Jurys Inn Hits Green Gold With Environment Award

Jurys Inn has become the first hotel chain to have all its properties awarded a gold star by the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS).

The Aberdeen Jurys Inn is the latest to receive the award, which is the only environmental scheme validated by national tourism agency Visit Britain. The hotel chain has properties at popular city and seaside locations around the UK and Ireland, including Manchester, Dublin, Birmingham, London and Brighton.

Company management say that the green practices the chain has employed will save a substantial £1m over the next three years. And with rooms starting from as little as £39 per night, this is one hotel where being green won’t cost customers the earth.

Green practices in place at Jurys Inn include using renewable energy from Airtricity for all Irish Inns through to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Nearly 60% of waste is recycled across the group thanks to state-of-the-art recycling and composting facilities.

The hotel group also has an energy saving team in place at each hotel and has put in place several measures to save water across the group. Examples of water-saving features include efficient shower heads and toilet cisterns, in addition to electronic washroom systems.

John Brennan, chief executive at Jurys Inn, said: “Getting everyone at Jurys to help has been essential. The energy, attention to detail and ‘buy-in’ from staff is one of the main reasons Jurys has been able to achieve so many gold awards.”

New hotels are due to be opened in Portsmouth, Bradford, Gateshead and Glasgow over the next year. As would be expected from a gold-star winning chain, environmentally friendly features including heat recovery systems, solar panels and rain harvesting systems are being factored-in to the designs.

The GTBS is the UK’s national sustainable tourism certification scheme and the only scheme validated by Visit Britain. Businesses that want to be accredited by the scheme are visited in person by a trained assessor and graded bronze, silver or gold according to the standards of environmental care adopted at each location.

In addition to being a green choice for city breaks, Jurys Inn has a number of special offers on family breaks. These include hotel and attraction packages for Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Cadbury World Birmingham. Just make sure you travel by train to ensure that your holiday really is green.