Sustainable Tourism Partners

Business Practices

At Wirta Hospitality Worldwide we actively manage the businesses we create and incorporate our core values into how we do business. These values include recognizing the importance of long-term community relationships and promoting sustainable tourism. This means we hire and purchase locally, we recognize indigenous cultures and we give back to the community.

The Wirta Hospitality Worldwide Community Fund is a resource for the support of charitable and cultural organizations. It is available to the communities in which we do business. The WHW Community Fund contributes thousands of dollars annually to local organizations.

The Nuts and Bolts of Sustainable Tourism

The term “sustainable tourism” conjures up images of adventures in the rainforests of Costa Rica and bicycling around Europe. But the vast majority of travel time and dollars are spent in hotels like the Sequim Quality Inn & Suites and the Holiday Inn Express and Conference Center, Sequim.

By consciously adopting business practices that make sense for the community and the environment, Wirta Hospitality Worldwide has broadened the definition of sustainable tourism to include every night you spend at the Sequim Quality Inn & Suites and the Holiday Inn Express and Conference Center, Sequim.

We considered the impact of our hotel (and by extension, your stay) in many elements of the hotel’s design, construction and operations and our relationship with our community. So while there’s not a tropical jungle in sight, you can sleep well knowing you’re spending your time and money responsibly.

Now, for the details. Below are the key sustainability principles WHW believes in, along with the actions we’ve taken to demonstrate our commitment:

• Phase one of the Solar Photovoltaic panels rooftop installation at the Holiday Inn Express and Conference Center, Sequim, will allow us to generate 2% of all our hotels electrical needs and sell it back to the grid. This means that our conference center electrical usage will be in effect powered by the sun!



• Awarded the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Designation
  
  
  • Commercial buildings that earn the ENERGY STAR use an average of 40 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The Quality Inn and Suites improved its energy performance by managing usage and by making cost-effective construction decisions and improvements to the hotel.
  
  
  
  • Learn more, including what you can do at home, at www.energystar.gov.

• Recognized by Choice Hotels International with 2008 and 2009 “Eco-Friendly” Apex Awards.
  
  
  • The Award for Property Excellence (APEX) is given by Choice Hotels International to franchisees who use eco-friendly design features.
  
  
  

• Designated “Room to be Green” by Choice Hotels International
  
  
• Designated “Rated Green” by I Stay Green. More at www.istaygreen.org
  
  
  • Like many hotels, the Sequim Quality Inn & Suites encourages guest to use bath towels more than once and forego daily sheet-changing. This saves water and energy while prolonging the useful life of towels and sheets. The hotel also uses eco-friendly lighting and recycles.
  
  
  

• Clean the World Partner
  
  
  • Clean the World recycles all the used shampoos and soaps from our guestrooms. In an effort to prevent the spread of disease Clean the World distributes recycled soap products, along with appropriate educational materials to impoverished countries worldwide and to domestic homeless shelters. More at www.cleantheworld.org
  
  
  
• Community Cabinet lobby display showcases local businesses
  
  
  • Before you head out for sightseeing and other activities, take a look at the display case in the lobby – lots of great ideas for gifts and souvenirs.
  
  
  

• Seeking easier access for all through the Gray Wolf and Dungeness River valleys: Entering the Olympic National Park through these two watersheds will allow visitors staying in Sequim an authentic wilderness experience, but with much easier access than driving to the Park’s main entrance in Port Angeles.
  
  

• Contributors to the Elwha Dam restoration project and the Roosevelt Elk Conservation Program in the Olympic National Park
  
  
  • Learn more about the Washington National Park Foundation at www.wnpf.org. This unique organizations raises money to support specific programs within Washington’s National Parks.
  
  
  

• Washington Trails Association member and donor
  
  
  • Learn more at www.wta.org
  
  
  
• Peninsula Trails Coalition member and donor
  
  

• Giving to our neighbors in need through the annual WHW Community Fund
  
  
  • The YMCA, The Peninsula Trails Coalition, The Sequim Food Bank, The American Cancer Society’s Patient Lodging Program, and The Sequim Museum & Arts Center are some of the Community Fund recipients. The hotel’s management team is part of the Sequim community and is actively engaged in identifying potential future recipients.”