Toiletry minis to be discontinued from InterContinental Hotel Group's hotels

by XPRESS, 31 July 2019

IHG, whch owns brands such as Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels, has announced that it will be removing minature toiletries from its hotels in a bid to become more environmentally friendly.

The owner of IHG has also promised to remove single-use plastic bottles from hotel rooms by 2021.

The changes have already come into affect in one third of its hotels.

The new strategy does not mean customers will not recieve their free toiletires, IHG will replace individual toiletries with bulk items.

Chief executive of IHG, Keith Barr said: "We collectively as an industry have to lead where governments are not necessarily giving the leadership to make a difference.

"Five years ago it was a tick-the-box exercise. Today it's follow-up meetings going through in detail what we are doing about our carbon footprint."

In 2018, IHG vowed to stop its use of plastic straws by the end of 2019. The cheif executive said that their next chaallenge to face would be cutting the use of plastic plates and cutlery.

In addition to all of the above efforts, the chain has also partnered with Winnow, an artificial intelligence firm, to attempt to better monitor waste created by breakfast buffets.

IHG hopes to reduce its carbon footprint by 6% (per occupied room) by the end of next year. Six Senses, a high-end IHG brand, is said to go plastic free by 2022.

Emma Richardson