SANDALS Negril Beach Resort and Spa has once again cemented its place as a world-leading green hotel, earning Star Performer recognition from the leading certification and benchmarking organisation, EarthCheck.

Sandals Negril, which exceeded the best practice standards used by EarthCheck in its Annual Assessment Report, also managed to retain its Double Platinum Certification status.

Founded on the sustainable tourism principles of the Rio Earth Summit’s Agenda 21, EarthCheck is the world’s leading provider of environmental management, benchmarking and certification systems for the travel and tourism industry. It was established in 1987 and developed the original Green Globe Standard, with which Sandals was previously affiliated.

Properties, such as Sandals Negril, which earn EarthCheck certification, have to meet strict environmental sustainability criteria, and verify their performance through a process of annual benchmarking and regular on-site or desktop audits that are conducted by an independent third party.

A report which contains 11 indicators is then concluded to show whether the member organisation being assessed is performing at or above industry best practice. In addition to having a sustainability policy in place, Sandals Negril had to achieve at or above best practice levels for eight or more benchmarking indicators, in order to qualify as an EarthCheck Star Performer.

“Sandals Negril did not fail in a single indicator” said Antje Martins, EarthCheck’s relationships manager. “This is an achievement the property should be very proud of.”

“It’s an overall achievement that not only exemplifies exceptional performance, has bolstered us to further expand our environmental policies and sustainability models.” said Denisha Powell, Sandals Negril’s environmental, health and safety manager.

For over a decade, Sandals Negril Beach Resort and Spa has remained unparalleled in its environmental sustainability programmes. In 2009, the resort won the world’s first EarthCheck two-year platinum certification, and later won the CHA’s prestigious Green Hotel of the Year award.

Sandals Resorts International and its individual resorts have won numerous awards over the years; most recently Baxter’s Favourite Environmentally Friendly Company 2010, Travel Weekly’s Eco-Friendly Green Resort 2010 (Sandals Negril), Six Star Green Diamond Award 2010 (Beaches Turks) and the Flight Centre Environmental Award 2009.