​Best Western Homestead Court Hotel

Corporate & Social Responsibilities Policy

At the hotel we understand that from management down to the front of house team we all play a major role in helping to protect our environment.

We actively encourage our guests, visitors & other businesses to do the same.

We have a dedicated management team who are responsible for ensuring that all staff are trained correctly and actively carry out duties in line with our green policy. All aspects of our green policy are reviewed every six months to ensure that we are doing our utmost to preserve this wonderful world we live in. 

Actions taken to conserve the environment:-

Waste Management

• Recycle glass, plastic, paper and used oil
• Keep all waste down to a minimum
• Composting suitable waste – to be used in our gardens when ready
• Re-use damaged linens & towels for cleaning purposes
• Suppliers packaging returned to them to be re-used where possible
• Batteries and fluorescent lights are disposed of correctly and efficiently
• Guest bedroom recycling – encouraging guests to leave recyclable items such as newspapers or plastic cups by the side of their bin

Environmental

• Energy saving light bulbs in use in many areas – now experimenting with LED lighting
• Good laundry practices - not washing/drying half loads of washing, using non-iron sheets, encourage guests to re-use their towels, buying chemical/cleaning substances in bulk
• Storing chemicals safely - stored in a locked cupboard
• Encouraging use of public transport to both guests and staff alike
• Keeping natural habitats in the garden
• Removing hazardous waste safely and efficiently
• Electrical & manual chemical dosing units to ensure safety and control
• Refurbished windows to exclude drafts and heat loss
• Double glazing fitted where appropriate

General

• Asking guests their opinions on what we can do to help the environment, what they would like to see
• Keeping good maintenance procedures
• Monitoring water, gas & electricity usage - look at areas we could cut down on use of these amenities
• Providing newspapers for guests only on request
• Asking guests to turn lights off and not leave televisions/DVD players on standby
• Keeping heating to a minimum where applicable
• Encourage guests to use the local attractions

Community

• Sourcing of local foods
• Maintenance of grounds and buildings to a high standard, in keeping with the style of the Georgian buildings
• Encourage guests to use local attractions
• Charitable donations in way of prizes for fund-raising events
• Ensuring that the running of the hotel is done in a responsible manner as not to disturb our local neighbours
• Working together with Norwich In Bloom and supporting charity events such as Lord Mayors Procession

Any feedback from guests is always received warmly, should you have any ideas on how we can improve our green policy, please feel free to speak to our management team.

If you would like to find out more information as to how the hotel is helping the environment, please ask at reception to see our Green File.

Homestead Court Action Plan

Best Western Homestead Court Hotel is working towards becoming a greener hotel for guests in Welwyn Garden City. However, being an eco-friendly hotel means there are always more green actions we can do – just having recycled plastic bottles & loft insulation is not enough. Looking ahead is always useful, and we try to do it as often as possible, though like most small businesses not nearly enough. Here is our wish list for the coming years to make us an even more sustainable Hotel:

Easy wins:

• More educational signage around the hotel – explaining the eco-friendly things we already do, and also more eco-friendly things to do in the area.
• Continued work on back garden design – install gravity-fed reticulation system, add more edibles.
• Biodiversity – Bird feeders and boxes, wild bee hotels, bat boxes made from off-cuts of wood from our building works.
• Sole recycle bins in rooms – find duo-bins, or smaller bins, and signage on the bins themselves so people know what they can recycle.
• Clean air plants – when we buy any new plants for indoors or outdoors we choose from a list of air purifying plants.

Require planning:

• Paperless office – getting rid of the need to print at all.
• More hanging baskets – across the whole front of the hotel, with automatic reticulation (watering) system in place.
• All new equipment to be purchased category A energy rating or higher
• All staff can charge their electric cars free of charge at the hotel
• Buy more local products
• Find a real energy saving kettle for all rooms that does actually save energy

Long term goals:

Solar water heater – to pre-heat water going into the hot water boilers (dependent on many variables, esp. the local council)

Photovoltaic panels – for energy production (dependent on many variables, esp. the local council).

Replace windows to keep heat in the building better