Hand with Globe

Good planets, like good hotels, are hard to find.

Hotels are full of hidden negative impacts. And we’re coming for them.

It’s time to expose the hidden negative impacts of hotels. We're sniffing them out, pulling them to the surface to reduce or transform them into positives for our guests, local communities, and our planet.

Good things happen at The Usual.

When it comes to the perfect city stay, The Usual playbook is anything but usual. Come for the well-considered design hotel experience. Stay for the warm atmosphere, where guests feel like friends. Every aspect of The Usual is driven by experience: human, energetic, and social. Whether you’re a guest, or local - good things happen at The Usual. 

What truly makes us The Usual

Starting with impact

Responsible hotels through re-purposing existing buildings or sustainable construction for ground-up developments, renovation, and interior design guided by the BREEAM In-use certification.

Table with books fromSustainable materials in the lobby
Premium design

Thoughtful and inviting design with a minimized footprint. Furniture, materials, and products chosen for their innovative features and premium quality.

everyday design recycling containers
Reduce, reuse, regenerate

Every piece of waste has its place, our seven recycling streams support our recycling philosophy.

Cocktail hour and vegan bites
Love for our local partners

We celebrate and showcase the local community helping us reduce our environmental impact. 100% of our daily fresh food comes from local heroes.

Say hello to regenerative hospitality.

For so long, sustainability has simply been about reducing, reusing, and recycling. Regenerative hospitality is a concept that goes beyond traditional sustainability practices in the hospitality industry. Regenerative hospitality seeks to create positive impacts. It's about not just reducing harm, but actively contributing to the betterment of the environment and society.

We are committed to a better future for hospitality. While we recognise that it is impossible to erase or offset the negative impact that a hotel might have entirely, our mission is to reduce these negative impacts while also creating a more positive place that will benefit travellers and locals alike. We don't want to treat this planet like a hotel. Some of the things we are doing differently include:

Supporting local biodiversity

To enhance urban biodiversity, we’ve implemented green wild herb roofs, bird and bat nesting sites, and insect hotels.

100% Renewable energy

Our hotels in Rotterdam and Brussels are 100% driven by renewable energy and fully off the gas grid. Our Brussels location will have additional onsite green energy production using solar panels.

Cleaning our rivers

For every direct booking, we sponsor 1 kilogram of waste pulled from rivers via a donation to CLEAR RIVERS.

Love for local projects

City by city, we’re looking for local non-profits with a connection to our social and environmental Sustainable Development Goals to support and collaborate with.

Water donations with MadeBlue

We donate 100 litres of clean drinking water to the Water by Women Nepal project for each night a guest stays in our hotels. This can provide a family of four with clean drinking water for one day. This is organised via the MadeBlue Foundation.

Designing towards circularity

The furniture and finishings in our hotels have been handpicked based on our principles. Our Auping Revive mattresses are designed for circularity. The wood we use in our rooms is from FSC certified managed forests with a base composed primarily of recycled woodchips.

Antwerp Facade illustration with curious man

The Usual Impact Statement.

The Usual lives and breathes regenerative hospitality. It's about crafting travel experiences that enrich our environment and our communities, embodying a give-back ethos. See our key actions, milestones, and long-term targets in our CSR statement.

Community gathering at our bar

Our DEIA Statement.

Our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Team plays a vital role in shaping our organization's culture, values, and practices. We firmly believe that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment is not only essential for our success, but is also a moral imperative and at the core of true hospitality.

Sustainable certifications.

Our newest buildings are forecast to be BREAAM In-Use certified at least to level Excellent. What's more, our Rotterdam location is slated to be one of the first hotels to receive an Outstanding Level accreditation in Europe. Operations were further certified by ​​Green Key, a service proudly operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education in 2024.

Our incredible partners.

Auping: Designed for circularity

Know what you sleep on with Auping. The Auping Revive mattress was developed together with Niaga® and designed for circularity. They have recorded the (origin of) all materials in the Product Passport. See for yourself - simply scan the Niaga® label on the side of the mattress with your smartphone, to discover exactly what your mattress is made of.

Moyee Coffee

Moyee's impact report puts it perfectly: "our goal at Moyee is to usher in the Fourth Wave of coffee, which focuses not only on great quality but also on radical impact at origin. To us, great quality and great impact go hand in hand, or should."

Mater Design

Mater Design's "Earth Stool" sits nicely in our Social Space The U. "The new ground-breaking production technique allows Mater to reuse waste materials and turn it into useful and unique design solutions. Created to support a circular design thinking and the UN SDGs: “Responsible Consumption and Production” (SDGs 12), “Climate Action” (SDGs 13) and “Partnership for the Goals” (SDGs 17)."

View of The Makers Space and Co-working
The Good Floor

Rotterdam-based company CLEAR RIVERS collects plastic waste with their Litter Traps placed in the New Meuse river. The usable collected plastics are sorted, chipped, and recycled by The Good Floor into a flooring solution.

Yumeko

Their mission: Change the world sleeping. Because the world must change and become more sustainable. ''We want to offer consumers a sustainable alternative to products. We look for the most beautiful and sustainable materials and make products of the highest quality. Gentle to you and gentle to the world''

Woodio woodchip low impact sink by Finnish design company
Woodio

Woodio produces our toilets and washbasins, made from real wood chips with a reduced carbon footprint. "They promise to offer "contemporary, lasting design manufactured sustainably."

everyday design recycling containers
Everyday Designs

Everyday Design designs and manufactures minimalistic furniture and design products that make everyday life easier. Everyday Design wants to solve everyday life problems and encourage people towards a more ecological lifestyle with their recycling products.

Wentzo

Wentzo, our network partner, and one of our network providers, goes beyond providing excellent ICT business solutions. The Wentzo Foundation supports education, healthcare, and welfare projects that focus on vulnerable people at home and abroad.

100% vegan amenities by Marie Stella Maris in our showers
Marie Stella Maris

In our hotel rooms and public toilets we offer the newest line of Marie Stella Maris: Voyage Vetifier in refillable bottles. All of their care products are 100% vegan and free of parabens, silicones, petrochemicals, (water) polluting microplastics, and the sulfates SLS and SLES.

SACKit

SACKit combines the excellence and innovation of Danish design with high-quality materials, eco-certified fabrics, and minimalist design.

Sustainability Master

We partnered with Sustainability Master, who provide an all-in-one digital solution for our entire ESG play, so we can strictly measure all our environmental and social impacts and performances.

Woman on Phone in Coworking space
Let's build together

Want to join forces? Hit us up: partners@theusual.com

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