Sustainable Booking: Book a room and plant a tree
Click A Tree at BWH Hotels Central Europe: With every booking made at one of the group’s hotels via its own website, guests will be able to plant trees and do something for the environment. With this project, BWH Hotels is supporting a reforestation project in Central Africa with their partner Click A Tree.
A tree for every hotel night: when booking a hotel at BWH Hotels Central Europe, guests can plant one or more trees in the Best Western forest in Ghana and thus make a sustainable commitment. By cooperating with their partner Click A Tree, the hotel group is making a contribution to the sustainable development of the company and offsetting C02 emissions caused by travelling. Guests of BWH Hotels Central Europe have already planted almost 2,000 trees on former farmland in Ghana as part of a reforestation project. “Planting trees not only helps to offset the emissions caused by travelling but also creates jobs for local communities and habitats for endangered species”, explains Kristina Raptis, Senior Marketing Manager at BWH Hotels Central Europe, who is in charge of the project.
By working with the Click A Tree organisation, the hotel group has expanded its commitment to ESG and offers guests the option of booking a green hotel. “It is wonderful to see the positive impact that planting the forest has on sustainable development in Ghana. We hope to be able to continue to support people and nature in this way and hope for active participation from our guests,” explains Marcus Smola, Chief Executive Officer of BWH Hotels Central Europe. The purchase of the tree is processed for an amount of four euros in addition to the hotel booking. Guests can scan the QR code at the hotel and receive a tree planting certificate, the “Tree Award”.
The Best Western forest is growing in Ghana
The Best Western forest has grown to almost 2,000 trees thanks to the participation of hotel guests. As part of Click A Tree, the project has created new jobs in Ghana by financing agroforestry training for young people. For the environment of the Central African country, the planting of the forest means that 949,900 kilograms of C02 emissions have already been offset and a new habitat for endangered animal species has been created. The reforestation project has also prevented land erosion, filtered rainwater and cooled the earth’s surface in Ghana.
The BWH Hotels Central Europe forest project can be supported in various ways within the hotel. Trees are not only planted in the Best Western forest in Ghana with the help of hotel bookings, many of the group’s hotels offer further opportunities to help the forest grow. In many hotels, for example, trees are planted when room cleaning is waived or organisers can have trees planted for each participant at conferences via the hotel. The Best Western Rewards loyalty programme is also integrated into the project – members can use their points to plant a tree in the forest. “The aim is to increase the visibility of sustainability issues and also to create an opportunity for our guests to make a commitment to the environment with just a few clicks,” summarises Kristina Raptis.
Find out more about BWH Hotels Central Europe here.
