Going for Green, K West Hotel & Spa in West London

K West Hotel & Spa is undeniably one of the coolest places to stay in West London. The hotel offers 220 luxurious guest rooms, an award winning spa - boasting the only "Snow Paradise" in London, a restaurant serving creative, modern cuisine, plus weekend DJ sets in K Lounge, by some of London's hottest talents. The cutting-edge design and stylish vibe of the hotel ensures there is a constant stream of celebrities through the doors.

Going for Gold!

K West Hotel & Spa is dedicated to minimising the impact its operations have on the environment, and it's getting better every year! In 2008, the hotel won the Bronze award for Green Tourism Business, which recently improved to the Silver Award. However, K West is determined to push its efforts even further and this year has implemented a number of new policies.

Image Credit: © K West Hotel & Spa - K Lounge Bar

Save the trees!

A concerted effort to reduce unnecessary waste has been put into force throughout the hotel. In January, the reservations system was overhauled so paper is no longer used and daily meeting reports are no longer printed to cut down on unnecessary waste paper. The reception has also removed one of the printers, and the remaining one automatically defaults to stand-by after 5 minutes. Paper towels in the bathrooms have been removed and replaced with additional hand driers. The hotel has also stepped up its recycling policy, and all packaging materials and paper are recycled whenever possible.

Simple measures

Other means to reduce wastage have included putting controls on the hotel's boilers to reduce the amount of gas used, as well as closing water valve's to guest bedrooms to reduce water usage. All the lights in the reception area have been changed to more eco-friendly LED's. The responsible visitors charter, encourages guests to adopt these simple measures and ensure lights or electrical equipment is turned off if not in use, to not leave taps running, and to ensure windows and doors are closed if air conditioning or heating is on. Guests are also encouraged to voluntarily choose to have their towels and bed sheets changed less often.

Image Credit: © K West Hotel & Spa - Hydrotherapy Pool at K Spa

Responsible Sourcing

K West Hotel & Spa takes a keen interest in using responsible suppliers and eco-friendly products and is constantly striving to make this area as green as possible. For example, at the start of the year the hotel changed its sanitary company to Green Care, a more environmentally responsible business that uses Zero products. The range of products used in K Spa are also carefully chosen for being natural and preservative free and include Aromatherapy Associates, Germaine de Cappucini and Ytsara products.

Even the smallest of details are considered. All paint used in the hotel is water based, solvents are only used as a last resort, and all wood is sourced from suppliers who are accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Image Credit: © Embassy Room - K West Hotel & Spa

Company effort

The driving force behind the K West's green outlook is the dedicated "Green Team" who monitor, plan and implement these policies. The Green Team have all received training from the Carbon Trust in Energy Management and hold monthly meetings to assess the environmental impact of current and future operations. They are committed to constantly improving the hotel's performance through reducing pollution, emissions and waste. This includes liaising with the local community, as well as ensuring all staff are trained in the environmental issues and the effects of their activities.

K West Hotel & Spa promotes its green goals to all staff through a variety of fun days and campaigns. This year, staff were treated to a "Green Day" at work, which included a green quiz in the staff canteen and a "green welcome" to work. Due to the overwhelming success, the hotel is now planning to turn this into an annual event.

Global connection

The hotel is proud to have taken part in a global initiative called Earth Hour on 26 March 2011, whereby they joined people from across the world in turning off all the lights at the same time, as a demonstration against climate change.