As Hong Kong hotels have not yet fully embraced sustainability in regards to furniture, it’s beneficial to take a look into hotels which have successfully integrated it into their business models. Below we have provided some great examples of hotels who we believe are industry leaders when it comes to furniture recycling.
Conscious Hotels
Conscious Hotels are located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They operate four hotels throughout the city, each of which are fully sustainable. For example, their Westerpark location is powered solely by wind energy. In addition, most of the furniture used by Conscious Hotels is made from certified or recycled materials. For example, used clothes and hotel linens have been compressed to form cupboards and shelves in the lobby. Also, their tables are made from recycled compressed yogurt cups, refrigerators, and coffee cup holders.
Ace Hotel
Ace Hotel runs a series of hotels located in different cities across the world, but mainly in the United States. Sustainability is a high priority for the hotel group when it comes to furnishings at their hotel locations. They use salvaged wood from old houses for building materials, and a majority of the furniture in its hotels is re-purposed. For example, headboards used for its beds at one hotel are covered in vintage loden canvas made from recycled Army ponchos, while its mattresses are 100% organic.
Sokos Hotels
Sokos Hotels provides a great example when it comes to repurposing and upcycling old furniture. In the Original Sokos Hotel Presidentti in central Helsinki, thousands of pieces of furniture were replaced after the hotel was renovated. However, the used furniture was not simply thrown away. It was given a new lease of life: some was reupholstered to match the hotel’s new look and some was relocated to staff premises. There were also temporary houses for construction workers and reception centers that were furnished using the old hotel beds. In addition, old beds, blankets, pillows, curtains and night tables were renewed with the help of a Finnish company named Freshrent. Some of the materials were good enough to be sold to private homes and smaller hotels. Instead of disposing the beds in landfills, Freshrent would dismantle the furniture into recyclable parts if it was not reusable anymore.
