Eurotel gears to become pioneering 'green hotel'

MANILA, Philippines - Eurotel, one of the country’s leading standard hotels, started 2011 with the opening of its branch in Baguio City. Recognizing how a hotel’s operations can impact the environment, managing director William Go briefly explained Eurotel’s commitment to the environment through its environmentally friendly principles and practices: “We were all humbled by Ondoy, and then later, Pepeng. We need to seriously think about how we all contribute to environmental damage. Somehow, in some ways, we need to do something now before it’s too late. The floods are just nature’s reminders that we have been abusing our stay here on Earth already. We have to work together now, and the hotel industry, particularly with its consumption of water, electricity, and detergents, should be there at the forefront,” he said.

While Eurotel is beginning to make its environmental and social development awareness commitment felt through small activities in areas where they operate, Go feels that they still have a long way to go. “We have conducted seminars, tree planting and crafts-making activities from recycled materials in Baguio City and we hope to do more.”

For a start, the hotel will maximize the use of sunlight in the design of its rooms and in all possible areas of the building .It will also use disposable but biodegradable materials for most of its packaging and conduct more conservation activities geared towards helping the environment and the planet. All these are geared towards becoming one of the pioneering “green hotels” in the Philippines and Asia.

In the pipeline is a plan to harness rainwater for their operations not only in the Baguio City branch but in their other projects as well. The system will harvest rainwater and store it in tanks that will be connected to the hotel’s toilet-flush systems. The rainwater will also be used for cleaning, gardening and landscaping.

Azkal team members and brothers James and Phil Younghusband have lunch at Eurotel Baguio: The visit was to practice for their upcoming game in Mongolia.

Go said that this is a concrete step in the right direction of being a “green hotel,” given that there is already a water shortage problem in many key cities. “Admittedly, we have to do more about the fragile watershed system. As our way to help, we want to lessen our demands on the water system by creating our own source while investing our money and other resources wisely. After all, rainwater is free! There is ‘green economics’ there and we hope that this practice will inspire other hotels as well. The economy is facing tremendous challenges. We in the hotel industry should be more aggressive, innovative, creative and environmentally sensitive. Gone are the days of sacrificing the environment just because we want to be No. 1.Being world-class should start by being sensitive to what we leave behind, our environmental footprint, including our carbon emissions.”

Eurotel now has five branches in Metro Manila: Araneta Center, Quezon City; Las Piñas (in front of SM South Mall); Pedro Gil, Ermita (in front of Robinson’s Place Manila); Chino Roces Avenue, Makati (in front of Walter Mart and Don Bosco Church); North EDSA (in front of SM North); and one in Baguio City on Abanao Extension (in front of City Hall).

In the planning stage are branches in Davao, Boracay (along Station Two), as well as branches in Greenhills, Cagayan de Oro and Naga, Bicol.

Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan (center) treated the visiting Azkals team to a sumptuous lunch at Eurotel.

For more information call Eurotel at their central booking number 355-0000 or through their website at eurotel-hotel.com.