Rasha Tabila (Abu Dhabi)
Sustainable initiatives launched by the luxury tourism and hotel landmark, “Emirates Palace,” to shine environmentally and give its visitors and residents a green, sustainable journey that blends luxury hospitality and sustainability, in line with the calls for the global event “COP 28” hosted by the Emirates.
Michael Koth, General Manager of Emirates Palace, Mandarin Oriental, Abu Dhabi, and Regional Vice President of Operations at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, tells Etihad: “With more than 70,000 participants registered at COP28, this global event is of great importance. “We expect high hotel occupancy rates, knowing that these visitors participating in the event want to stay in hotels that apply sustainable standards in accommodation and the food and beverage sector.”
He added: “At Emirates Palace, we are keen to combine luxury and sustainability, as the environment and social responsibility are firmly rooted in the culture of our hotel group, and all our decisions taken are sustainable, such as green purchases, preserving biodiversity, achieving energy efficiency, and getting rid of single-use plastic and paper.”
Koth noted: “At the beginning of this year, we launched the first (vegetarian) rooms at Emirates Palace that meet the needs of guests concerned about the environment, with the aim of motivating hospitality service providers to adopt new sustainability initiatives, as this innovation is consistent with COP28’s calls for action, solidarity and pluralism.”
Palm trees
The hotel has 6 varieties of palm trees, and about 500 palm trees inside its garden produce about 20 tons of dates annually to be harvested to make organic date jam and date syrup used in the hotel restaurant, which serves food throughout the day.
Beekeeping
Bees play a pivotal role in food production and vibrant ecosystems, pollinating 75% of the hotel’s food crops and nearly 90% of its wildflowers. Habitat loss (the bees’ natural habitat) due to increasing urbanization, climate change, chemical pesticides, Serious diseases negatively affect the bee population in the world. With the rapid decline in bee numbers, Mandarin Oriental is committed to raising awareness and playing a role in increasing the number of bees.
At Emirates Palace, beekeeping complements the organic desert vegetable garden, helping to pollinate vegetables, and Mandarin Oriental hotels generally support beekeeping, and fresh local honey has been used in a variety of restaurants.
There are 70 beehives in the eastern garden of the Emirates Palace, each of which houses 10,000 bees that produce 1.2 tons of honey annually. By offering these value-added products to guests, this contributes to spreading awareness of the group’s efforts in beekeeping, and the revenues generated from these contribute to The products continue to support their beehives.
Organic garden
In 2020, the Emirates Palace Hotel began its efforts to become one of the first hotels in the world to have a desert botanical garden. Locally grown seed varieties that are heat-resistant, low in water consumption and full of flavor and nutrients are used. In addition, the drip irrigation method is used to reduce water use. To a greater extent.
Through this initiative, the hotel aims not only to engage guests but also to raise wider awareness about the importance of growing sustainable organic vegetables that are adapted to the local climate, and the vegetables are used as ingredients for dishes sold in the hotel’s restaurants.
Botanical rooms
Room design, sustainable bedding and toiletries are some of the features that make up the region’s first-ever dedicated vegan rooms. From the beautifully crafted furniture to every last fixture, nothing is made using products or materials of animal origin. Guests can order from Exclusive in-room vegetarian menu.
The rooms’ furniture, fixtures, bedding, accessories and equipment are free of any animal products, derivatives or materials, and feature exclusive botanical spa treatments, an in-room vegan menu, vegan cleaning products for in-room cleaning and vegan sanitary accessories.
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