Holiday Inn Tampere – Central Station hotel awarded Nordic Swan Ecolabel
Holiday Inn Tampere – Central Station was granted the prestigious Nordic Swan Ecolabel in January, 2023. There are more than 4200 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide, and Holiday Inn Tampere – Central Station is among the first to carry the Nordic Swan Ecolabel certification of environmental friendliness. The hotel focuses especially on reducing food waste and improving waste sorting.
In Finland, the Holiday Inn, Hotel Indigo and Crowne Plaza hotels of the InterContinental Hotels Group hotel family are operated by Scandic Hotels Oy. Of the various types of environmental certification available, Scandic chose to apply for the Nordic Swan Ecolabel because its more strict criteria challenge companies to take a holistic approach to caring for nature. Among other things, in order to comply with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, the hotel must always provide plenty of vegetarian options and organic products, take measures to reduce food waste, favour eco-labelled products and services, keep energy and water consumption low, and sort and reduce the amount of waste. IHG’s Journey to Tomorrow programme and systems also contribute to Scandic’s goals, and are also a very good match with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel criteria.
“The Nordic Swan Ecolabel application process was a great experience, showing our team’s high commitment to environmental matters. It says a lot about our team’s motivation and values that environmental matters and their development have been chosen every year in the hotel’s operating plan,” says General Manager Tomi Mönkkönen. “Holiday Inn Tampere – Central Station already has a range of good practices in place, of which reduction of food waste and better sorting contribute to better and more sustainable development.”
Nordic Swan Ecolabel criteria now even stricter
The Nordic Swan Ecolabel criteria for the hotel and accommodation sector were renewed last year. They are now even more stringent, and new requirements have been added. According to a recent consumer survey carried out for the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, a whopping 94 per cent of consumers in Finland recognise the Nordic Swan brand.
“The Nordic Swan Ecolabel application process with Holiday Inn Tampere – Central Station was extremely fluent. Throughout the process, the hotel staff displayed genuine enthusiasm and interest in the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and development of their operations,” says Nordic Swan Ecolabel expert Annika Hämäläinen with a smile.
Scandic aims to apply for the Nordic Swan Ecolabel certification for all its hotels by the end of 2023. At the moment, 80 per cent of Scandic hotels have a Nordic Swan Ecolabel. Almost half of the Scandic, IHG and Hilton hotels in Finland have a Nordic Swan Ecolabel. In addition to Holiday Inn Tampere – Central Station, other hotels in Tampere with a Nordic Swan Ecolabel are Scandic Tampere City, Scandic Tampere Station and Scandic Rosendahl.
Contact persons:
Tomi Mönkkönen, General Manager, +358 44 338 2198, tomi.monkkonen@holidayinntampere.fi
Johanna Uimonen, communications manager, +358 40 713 4120 johanna.uimonen@scandichotels.com
