Today, we have another success story to tell you: Duo Hotel, based in Paris, was awarded the Green Key certification as a result of their hard work! We had a chat with Irina Bolocan, the hotel’s operation manager, to know more about their adventure.
Duo is a boutique hotel located in the heart of the Marais, the trendiest neighborhood of Paris. In an architecture of character, Hotel Duo plays casual luxury on a resolutely contemporary theme. Open spaces, simple lines, designer furniture, architectural lights, warm or tart colors, plain or vegetal patterns, elegantly highlight the Marie-Antoinette listed staircase, the beams and the vaulted room of the 16th century heritage from this old building. The property, opened for the first time in 1924, and has been belonging to the same family for 5 generations.
Their DNA drives them to always seek for improvement and have a positive impact on our environment.
That is why, naturally, Duo decided to engage its team and guests in a sustainable development approach.
There are so many sustainability labels on the market that they weren’t sure which one is the most suitable and recognized for the hospitality.
Being part of the TouriSME program helped the hotel discover all the labels and choose the right one – the Green Key.
Accordingfto the Green Key’s website, certificate is the leading standard for excellence in the field of environmental responsibility and sustainable operation within the tourism industry. This prestigious eco-label represents a commitment by businesses that their premises adhere to the strict criteria set by the Foundation for Environmental Education.
The Green Key label rewards companies that pay particular attention to the following actions: Employee training, raising awareness among customers and suppliers, eco-responsible purchasing, water and energy consumption and waste reduction.
According to Irina, the process of the certification can be a little bit long, because they had to change their working processes on a daily basis (no more printing, increasing the selective sorting of waste), the manner of purchasing our products (focusing on biological and ecolabel products), to prepare a lot of communication for the team and the clients and to involve them in the project. However, Irina emphasizes that as soon as you are respecting the requested specifications, it can be a very nice challenge for everyone.
The Duo Team is very proud of obtaining the Green Key label. It is now striving to be part of the ACT (assessing low carbon transition) program organized by ADEME, the French Agency for the Environment and Energy Management.
Irina declared: “Being part of TouriSME project and participating to the Matchmaking events organized by Institut Paris Region helped us to be more efficient in our process of certification, to find some new ideas from our colleagues from other properties and also grow personally through the experience sharing. This program gave us also the opportunity to organize a training for our team in order to help them better assimilate information and certification requests.
Thank you to all the stakeholders of this program. It’s a big opportunity and a chance to learn and share information with professionals from 4 different countries.”
Irina concluded on a proverb that perfectly illustrates being part of a project: If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. “As such, if we work together, we will find the right way to change the world’s consciousness about what we’re facing and find the right solution.”
Hôtel Duo 11, rue du temple 75004 PARIS
Tel : +33/ 1 42 72 72 22
