Six hotels hold EarthCheck Master Certification

Sandals Resorts International yesterday pointed to its environmental sustainability recording, saying that it is the only hotel chain in the world to have six resorts currently holding Master Status from EarthCheck, the world’s leading scientific benchmarking, certification and advisory group for travel and tourism.

“Sandals Montego Bay, Sandals Royal Plantation, Sandals Ochi Beach Resort, Sandals Negril, Beaches Negril, and Sandals La Toc currently hold Master Certification, with Sandals Negril in its 18th year of successful audits and Sandals Ochi Beach Resort in its 16th,” a news release from the resort chain stated.

According to the luxury all-inclusive chain, in addition to its six resorts holding Master Status, six others hold Platinum Certification; three, certified Gold; and three, Silver Certification.

“Achieving EarthCheck Master Certification is confirmation that the resorts have consistently measured and benchmarked their annual environmental performance against their peers over a 15-year period, and have had their systems and data independently examined and verified by a third-party auditor. To achieve Platinum Certification, resorts would have maintained this standard for 10 years,” the news release stated.

“Sandals has confirmed its position as a true worldwide leader in responsible tourism and a genuine source of inspiration to the international tourism community,” the release quotes EarthCheck’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer Stewart Moore. “The group and its passionate staff play an integral role in motivating their guests and community to make a difference, from embedding programmes into local schools to celebrating novel ways to reuse trash.”

Sandals Resorts’ Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Adam Stewart accepted the compliment and expressed pride at the company’s latest achievements. “We take environmental preservation very seriously at Sandals and these certifications are testament to this,” he said.

“To be consistently audited and examined by an independent body and continuously maintain and exceed standards is no easy feat, but we are driven by our commitment to the environment and we leave no stone unturned when it comes to implementing and maintaining sustainable programmes and practices,” Stewart said.

The resorts currently holding Platinum Status are Sandals Halcyon, Sandals Grande St Lucian, Sandals Royal Bahamian, Sandals Royal Caribbean, Beaches Ocho Rios, and Beaches Turks and Caicos. Sandals Halcyon and Sandals Royal Caribbean are both in their 14th year of audits.

Meanwhile, Sandals Carlyle, Sandals Grande Antigua and Sandals South Coast currently boast Gold Status, while Sandals Barbados and Sandals LaSource Grenada join Sandals Emerald Bay as the resorts holding Silver Status.

The resort chain said it has long held environmental sustainability as part of its core vision and mission, and has implemented numerous environmental programmes to better streamline and manage its operations. These include energy conservation initiatives and waste and water management programmes, all of which fall under the remit of the company’s Environment, Health, and Safety Division. Each resort has a dedicated environment, health and safety manager charged with implementing and managing sustainable programmes and ensuring that the resort adheres to internationally accepted operating standards.

The company also said it invests millions in training programmes to ensure all team members are aware of the importance of environmental preservation and are fully versed in the role they play in achieving this.