Our Commitment to Sustainability

The Mount Cook Hotel Collection and all its hotels have made a commitment to sustainability, striving to contribute to the ideal of a clean and green New Zealand and ensure the long-term success of our business.

Embracing New Zealand Tourism’s values of Kaitiakitang, Manaakitanga and Whanaungatanga; we have developed our sustainability strategy focus on four main parts: our environment, our people, our guests, and our community.

Kaitiakitanga

the guardianship, protection and preservation of our natural

Our environment – We recognize the importance of our role in protecting and enhancing the environment for future generation, and to help secure the long-term sustainability of the tourism industry of New Zealand, our strategy is to better understand, measure, and reduce our environmental footprint, while balancing the growth of our operations. Our initiatives are:

  • Reduce printing by electronic transmission all documentation where possible. E.g. in-room QR codes for hotel information, activities, feedback form, menus and the town map
  • Remove plastic straws and in-room plastic bags
  • Use recyclable coffee cups
  • Recycle paper, glass, cardboard, cans, printer and copier toner, etc.
  • Recycle waste kitchen oil through a third party bio-fuel manufacturer
  • Use double siding of printing, use recycled paper
  • Use eco-friendly amenity range – ‘Beyond Skin Deep’ program
  • Use suppliers that have a sustainability policy, and do bulk order for less packaging (e.g. Mitre 10).
  • Use energy saving light bulbs, energy-efficient appliances
  • Encourage staff to utilise energy efficiently
  • Save water, e.g. flow restrictors, dual flush toilets

Manaakitanga

showing respect, hospitality, kindness, generosity and care for others

Our people – Our staff are key to everything that we do, they are our most important asset. While our staff’s safety and wellbeing are our priority, we are committed to create a workplace that makes people want to join, stay, and work to their full potential. Our initiatives are:

  • Care for our staff
  • Treat our staff fairly and with respect, and value their diversity
  • Pay fair and competitive wages
  • Conduct performance reviews, incentivise those who exceed our expectation
  • Provide a safe and healthy working environment that supports on-going trainings, individual developments, team-working, positive work-life balance, and job satisfaction
  • Ensuring that staff are part of ongoing dialogue about our sustainability
  • Our managers practise leadership by example – walking the talk
  • Create a distinct company culture and team culture for motivation and retaining our workforce
  • Have a succession plan in place for our key roles

 

Our guests – While we are relentlessly striving to exceed our guests’ expectations by delivering exceptional service, we also educate our guests about New Zealand’s cultural and behavioral expectations. Our initiatives are:

  • Apply Manaakitanga – showing respect, hospitality, kindness, generosity and care
  • Deliver exceptional service
  • Provide a safe, clean and warm environment to our guests, with emergency plans in place
  • Educate our staff the different cultures to enable them to address cultural differences and serve our guests better.
  • Promote Tiaki Promise and the concept of Manaakitanga to our guests

Whanaungatanga

a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging

Our community – We recognise the environment, social, and economic needs of the communities we work in and we aim to be a good business, employer and community member. Our initiatives are:

  • Endeavour to employ locals
  • Use local suppliers where possible, and promote the purchase of local products
  • Engage in local activities (e.g. arrange community clean day)
  • Sponsor local events, charities, fundraisers
  • Provide work placement for tourism and hospitality students

To further our pledge, all our hotels have maintained our Qualmark Enviro awards, joined the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment, and we promote Tiaki Promise. We strive to maintain, and continue to improve on, our position as an environmentally friendly and sustainable hotel group.