The kitchen garden at the ibis Budapest Aero, in District IX, between the airport and the city center.

According to a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal, the program’s concept contains sustainability approaches that address colleagues, guests, partners, and local communities alike. Alongside the awareness campaign, AccorHotels says it has also carried out a series of improvements in its Hungarian hotels to consume less water and electricity. 

The change of taps and water-flow limiters in 2017 resulted in saving as much water as a smaller ibis hotel uses over the course of a year. With the improvement, water-related spending stayed at 7% of the total energy expenditure of the hotels. 

The replacement of 20,000 light sources with halogen and LED lamps, which may work for up to 40,000 hours, resulted in a decrease of electricity consumption per guest night between 2013 and 2017. The decrease equaled the energy expenditure of a hotel of a similar size to the 175-room Novotel Budapest Danube. New heating systems installed include heat recuperators, that produce hot water, along with fan coils that can be used for cooling too. 

During the renovation process of AccorHotels’ Mercure hotels in Budapest this spring, the rooms and public spaces were designed in accordance with the ideas of the Planet21 program. The improvements were carried out in all three Budapest hotels, in addition to which the doors and windows were replaced in Mercure Budapest Buda and Mercure City Center for better heat and noise insulation. 

The two main principles of the group’s Planet21 program are carbon-neutral buildings and food and beverage departments. Depending on the actions already carried out, hotels are classified into “bronze”, “silver”, “gold”, and “platinum” categories. The classifications are accessible to guests at the website of each hotel. The group’s Hungarian hotels scored well during the evaluations, with one “platinum”, and ten “gold” hotels, and all other establishments reaching the “silver” level.