Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is now a major part of day-to-day business life. Major corporations have been forced to improve their reputation after pressure from campaigners and government watchdogs, while there’s now far more pressure on smaller companies to be open about how their policies and practices affect the environment and the world around them.
Many companies have therefore chosen to publicise their environmental credentials, from their use of public transport to their recycling policies. Others, however, have been more reluctant to bow to pressure and are cynical about the amount of difference CSR policies can really make. Yet there are many reasons for reducing energy consumption: more environmentally friendly options generally create less waste, and are therefore more cost-effective too.
Serviced apartments are no exception. It’s well known that they offer a more cost-effective option than hotels for longer stays and they are more environmentally friendly for the same reasons: they require fewer staff and provide fewer extra services, from laundry and room service to daily cleaning.
Serviced apartments provide a home-from-home environment, which is why they generally don’t offer maid service as frequently as hotels. In a hotel the daily maid service means that towels and sheets are washed every day, which uses a vast amount of energy. Many of the serviced apartments on our website have a once weekly maid service, meaning a full linen change is provided once a week, which vastly reduces the amount of energy used. Using fewer cleaning products and not vacuuming daily also reduces pollution of waterways and energy output.
The amount of non-recyclable packaging used in large hotels for products such as shampoo, conditioner and body lotion, which are replenished regularly, all adds up. Hotels also tend to heat their property as a whole, meaning that empty rooms are heated and that plenty of energy is wasted. Most serviced apartments have individually controlled heating which is switched on only when the occupant arrives.
Environmental awareness varies from person to person and it’s inevitable that, when working away from home, some business people will be keen recyclers and energy-savers while others will be less stringent. However, whether you choose to be environmentally conscious or not, staying in a serviced apartment gives you the freedom to recycle and re-use to the extent that you would at home.
When staying in a serviced apartment, you can wash your clothes as often (or as little) as you like, choose your own detergents and choose the temperature at which you wash your clothes. You can choose whether to buy products with sustainable packaging as well as what and when you recycle.
Having the option of cooking for yourself also means you know where your food has come from, which is important at a time when many of us are trying to be more socially and environmentally responsible with what we eat. Eating locally produced food is better for the environment even than eating organically, and a serviced apartment allows for the option to do this. Eating food that is produced nearby not only supports local farmers and producers but reduces the energy wasted in packing and shipping.
Serviced apartments offer a large reduction in energy and water usage and allow guests to choose to support the local economy, making them the sensible option for companies or individuals concerned about the impact their business travel has on the world around them.
