Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô: Green Globe Verified in Vietnam

Perched on a secluded peninsula near Phu Yen (Central Vietnam), Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô is a 98-hectare beach resort in get-away-from-it-all scenery. Uniting ancient rice paddy fields, verdant hilltops and kilometer-long powder white beach, the resort consists of 73 villas, 3 restaurants & bars as well as a spa, leisure facilities and watersport activity center, all facing a private coral reef bay. Interior decorations are a mixture of natural woods, stones, and local antiquities, softened with delicate fabrics providing a feeling of timeless luxury.

Opened in December 2020, the resort has been conceived to respect and value the surrounding environment, from its development to the daily operation. Surrounded by lush, native vegetation covering 97% of the premises, the resort has its own ecosystem, benefiting notably from abundant wealth of fruits, vegetables, and rice. All main structures have been designed to blend local culture, know-how and nature – with the purpose of creating a sustainable environment. In February 2023, the resort has received the Green Globe certification for its commitment towards sustainability.

Here are just some of the most recent initiatives undertaken at Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô to limit its environmental footprint.

INCREASE OF SOLAR PANELS USE
From its conception four years ago, Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô has always been committed to reducing its energy consumption and carbon footprint. The use of energy is a big part of the environmental footprint, therefore the resort decided to invest in more renewable energy.

Recently, the installation of rooftop solar panels was finalized to provide a substantial amount of the resort’s energy consumption. This installation consists of 655 solar panels linked to two generators. They are located on top of the back-of-house building, which is unnoticeable for the guests. Depending on the weather conditions, the solar panels produce fifty to ninety percent of the resort’s power needs. The ninety percent is mostly reached during peak production hours (around 4pm), during this time they generate 90kW to 100kW per hour. For the remaining energy consumption, the resort relies on EVN electricity, Vietnam’s leading energy.

Besides investing in renewable energy, the resort wanted to reduce its environmental footprint even more. For instance, it has been decided to reduce the changing schedules for bedsheets and towels (unless specifically requested by a guest). Lastly, Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô’ lights are now 98% LED bulbs which allows the resort to use even less energy.

JOURNEY TO ELIMINATE PLASTIC FROM GUEST ROOMS
Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô has been engaged in a journey to eliminate all single use plastics from its guest rooms. It was a challenging but successful project led by the General Manager Michaël Wirz and the housekeeping team. They were determined to completely eliminate all single use plastics and replace them with more sustainable alternatives. Today there is officially no more plastic items in the guest rooms at Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô.

To date, the bathroom amenities are made from bamboo & corn husk packaging, refillable wet amenities and natural sponges are offered, there are no plastic bottles in the minibar, the hotel provides refillable glass bottles, re-usable wrapping is used for laundry delivery, paper bin liners have replaced plastic bags, etc. Of course, the resort also continuous to encourage the meticulous sorting of all the waste. Nespresso coffee capsules are still offered in the rooms; however, the empty capsules are being collected to be recycled. Furthermore, Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô has engaged a local coffee producer in order to go one step further and compost the capsules in house. Local coffee that comes from Lang Biang village where Nat Paolone, the most passionate coffee farmer you will ever meet, cultivates his coffee plantations is on the offer. The resort now aims to continue its plastic free journey in other business areas, such as all their public spaces.

EXTENSION OF THE VEGETABLE GARDEN & CREATION OF COMPOST AREA
Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô covers 98 hectares, and features 8 hectares of rice fields, another 12 hectares of organic gardens, as well as private yards, hills covered with endemic trees, flowerbeds, and grass areas. With this much land in hand, the resort has made it their goal to home-grow their own vegetables, fruits, herbs, and rice as much as possible.

Chef Dung Mai, assisted by the Head Gardener Mr. Tri, have been working on creating a Kitchen Garden in front of Bà Hai Restaurant, as well as supervising the paddy fields growth and the existing ecological pond. To ensure that the resort could reach their goal, they completed an 8- month project. It all started off by preparing the soil and planting fresh local herbs (basil, lemongrass, Vietnamese coriander, garlic chives, etc) and local vegetables including mustard greens, spinach, pumpkin, and more. Once harvested, all the fresh ingredients are used in the kitchen and also throughout the resort such as at the spa. Garden refuse is collected, mulched, and used as natural compost to regenerate fields and attract biodiversity. All the natural waste from the gardens, such as fallen leaves, are left on site to build soil. In order to continuously provide fresh vegetables, organic fertilizer is used to manage pests in combination with manure, and the existing rich soil is ploughed to make it porous and airy. The vegetable garden is maintained and cared for by daily watering and manual weed management. The resort’s grey water is treated and then used for landscaped irrigation.

A solid waste management plan was also implemented, with quantitative goals to minimize waste that is not reused or recycled. At the moment, 88% of the resort food waste is recycled. With the creation of a new composting area behind the water pond, the resort aims to recycle 100% of the resort food waste. At the moment, local farmers are given most of the food leftovers to feed their pigs. At least 20kg of food waste is collected by the farmers every morning. The remaining will now be composted onsite. Attentive recycling is also in place in the three restaurants and awareness is risen about the importance of food waste reducing and recycling within the teams.

To maintain this immense land, Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô is working with local villagers, who are employed within the gardening team composed of 14 persons. Together they are in charge of tendering the paddies and harvesting the crop, using local techniques. The planted rice is harvested three times per year and used in the restaurants and as departing gifts for guests. The guests are also invited to learn about the planting and harvesting phases by participating in the extraordinary open classroom. For all the products that cannot be resort-grown, Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô sources food products from local organic farms. Wherever possible and available, they partner with local Vietnamese companies for the supply of their honey, eggs, coffee, chocolate, various beers, rum, and fresh natural juices. Finally, they also aim to reinforce the biodiversity by attracting new insects with their flowerbeds.

More info: feel free to email communication@zannier.com

Or visit: www.zannierhotels.com