Crowne Plaza Budapest: Engaging Green Actions

The Crowne Plaza Budapest is centrally located in the heart of the Hungarian capital, near to the famous UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Margaret Island and Andrássy Avenue; and the city’s Castle District is just three kilometres away. The hotel is also an easy stroll to the River Danube and only minutes away from Budapest Nyugati train station.

Crowne Plaza Budapest has been a longtime practitioner of InterContinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) Green Engage program which places a great emphasis on educating colleagues about sustainable initiatives, activities, and processes. A hotel committee has been established to develop new green and sustainable practices, which are regularly shared as best practices with the hotel’s partners.

Recently certified by Green Globe for its sustainability achievements, Crowne Plaza Budapest designed and implemented a Sustainability Management Report, and was able, for the first time, to collate and understand the great variety of environmental and social initiatives that are being conducted across the property.

The independent and onsite inspection conducted by an accredited Green Globe auditor, verified that the Sustainability Management Report’s actions were in compliance with the indicators and criteria of the Green Globe International Standard for Sustainable Tourism. Hotel management and staff participating in the audit, were rewarded with the knowledge that their actions were meeting the International Standard and at the same time, gained further insights in how they may move forward with continuous improvement.

As part of the IHG family, Crowne Plaza Budapest utilizes the in-house Green Engage system to track, monitor and gradually decrease energy usage. The hotel prides itself on a 10% reduction in energy usage via regular investment in modernizing hotel machinery. Recent examples are the staggered swapping out of old chillers over the past two years and replacement of one of the energy-inefficient heating furnaces in 2023. 

Waste reduction is another area where Crowne Plaza Budapest has made great progress across several departments.

 Kitchen staff regularly collect food waste, which is then used for animal feed. Used cooking oil is sent to be filtered, and then mainly used in the biodiesel industry. The hotel’s Kitchen and F&B departments have implemented a portion control system for all menus to avoid unnecessary restaurant leftovers. While the Sales and Banqueting departments make sure to offer meetings and events packages that include portion-controlled set menus, and offer the opportunity for delegates to take away their leftovers after the events.

The Purchasing department is always adding new supply partners whose sustainability efforts align with the hotel’s. Suppliers who deliver their products in the least amount of packaging or take back and reuse their packaging materials are preferred. The Purchasing department is also responsible for managing the hotel’s non-recyclable waste stream, compressing material to reduce the number of weekly disposal pickups.

Out of all the city hotels in Budapest, the Crowne Plaza is known to have the most green-spaces; two direct and one indirect terraces that are all feature flowers, grass, trees and bushes. Along with this urban vegetation, the hotel grows their own small quince orchard, with fruit harvested for jam, and included in cheese making and desserts. A hydroponic system is also used to propagate herbs and a variety of leafy greens, all of which are 100% free of pesticides.

As a member of the Hotels for Trees Foundation, Crowne Plaza Budapest contributes to greener hotels world-wide by encouraging guests to not request their daily room cleaning and instead plant a tree. 

For more information: 

Timea Marsi
Marketing & Management Coordinator
Crowne Plaza Budapest
Váci út 1-3., 1062 Budapest, Hungary
Phone: +36 1 288 5600           
Mobile: +36 20 7766 295
timea.marsi@ihg.com
www.crowneplaza.com/budapest

Bradley Cox
Director Communications
Green Globe Certification
1223 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 925
Santa Monica, CA 90403 / U.S.A.
Phone: +1-310-337-3000 ext. 105
Skype Direct +1 760 536 6581
Mobile +61 400 848 746
bcox@greenglobe.com
www.greenglobe.com