Manotel

UN Global Compact

Our partnership with the UN Global Compact and the Manotel Group reinforces our shared commitment to responsible and sustainable practices, while affirming our desire to actively contribute to sustainable development goals.

A program based on ten points

In 2007, Manotel announced a program of sustainable development. The group has decided to integrate the following three main priorities into its day-to-day management, in a very active and tangible manner: economic efficiency, social responsibility, and environmental preservation.

In order to achieve this, Manotel has made a commitment to respect ten measures grouped into 3 areas:

Measures for our guests

1. Guest safety

First-aid training and fire safety drills for Manotel staff. New fire detection system. Surveillance cameras.

2. Mobility

Promotion of public transport through the use of the Geneva Transport Card.

3. Information

Information on interactive TV in guestrooms and screensaver. Creation of website page. E-newsletter with updated information on results linked to the strategy of sustainable development.

Measures for our staff

• 4. Professional development

• Promotions and transfers within Manotel. Groups of participants benefit from 35 courses for a total of 450 training sessions every year.

• 5. Referrals

• Staff are encouraged to recommend their relatives and friends for employment.

• 6. Male/female parity

• Maintain the male/female parity within the Group.

Measures applied to the environment

• 7. Monitoring consumption

• Streamline monitoring of energy for better consumption control.

• 8. Energy (water, electricity, fuel)

• Control of energy consumption (Monitor power consumption, invest effective insulation

• (windows, building envelope), solar panels, program to minimize water consumption, presence detectors, cold ceilings, energy-saving light bulbs…

• 9. Housekeeping techniques

• Optimise the use of appliances and cleaning products.

• 10. Waste management

• Conclude agreements for services linked to sorting and disposal of hazardous waste. Negotiate with suppliers for the return of used packaging or products.

Manotel was able to give out the green economies, particularly with the complicity of the customers and their increased awareness to limit their daily consumption of bath towels, to the programme “Explore” of WWF International. More than twenty students thus carried out an internship within the framework of the program "Explore!" in Madagascar and Paraguay. This course enables young people to confront the reality of the environmental issues at stake and encouraged most of them to begin a career in this sector.

In 2008, the Manotel Group received the Canton of Geneva Sustainable Development Award, the “Prix Suisse de l’Ethique”, and was nominated at the Worldwide Hospitality Awards in Paris.

Youth for Soap

"Youth for Soap" is an original non-profit sustainable development initiative which aims to recycle hotel soaps to offer them to humanitarian organizations. It is based on the collaboration between three partners: L'Espace Entreprise, a training center attached to the professional practice of the Department of Public Education, Culture and Sport (DIP), the Manotel Group and the Fondation Ensemble.

Thanks to the Ensemble Foundation, the new soaps will be produced by people with intellectual disabilities, in a sheltered workshop. They will then be distributed to active humanitarian associations primarily in Geneva and then, in the event of a surplus, in developing countries. Young apprentice trade employees, on an internship at the Espace Entreprise (DIP), are at the origin of the project, and take care of all the coordination, fundraising, communication and logistics. It is a unique and innovative approach to sustainable development, which has brought together complementary partners: a school, a company and a foundation, with the support of private partners for financing, as well as students in chemistry and graphics, for specific parts of the project. A Geneva integration association, Caddie Service, takes care of the transport of the soap. A private laboratory has agreed to perform regular tests to ensure hygienic conditions. This collaboration makes it possible to touch on many areas of sustainable development and social responsibility, with environmental, humanitarian and social benefits. The whole project is based on awareness, exchange and meeting between all the people participating in the project: employees, young apprentices, people with intellectual disabilities. Wider communication is also planned in schools and with hotel customers.

This initiative recycles up to one ton of soap per year.