Reuse and reduce costs

Take a look at any hotel's Web site these days and you're likely to come across a list of ways the building or services are "green," or, ecologically oriented. The reason is twofold: One, eco-friendly practices are an attractive marketing tool for potential guests, and two, it's a way for hotels to cut down on huge operating costs.

Prague's most ambitious manifestation of this trend had its coming-out party when the Mosaic House hotel and hostel opened its doors June 10. Ninety-four rooms are on offer in a formerly gutted building that now includes rooftop solar panels, low-flow toilets and showers and in-house water and heat recycling systems.

In terms of exact cost savings, "it's difficult to say," said Mosaic House General Manager Chris Syvertsen, who along with business partner Mathias Schwender also owns the CzechInn. The hotel, which took nearly two years to build, came at an investment of 410 million Kč. The green technology, the crowning glory of which is a graywater recycling system, will take approximately seven years to pay for itself, he added. The building has double sets of pipes that take the water drained from sinks and showers, filter it in the graywater system and reuse it for toilets.

"We're interested to see how it all pans out. All these things, the recycling system -  they're proven. They're just not commonly tested all over the world," he said. "Since we had a blank slate, we thought, 'Here's a chance to spend a little extra money and really take advantage of all the technology out there.' "

The Mosaic House promotes its investments as a way to both market the residence and educate its visitors on how they can pitch in, such as reusing towels and understanding why bed linens don't need to be changed every day.

Industry-wide, measures like the Mosaic House's are recognized with the European Union's Eco-label, a designation available for products and tourist accommodations that signify a successful audit and application process. The Czech Republic currently has nine sites with the label, and the Mosaic House is currently applying for one.

"[The EU Eco-label] is a support in the sense of providing a framework to distinguish the best environmental performing operators in the market," said Monica Westerén, a spokeswoman for European Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik. "It is a voluntary tool, available to the operators that meet all the necessary criteria, and a proof of a high-level benchmark of performance from an environmental point of view."

The Czech Republic awards its own national eco-label, the "flower," based on similar requirements as the EU Eco-label under the Environment Ministry.

"There have been several surveys in Western Europe that revealed the willingness of tourists to pay a higher price for accommodation in environmentally friendly hotels," said Jarmila Krebsová, spokeswoman for the ministry. "In the Czech Republic, no similar survey has been made. It can be assumed, however, that there will be some interest primarily by tourists visiting from Western or Northern Europe."

Syvertsen admitted he felt ambivalent about the labels. After all, the measures are already in place, and the EU label requires a hefty application fee of up to 1,200 euros ($1,440/31,128 Kč) and an annual fee of 1,500 euros.

"We really had to put some tremendous thought, time and effort into this building from an ecological standpoint, and [the Eco-labels] seems like it's something you should be awarded," he said. "But for sure, from a marketing standpoint, it's a label that can be recognized by guests, and they can see we've met certain obligations."

Beyond the labels, hotels are increasingly turning to eco-friendly practices that don't require quite as large of an investment, but can give big returns, said Filip Kühnel, general manager of the Orea Hotel in Prague and the ecological representative on the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants council.

"We're trying to encourage hoteliers to think of it as smaller projects, like less water consumption or sealing leaks in windows, that can add up [to savings of] 10 percent to 30 percent on gas and electricity bills," he said.

The association has taken many of these tips to other regions on a "road show" to help hotels learn how to both save money and gain a marketing tool.

"There can be some resistance to these sorts of changes. We are trying to explain to them it's easy; you don't have to get the Eco-label certifications or invest hundreds of thousands in solar panels," he said. "There are small steps they can take."

Hotels are on the mend from a two-year slump in tourism that has decimated profits, both globally and in Prague. The number of guests at Czech accommodations rose 0.5 percent on the year in the first quarter of 2010, to 2.2 million.

Syvertsen said he and Schwender were lucky to only see a revenue drop of about 10 percent last year, but this year the local chain is already seeing growth, he added. The fact that the Mosaic House is on the cutting edge of eco-friendly technologies is hopefully one more advantage that will keep growth in the right direction, he said.

"We do hope this is one more thing we can say we're at the forefront of. Anybody can do recycling - and they should - but it's really interesting to do this stuff, and I really hope it works."

Only five days in, the Mosaic House was at 61 percent occupancy, a sight better than the national average of 33.1 percent in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Czech Statistical Office.

- Filip Šenk contributed to this report.

Claire Compton can be reached at
ccompton@praguepost.com