The hospitality industry is continuously coming up with fantastic and creative ideas to combat environmental issues.
One of the hottest topics at the moment is cutting down electricity usage and specifically, ways in which we can create our own sources of electricity.
One hotel in Copenhagen has come up with a fresh idea to generate electricity by installing electricity producing bicycles in its gym for guests to use. The Crowne Plaza is the innovative hotel.
They have claimed to want to create “a world first by giving guests the chance to help power the hotel whilst getting fit at the same time.”
Guests are thanked for their contribution by receiving a “locally produced complimentary meal encouraging guests to not only get fit but also reduce their carbon footprint and save electricity and money.” They can also use the new electric bicycles “to monitor how much electricity they’re producing via iPhones mounted on the handle bars”.
Starting in June, enthusiastic fitness fans can also race against the hotel’s solar panel system in a bid to produce the most electricity.
In a similar vein, Crowne Plaza hotels world wide (with a test run in Europe) are embarking on a “new drive to save energy by reminding businessmen and women to switch off laptops and mobile phones in the evening.” Guests choosing to support this drive will receive a telephone service, “a call to their room, reminding them to turn off their technology at 19:00pm.”
A secondary benefit to guests is that by turning off their technology, they get a good nights sleep. We all know that when you leave all your equipment on through the night, it becomes “a physical disturbance and a constant reminder of work that needs to be done.” Evidently, in the incessant chase for productivity guests end up being less productive as a consequence of sleep deprivation.
Other chains are not to be outdone in the endeavor to reduce one’s carbon footprint by enlisting their guests. The Hilton in Nagoya, Japan announced earlier this week that the hotel “has started offering its guests free use of bicycles to get around the city, part of an experiment that the company hopes will be adopted by its properties around the world.”
Some cities around the world have already successfully implemented the free bicycle idea. Cities include Paris, Barcelona, Geneva, Stockholm, Montreal and finally, London which plans on rolling it out in July of this year. Two other Japanese Cities (Kyoto and Nara) have already launched a tourist tricycle which “features washi doors (a traditional form of Japanese paper) and lithium-ion batteries.
The latter enables the ‘vehicle’ to travel at up to a thrilling 25 mph. The former adds to the quirky appearance.” While many resorts around the world have offered bicycles for guests, promoting benefits including fitness and energy saving that reduces the carbon footprint in an urban setting is likely to catch on in many more places.
Source: The Crowne Plaza Hotel
