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otels in Bali have been encouraged to join the Eco-Hotel & Resort Management System certification program, as environmental issues have been a great concern for their guests and related stakeholders.

The Eco-Hotel & Resort Management System, provided by a Germany certification body, TUV Rheinland, features elements and criteria to ensure the greener, safer and more efficient operation of hotels.

“We hope that all Balinese hotels will become more environmental friendly and get certified in order to make Bali a greener island,” Nia Septinawati, head of the Scholarship and Education Program of the Bali Hotels Association (BHA), said recently at a gathering event where several hotels presented their achievements in “going green”.

The certification recognizes and rewards a hotel’s commitment to continual improvement by implementing an environmental management system.

There are currently four hotels in Bali that have been certified: the Nikko Bali Resort and Spa, the Ayana Resort and Spa Bali, the Sanur Beach Hotel and the Bali Garden Beach Resort.

Nicholas Pitet, deputy general manager of strategic tourism projects for TUV Rheinland Indonesia, said that some hotels in Bali were aware of the program and had implemented some measures, but had not applied for the
certification.

“Those first four hotels are good messengers to promote the certification. We have already received requests from hotels in Bali to become Eco-Hotel and Resort certified. I believe many will follow,” he said.

At another recent gathering, eco-teams from several Bali hotels reported on their environmental achievements, reporting with significant results on energy and water consumption.

Some of them had reduced their electricity consumption by more than 20 percent by going through the Eco-Hotel and Resort certification process.

They said that their efforts to ‘go green’ had been well received by corporate and individual customers, tour operators, owners and other benefiting stakeholders, such as employees and the surrounding community.

According to Nicholas, the validity of the certificate is three years. For the initial phase, the certification body identifies the weakness of the current situation with an initial audit, provides training and guidance for them to
understand the requirements better and connects them with professional consultants if necessary before the body conducts a certification audit.

“At the end of the certification process in first year, and if the hotel is in compliance with our standards, we certify the hotel an Eco-Hotel and Resort and hotel can use our logo. We come back during the second and third years to verify if previous targets and objectives have been achieved. After the third year, a hotel will have to renew its certificate.”

He said that environmental, cultural and social concern for guests is a fact today. Being certified allowed hotels to propose a responsible choice for their guests, tour operators and corporate customers and to publicly advertise their environmental achievement.

“We are not trying to convince hotels to become more eco-friendly. We are showing them what is available to become more eco-friendly and the way to be rewarded and publicly advertised.”

“The challenges are multiples and all stakeholders must be involved to keep the beauty of Bali.”.