3 years on from launching its Giving Something Back programme, RBH marks World Environment Day by reviewing some of the progress it has made in terms of its environmental commitment to strive to become a carbon neutral management company. Their recent environmental activity can be broken down into three areas: decarbonisation, hearts & minds, and biodiversity.

Decarbonisation:

• Looking at a sample of 27 hotels that have been managed since 2019, RBH have successfully reduced energy consumption by over 10% across the last two years. They continue to trial and roll out initiatives that will help reduce energy consumption, from Room Energy Management Systems to solar panels and smart kitchen extractor fan ventilation systems.
• Kitchen extractor fan ventilation systems were identified as creating a high amount of energy waste. RBH have therefore started to install demand-controlled ventilation systems that use sensors across the kitchen canopy to monitor cooking activity, automatically initiating ventilation at the capacity required. In one property alone, energy consumption has more than halved. 8 properties currently have these system in place, with potential for more.
• 100% LED lighting across its offices, while 69% of its hotels have 100% LED bulbs.
• Voltage optimisation has been installed in 13 hotels with 6 more to follow.
• EV charging bays have been installed at 8 hotels.
• 5 tons of CO2e have been saved by diverting 601.92t of waste from landfill.

Hearts & Minds:

• 85% of the portfolio is accredited with Green Tourism.
• A Sustainable Procurement Policy and Supplier Code of Conduct are in place to ensure they are partnering with like-minded suppliers.
• Since launching their partnership with Too Good To Go last year, they have saved 12,753 meals, avoided 34.43 tons of CO2e and have fundraised £26k for Mental Health UK.

Biodiversity:

• As of August 2023, 28 hotels had a least one biodiversity initiative in place: from green walls to bee hives and hedgehog hotels.

Hotel guests can find out all about these initiatives through a series of QR codes, which can be found across its portfolio to help help raise awareness.

RBH’s CEO, David Hart, commented:

"Since launching our Giving Something Back programme in April 2021 (in line with our 2025 strategy), we have continued to work hard to not only keep pace with but be a leading voice within the hospitality industry. RBH’s ESG commitments are closely intertwined with our values of integrity, care, operational excellence and ambition which run through everything we do, and this has regularly been recognised by the wider industry"

RBH’s ESG Director, Susan Bland, added:

"At RBH, we understand that success in the hospitality industry extends beyond financial performance. Our commitment to an ESG strategy isn’t just a checkbox; it’s a fundamental ethos that guides our operations, decisions, and interactions."

Looking forwards to the next 18-months and their 2025 targets, RBH’s environmental commitments include:

• 100% Tier 1 suppliers to have sustainable accreditation
• 100% LED lighting in all hotels
• 100% of portfolio to be accredited with Green Tourism
• 10% further reduction in gas/electricity consumption
• EV charging points in all hotels with car parking

Further information regarding the progress they have made can be found in their most recent ESG Impact Report (covering September 2021 to August 2023).