Hotel gets award for eco efforts

Green tourism accolade

The Murraypark Hotel in Crieff has been rewarded for its commitment to sustainability with a prestigious Green Tourism Award.

The Green Tourism initiative assesses businesses on their green credentials and the Perthshire hotel attained a high ‘silver’ grading in recognition of its series of planet-friendly initiatives.

Murraypark won the accolade after a recent inspection found that sustainable activities being undertaken there met 74% of the Green Tourism criteria.

The hotel, which has 21 bedrooms, was commended on its ‘green’ efforts across the board in one of the most rigorous certification programmes in the industry.

Assessors praised Murraypark Hotel on its commitment to sustainability, particularly on its strong local food provenance, initiative to recycle used soaps from the bedrooms and good waste management.

The Murraypark Hotel has received ongoing support from the ‘Green Team’ at its sister hotel Crieff Hydro.

Murraypark Hotel’s manager Lynne Anderson, who led the visit by Green Tourism, said: “The team here are all passionate about playing their part in helping to ensure we work in an eco- friendly environment. Whether it’s through our monitoring of food waste and the ways we can reduce it, or working with local community schemes like Crieff in Leaf, a local charity which maintains many of the wonderful green spaces and flower baskets in Crieff, we’ll be working hard to build on these initiatives to do even better on Green Tourism’s next visit.”

Stephen Leckie, CEO of the Crieff Hydro family of hotels, continued: “We’re always looking for new ways to make Murraypark Hotel operate more efficiently and it’s great to see Green Tourism recognise this. All of the efforts from the team at Murraypark Hotel go a long way to making the hotel a truly green and sustainable business.”

Green Tou r ism’s Business Scheme is the UK’s leading sustainable tourism certification scheme. Businesses who opt to join are assessed by a qualified grading advisor against a rigorous set of criteria, covering a range of areas like energy and water efficiency, waste management, biodiversity and more.

Andrea Nicholas, managing director at Green Tourism, said: “The team at Murraypark Hotel has done well to gain a silver award during their first grading with Green Tourism. There are a number of great sustainable practices in place, such as a strong local food provenance and recycling soaps from the bedrooms. Overall a very good first assessment.’’