Charming and environmentally friendly living in Vienna

From the Schick Hotels Vienna mission statement:
“… As a family business, we’re consciously aware of our social and economic responsibility – to our guests, employees and the environment. High quality standards, the safety of our products and our careful handling of natural resources are the bases for our daily work….”

Ecolabel project

Austrian Ecolable

We began the “Ecolabel” project in the summer of 2012, starting with the Hotel Stefanie – which was also the most involved due to everything it offers, from rooms to restaurants to seminar rooms. In the fall of 2012 we were already able to take the test, and we received the official certificate directly from Federal Minister Niki Berlakovich, a certified engineer by training. The four other Schick Hotels followed, and today we are very proud of the fact that all Schick Hotels were able to qualify for the Ecolabel.

During the preparatory phase, we determined that we already fulfilled very many of the necessary criteria, since we have always attached great importance to quality and sustainability over the course of renovations and whenever collaborating with our suppliers. This ranges from purchasing Fair Trade and organic products, such as foods from local providers, to professional energy consulting, all the way to consciously dealing with the use and apportioning of cleaning agents.

Emblem for the environment

Nonetheless, every organization has its weak spots, and we were able to implement improvements in many areas immediately, or at least incorporate these items into our action plan so that we can take them into consideration for future investments.

I wish to list a few items that we changed due to our work towards the Ecolabel:

• Individually packaged sugar replaced with sugar sprinkler
• Individually packaged glasses of marmalade replaced with open marmalade
• Purchase of free-range eggs in place of barn eggs
• Replaced light bulbs with LED lamps
• Motion sensors in the hotel hallways
• Flow restrictors in the valves
• Conversion to TCF (total chlorine free) paper when purchasing photocopying paper, stationery and envelopes, as well as notepads and flipchart paper
• Conversion to more environmentally friendly cleaning agents
• Heat recovery plants
• Replacement of boilers

An now: “all-organic”?

 Despite the Ecolabel, the Schick Hotels are still far from “organic” or “all-natural” hotels. This is not something we wish to presume to do, and it also was not our goal. However, we wish to make the point that we take our responsibility to our environment very seriously and constantly endeavor to achieve improvements in all areas in order to preserve a beautiful and healthy environment for future generations as well.

Austrian Ecolabel for tourism companies

The Austrian Ecolabel for tourism companies (Österreichische Umweltzeichen für Tourismusbetriebe) is a seal of quality for high ecological standards, quality and social action. It has stood for high quality of life and environmental quality since 1990. It is valid for four years, is inspected by an independent body of experts and only granted to companies that also fulfill numerous further requirements, such as proper serviceability, in addition to comprehensive environmental criteria. The guidelines are continuously updated so that a high quality standard can be sustainably guaranteed.

The inspection pertains to the following areas:

General environmental management – energy – water – waste – air/noise – office/purchasing – cleaning – construction & living – foodstuffs – traffic