The Usual | Green Key Gold for The Usual Rotterdam

About a month after opening our doors in the vibrant and diverse city of Rotterdam, we are proud to share that our hotel and initiatives have been awarded the Green Key Gold label!

What is Green Key?

Green Key is an internationally recognized sustainability label specific to the hospitality sector. Founded already back in 1994 by the Foundation of Environmental Education (FEE), one of the world’s largest environmental education organization, Green Key now certifies over 5000 companies in 60 countries. Green Key promotes sustainability within the tourism sector by always going beyond current national and international laws and regulations.

The label is built upon assessing companies based on 12 different sustainability themes (see image), covering all aspects of hotel operations. Every theme has their own set of standards that are either mandatory, establishing a common base in sustainability for all certifying parties, or optional, which can be fulfilled based on the company’s own initiative. While the label is international, it is at the same time locally managed by environmental foundations. In the Netherlands, the label allows for three distinct levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold (see image). The more optional standards are implemented, the higher the level.

Why did we choose Green Key?

Nowadays, there is a sea of sustainability labels to choose from. After some thorough investigation, we chose the certify with Green Key based on its comprehensive and wide array of standards considered in the certification process, which covers all aspects of sustainability in hotels, from the buildings itself, the partnerships and products, internal business processes and social involvement. Additionally, as Green Key is a leading standard of excellence, recognized by well know organizations, such as the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, it offers credibility and assurance of a rigorous and high-quality certification and auditing process.

How was the process of certifying?

The Usual is not your traditional hotel, with sustainability at its core, already from the beginning, we made sure that we integrated sustainability at each level of our company. This allowed us to already be a few steps ahead in the process, as many standards suggested by Green Key we have already started working on. This included especially initiatives related to supporting our local community and biodiversity. In Rotterdam, 70% of our roof is covered in vegetation and our façade houses birds and bats nesting sites. Besides, our food and beverage concept was already rooted in primarily supporting local and small independent business. This led to 70% of our products being locally produced.

While many of our initiatives were already kickstarted, using the Green Key standards served us both in optimizing our ongoing projects and defining new initiatives to increase our positive impact both socially and environmentally. This is how the Green Key label did not just become a stamp but also a framework on hospitality tailored sustainability that we actively worked with to assess existing activities and developing new ones to build on our sustainability strategy. As a result, we included a sustainability performance review in our guest surveys, implemented air quality monitoring devices, formed a Green Team, and planned in sustainability specific trainings for our employees.

What is our result?

To achieve the Green Key Gold label, a minimum of 43/89 optional standards need to be in place. We are excited to announce that we have managed to receive 59/89 optional standards for our very first certification! For us, it is great to see how our ambitions towards fulfilling our environmental and social aspirations have been acknowledged and independently verified, showing us that we are on the right track. Of course, there is still much to be improved and it will be a continuous cycle of measuring, analysing, improving, and learning and Green Key was an important step in this. We are looking forward to growing as a company and member of the hospitality industry to show that travel can be a force for good.

What are our highlights?

Here are some our most loved actions that improved our environmental and social impact!

We are completely off the gas grid, powered by 100% renewable energy from certified Dutch windfarms
Our green roof with native plant species spreads over 75% of our roof, supporting our local bees, birds, and insects
Ozone water installation – allows for chemical-free cleaning with no toxic by-products
Encouraging recycling with recycling stations in hallways and recycling bins in our guest rooms
For each night you stay with us, we donate 100L clean drinking water through the MadeBlue foundation to the Water by Women project in
Nepal, supporting the restoration of water facilities and training women in entrepreneurship
Collaboration with ClearRivers where we support the removal of plastics from rivers
Supporting de Voedseltuin, a socio-environmental charity using regenerative agriculture principles to grow fresh fruit and veggies in Rotterdam that gets donated to the local food bank
Partnership with Too Good Too Go to reduce food waste
Hand-picked materials and products and collaboration with likeminded brands
Custom made art with a focus on repurposing waste materials by local artists

Learn more at https://www.greenkey.global/.

Green Key Gold for The Usual Rotterdam

About a month after opening our doors in the vibrant and diverse city of Rotterdam, we are proud to share that our hotel and initiatives have been awarded the Green Key Gold label!

What are our highlights?

Here are some our most loved actions that improved our environmental and social impact!

Our stories.