Eco-Friendly Hotels:
The Fairmont Promise

Our Environmental Mission

For more than 25 years, Fairmont has been an environmental leader among eco-friendly hotels. As one of the first luxury hotel brands to achieve emission reduction targets, we embrace the sustainability initiatives developed by Accor. We believe it is our privilege to enhance genuine experiences and promote a rich cultural exchange within our communities by ensuring long-term stewardship of our planet. From rooftop bee hotels to innovative water-reduction techniques, we’re proud to be recognized as having one of the most comprehensive eco-friendly programs in the North American hotel industry.

Our Vision: Caring for the Planet

We’re proud to support and participate in Accor’s environmental and social sustainability program. We challenge everyone – guests, hotel colleagues, partners, and property developers – to take measurable actions to minimize our hotel’s impact on our planet. Programs addressing reforestation, water conservation, energy savings and food waste reduction are an integral part of our hospitality DNA. As we look to the future, our hotels pledge to continue promoting long-term sustainability and stewardship in each of our communities.

Our Six Pillars: Proactive Practices

Caring for planet Earth isn’t something we take lightly. And we realize it isn’t just a matter of turning off lights or planting an organic garden, although these are important. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts prioritizes six key pillars to drive our sustainability programs:

  • Our guests
  • Our people
  • Our partners
  • Our communities
  • Our buildings
  • Our food

We recognize environmentally friendly hospitality practices help us fulfill our mission to be stewards of the world’s most diverse and picturesque locations, the places where we are most connected to the land.

We pledge to constantly seek to better the ways in which we impact Mother Earth.

Our Role: Caretakers of the Planet

We believe our role as caretakers for our local ecosystems is vital. Our guests and colleagues work and play in locations we strive to protect for future generations. Ecosystems require a delicate balance of conservation and public use. To protect and preserve our ecosystems, our hotels support three key initiatives:

  • Sustainable design and construction
  • Support for biodiversity
  • Integration of sustainable procurement in our purchasing process

These proactive steps are visible in our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint, consumption of energy, and production of waste

All of our Fairmont-managed golf courses are enrolled in Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuaries and follow their conservation guidelines. While our legendary courses may be our most visible ecosystems, we believe every business decision we make contributes to our environmental activism efforts.

Our Goals: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle & Regenerate

Caring for our planet means being proactive stewards of our environment. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts recognizes climate change as a global issue we all must address. We have committed to four environmental priorities:

  • Reduce our consumption of energy
  • Reduce water consumption
  • Reduce the amount of waste we generate
  • Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions

Our colleagues embrace sustainable practices designed to reduce and lessen the impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on a local and global scale. Each hotel monitors, measures, and reports on their GHG emissions. This is one reason why we embrace technology and actively seek to change ingrained behaviors. Our efforts are focused on diverting waste from landfills, recycling, and donating or selling used cooking oil and grease to be turned into biodiesel. Together, each action contributes to a healthier environment for future generations.

Our Promise: Actions not Words

Sustainability is as much a part of Fairmont hotels as memorable experiences and a warm welcome. Our success as a global citizen is due to the active engagement of our hotel colleagues. Our golf course managers serve the planet through ongoing improvements to the courses through our “Greening Our Greens” program. Our guests actively support our efforts through water and energy conservation. They may reuse towels or choose to participate in local stewardship projects. We choose partners who share our vision and ideals, such as BMW. And we work in concert with our local communities as volunteers for environmental clean-up days, food drives and organic gardening efforts.

Oh, and let’s not forget those bee hotels we’ve established globally. Helping the honeybee is our sweetest reward.

Working to Bee Sustainable

We work with our partners to develop new ways of mutually reducing environmental footprints. By involving our partners in our sustainability efforts, we raise environmental standards throughout our supply chains. Fairmont and AccorHotels will continue to lead in finding inclusive, sustainable hospitality solutions.

Our Communities

Fairmont is proud to partner with like-minded organizations to find inclusive, sustainable hospitality solutions. One of the most visible is our joint effort with Pollinator Partnership. We’re committed to providing financial support, raising awareness and creating and maintaining apiaries and wild bee "hotels".

Our newest initiative is a digital pilot at five of our hotels. We’ve installed cameras and hive-tracking devices. This state-of-the-art technology tracks the number of visiting bees and the distance they travel each day. We collect data on the honey and analyze the flower, tree and plant nectars the bees prefer. Then we compare this data to the classification of color and grade of the honey according to the Pfund scale. This is just one more way Fairmont Hotels and Resorts is leading the way in hospitality sustainability.

By working with forward-thinking companies, we hope to encourage our guests to support our efforts in a variety of ways. Whether you choose to drive an eco-friendly vehicle, to host a green meeting or to sample a dessert made with our own honey, you're already taking action to save the environment in a proactive and sustainable manner. Thank you for helping us help the planet.