How five luxury hotels in Cape Town are meeting the water challenge
Cape Town has narrowly escaped stand pipes for the time being thanks to the water saving efforts across the Western Cape by everyone from householders to farmers. Hotels have come under scrutiny too over the past six months but here are five of its finest with established water saving measures in place
The Tsogo Sun Hotel Group
In the Western Cape, Tsogo Sun continues to intensify its efforts to conserve and save water during Cape Town’s drought. The Southern Sun is located at the V & A Waterfront and has introduced several measures to save water, including installing low-pressure shower heads, digging boreholes, replacing linen serviettes with paper serviettes, building its very own desalination plant, reducing the frequency for towel replacement and washing windows with non-potable water among others. As such, the hotel has managed to sensitise guests to take shorter showers, to flush the toilet when necessary, to reuse towels, and to make sure they’re not misusing any drinking water. If you are looking for service excellence, comfort, and environmental conservation efforts packaged in one spectacular guesthouse setting, the Tsogo Sun Hotel Group is the perfect pick.
The Table Bay Hotel
The Table Bay Hotel located at the V&A Waterfront embarked on a mission to conserve the scarce necessity of water in the Cape by constructing two grey water collection systems to lessen its dependence on the municipal water supply, and to curb the impact of the hotel’s water use on the environment. The hotel’s first collection system collects, treats, and stores water from the kitchens and washrooms to be used for flushing the toilets and watering the hotel gardens. The Table Bay Hotel came up with a second collection system that recycles backwashed swimming pool water for further use. The V & A waterfront is easily accessible from the airport. Most visitors opt to book a car with Cape Town airport car rental, while on holiday in the Mother city.
The Vineyard Hotel & Spa
The Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Cape Town has integrated luxury and sustainability with its water conservation efforts already implemented within its operations before the current crisis. The wide range of environmental projects that aim to save water include installing water-saving shower heads, while recycling up to 94 per cent of its waste. Apart from the procurement of recycled materials, the hotel employees encourage guests to participate in community greening initiatives, such as planting trees, and taking part in the renowned adopt-a-plot project in the Table Mountain National Park.
The Spier Hotel
Since 2007, the Spier Hotel has showed its commitment to saving water, a practice it has upheld through the current drought in Western Cape. The luxury hotel has been persistently seeking solutions geared towards improving sustainable water consumption. For more than a decade now, Spier has dedicated itself to recycling wastewater for reuse in their gardens. Its environmentally motivated team have upheld the 10-year sustainability mandate by installing an efficient water harvesting system for its seven swimming pools to generate clean water. The idea is also to reduce the amount of potable water from the purifiers. The wastewater treatment can produce up to 50 million litres of clean water per annum.
Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel
The Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel has made sure guests are well informed concerning the scarcity of water in Cape Town. Each guest receives written communication as a guide and aid on the hotel’s water saving techniques and conservation efforts, which sensitizes guests to save water by taking shorter showers and restricting the misuse of tap water on their stay. The hotel’s public restrooms has “water saving” notices as well as several bottles of hand sanitisers in instead of tap water for washing hands. The public restrooms also have disposable towels rather than cloths for drying hands. Furthermore, since the hotel has a Table Mountain spring crossing the property, it often uses its water for laundry purposes.
