustainable goals and join the common challenge against climate change on a global scale, Stay Green aspires to align the company's activity with the guidelines defined at both European and international level.

With the new Sustainability Plan, H10 Hotels contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda established by the United Nations, based upon which the company has defined the main milestones to be achieved. In addition, the initiatives proposed also contemplate the European Green Deal, established in the European Climate Law of the EU, which promotes the efficient and competitive use of resources, with the aim of achieving greenhouse gas emission neutrality by 2050.

Moreover, the company aligns its activity with the Biosphere Sustainable methodology, granted by the Responsible Tourism Institute (RTI), an international non-profit organisation that transmits the objectives set out in the summits and letters of The United Nations to all agents in the sector. The Biosphere distinctive recognizes the sustainable efforts made by the chain hotels according to the sustainability objectives established by the United Nations and their assessment and choice by citizens and tourists.

Tangible commitments and goals achieved

With Stay Green, H10 Hotels is committed to developing new lines of action and reinforcing all the actions already implemented in all its establishments, located in Spain, Europe and the Caribbean.

The company's Sustainability Plan is structured around four lines of action planned for the 2021-2030 period, which have been strategically defined from a multidisciplinary and transversal perspective, applied to all areas and activities of the company. It’s about Zero Carbon Footprint, Sustainable Water Management, Responsible Consumption and Social Commitment.

Zero Carbon Footprint

In terms of renewable energies, 90% of the chain's establishments currently have electricity supply contracts with a certificate of renewable origin, which significantly reduce CO2 emissions per stay. In Spain, all establishments have been using 100% green electricity since 2016. As part of its commitment to comply with the GHG Protocol (GreenHouse Gas Protocol), the company's hotels will annually certify their CO2 footprint with the leading company AENOR.

In addition, the company is committed to renewable energy facilities in order to make the most of the natural resources offered by each destination. Therefore, half of the chain’s hotels have solar or geothermal energy panels. The new Stay Green plan reinforces the strategy in this area and contemplates the installation of photovoltaic solar energy systems on the roofs of various hotels in the Canary Islands and the Dominican Republic to generate up to 15% of the electricity demanded.

Likewise, the company will continue betting on alternative heat generation technologies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and therefore contribute to the decarbonisation of its activity. All the hotels opened or renovated since 2015 already have facilities that allow the use of renewable energies such as geothermal, aerothermal or biomass.

Sustainable Water Management

The Stay Green plan contemplates various actions designed to promote the responsible use of water, as well as to minimize the impact of the company's activity on aquatic environments.

For this purpose, the actions already implemented in recent years are reinforced, such as the reduction of the flow of taps and showers in all the chain's establishments, the replacement of machinery for more water-efficient options, the search for alternatives in gardening to reduce irrigation needs, as well as the optimization of processes to ensure savings in water consumption.

Responsible Consumption

With the aim of protecting the natural environment and reducing the environmental impact of the waste generated, the company promotes responsible consumption with projects such as the removal of plastics in its establishments, the reduction of waste generated and the promotion of green mobility.

With the initiatives launched in recent years, the company has significantly reduced the use of plastic in its establishments, stopping the consumption of 2.5 million bottles and 6 million cups of this material annually. In place of these plastic containers, the company makes reusable water bottles available to guests that can be refilled in the osmosis water dispensers installed in its hotels.

In the rooms, the company has replaced single-dose amenities with ecological dispensers of up to 400ml in all its hotels in Spain and Europe, reducing the use of plastic by up to 80%. In addition, all single-use plastic materials have been removed from restaurants and bars, being replaced by reusable and recyclable elements.

More specifically in the area of food waste, in order to minimize losses and waste in the restaurant service, the company has optimized the planning and production of food, in addition to carrying out exhaustive controls on the production of organic waste generated every day during the guests’ meals.

With the aim of continuing to raise awareness among its guests, employees and collaborators, H10 Hotels encourages numerous sustainable initiatives, such as the promotion of a green mobility culture, offering the option of renting electric bicycles and scooters and installing charging points for electric vehicles in their establishments. Furthermore, H10 Hotels promotes the recycling of waste, promoting its correct separation at the different recycling points installed in the hotels.

Social Commitment

Corporate Social Responsibility has been part of the philosophy and business culture of H10 Hotels since its inception. The social work carried out by the company is incorporated into the new Stay Green plan, which also includes the initiatives developed in this area.

The chain's social commitment was consolidated in 2016 with its link to the Fundació Albert which, in collaboration with the Fundació Pere Tarrés, Cáritas and other entities, promotes the health and education of boys and girls -and their families- in settings of social vulnerability.

The work of H10 Hotels and the Fundació Albert focuses on the protection of children, covering the basic needs of health and education. It does so through its FASE project (Fundació Albert Salud y Educación), making dental, ophthalmological, podiatric and osteopathy check-ups available to boys and girls, as well as school reinforcement activities and summer camps and colonies. With this project, in which more than 65 employees and volunteers collaborate, more than 975 boys and girls and more than 65 families have been assisted.

In addition, H10 Hotels collaborates with a wide variety of local, non-profit associations and works on different aid projects in developing countries. In Barcelona, its collaboration with Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and its Hospital Amic programme stand out, the aim of which is to make the experience of hospitalized children as positive as possible. The company collaborates, among other projects, in dog-assisted interventions, which facilitate and speed up the recovery and improvement of the moral of children in the hospital centre.

H10 Hotels also develops social initiatives through its own establishments, encouraging job placement by hiring people at risk of social exclusion, with financial donations and other actions such as the one carried out, for example, by the H10 Marina Barcelona hotel, which provides weekly menus to soup kitchens in the city.

Beyond its social action, H10 Hotels works on other social causes focused on raising awareness of the environment, involving its employees and guests in initiatives aimed at its preservation.

In its Ocean Coral & Turquesa hotel in Mexico, the company has the Sea Turtle Protection and Conservation Programme collaborating in various activities together with the Puerto Morelos Reef National Park. Among other activities, training sessions are organized to inform and raise awareness about the importance of protecting the environment and how to do so.

Moreover, during the nesting season, the hotel team participates in various phases of the process such as the relocation of nests on the beach, the collection of eggs and identification of species during spawning time, and the counting of live and inert hatchlings and of unhatched eggs during the hatching process. Finally, during the younglings release phase, guests are invited to participate. It also highlights the participation of staff in cleaning beaches of the area, in order to protect and preserve it.

Objectives to be achieved by 2030

With the presentation of Stay Green, H10 Hotels consolidates its strategic sustainability plan and faces its environmental and social commitment for the 2021-2030 period. The main objectives to be achieved are reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75% and water consumption by 20%, with respect to the 2010 indicators; reduce the impact of its activity on aquatic environments; reduce the volume of waste generated by 25% over 2021 levels; promote social projects in local communities and generate a positive culture in the organization that favours the learning and development of its employees and collaborators.