Green wave driving change at firms - eco-hotel winner

John Loughran, owner of the Sandymount Hotel in Dublin, which was awarded with Europe’s Leading Green Hotel at the World Travel Awards 2019. Photo: Frank McGrath

Michael Cogley

The successes of the Green Party in the recent European Elections has forced businesses to become more cognisant of sustainability, the owner of the Sandymount Hotel has said.

John Loughran's hotel scooped the 'Leading Green Hotel' award for the third-year running this month. It beat off competition from the likes of the ICE Hotel in Sweden, Vila Vita Parc in Portugal, Eagles Palace in Greece, and Angel's Marmaris in Turkey to win the accolade at the World Travel Awards.

Loughran said the business dedicated a significant amount of time and effort to sustainability.

"It originated with an employee five or six years ago called Ruth Cooper, who was working in my accounts department," he said.

"She asked could we pursue green policies for the hotel. Initially, while I was happy to look at it, I was sceptical that it would be airy fairy and probably end up costing the hotel money but in fact once we started implementing the policies it has actually saved the hotel a considerable amount of money."

Loughran has overseen the introduction of a dedicated 'green team' in the hotel. Numerous efforts have been made to improve its sustainability, including the installation of aerated shower heads that dramatically reduce water wastage.

"If you look at the recent European and local elections and how the Green Party have performed in those elections, clearly it's becoming a much bigger agenda in people's minds. Probably awareness is at a higher level than it's ever been," Loughran said.

"The Sandymount Hotel has been in my family for 64 years so we are a family-run hotel. The view of how we run our business is long-term. It is our intention to continue as a family hotel long-term. We would be conscious of looking after things for the next generation and that we transfer into looking into our green policies."

Loughran said that 95pc of the company's waste was recycled and that his favourite measure was the offer of a free drink for guests that forgo room cleaning during their stay, saving on costs and detergent and water use.