Internet entrepreneur launches hotel greening site

Ville Valorinta the man behind the biggest Finnish online hotel booking company launches site to help hotels manage energy and emissions

Ecompter today announced that its PWC assured service aimed at enabling hotels and accommodation businesses to better understand, monitor, reduce and  importantly communicate their carbon footprint and sustainability initiatives, is now available in the UK.

Ecompter – taken from the French word ‘compter’ meaning ‘to count’ is about making sustainability count its target is to summarise the business idea of providing facts and figures for environmental communication and management.

Initially set to provide its service to the hotel and tourism markets, Ecompter is to enable the industry to communicate their commitment to sustainability. Many hotels are already doing something within this area without even knowing it. Overall the mission of Ecompter is to enable building better and more sustainable hotel guest experiences and to drive the reduction of the global carbon footprint.

The organization is backed by Vision+ the Finnish investment organization.

Says Ecompter:

• An average nights hotel stay in a mid range hotel produces 5kg-20kg of Co2 per room
• There are over 500,000 hotels globally – by a rough estimation that equals over 50 mega tons of Co2 produced per year
• Guests are responsible for up to 30% of a hotel’s overall carbon footprint
• Even a 1% reduction in a hotel’s carbon emission would make a global difference
• In addition to providing a calculation, Ecompter’s service offers a useful online communication interface so that owners and managers can inform guests that it is an environmentally friendly location and that it is committed to reducing the carbon consumption of its hotel establishment.

"Environmental awareness and change within the hotel industry should be part of the day to day running of an accommodations business" said Ville Valorinta, CEO Ecompter, "Over 100 establishments in Finland, including Best Western Hotels Finland and the Kamp Group, recognise this and are using the Ecompter service to measure C02 emissions."

"There cannot be creditable and effective environmental management and communication without knowing facts and figures. Since the Climate Change Act of 2008 came into force in the UK, organisations of every nature are committed to reducing the countries overall carbon footprint. Greener hospitality will play a small, yet vital part in this and the overall salvation of the planet".

"Ecompter Online supports extremely well our policy of being open and transparent in our communication, regarding the environmental issues." commented S. Kekkonen, managing director of Best Western Hotels, Finland, Poland and Baltic countries.

Valere Tjolle

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