Aleenta Resorts: Moving towards sustainability
Bangkok, 24 November, 2010
With their latest Green Award, Aleenta Resorts & Spa, has set their sights on getting a Green Globe certification by 2011.
Bangkok 2010: Aleenta Resort & Spa Phuket-Phang-Nga added yet another accolade to the boutique hotel group’s growing wall of trophies when it won a Green Award in the ‘Best Small Hotel’ category at this year’s Responsible Tourism Awards.
Her Royal Highness Princess Ubolratana of Thailand presented the award at the world’s biggest showcase of tourism destinations, the World Travel Mart (WTM).
The judges commended Aleenta Resort & Spa Phuket-Phang-Nga for remaining “true to their promise to be a solution, rather than an additional problem, to their local environment.” The hotel also came in for high praise for working closely with local schools on educational initiatives that promoted environmental conservation, and raising key funds for the preservation and protection of marine turtles and their reef habitats. In addition, they said the hotel had a positive impact on the local supply chain with 80 percent of foods being sourced locally, while employing local staff, goods and services.
For Anchalika Kijkanakorn, Founder and Managing Director, Aleenta Resorts Thailand, it was not just about developing tranquil, intimate and private havens for travellers. “Our group’s mission statement is not just about being environmentally sensitive, but socially responsible as well,” says the financier-turned-hotelier, adding that she wanted to make sure that wherever her resorts were built the natural progression of life would never be disrupted. “We don’t want to encroach on the beach where all these beautiful creatures make their nests and procreate.”
True to the Aleenta’s mission statement, Anchalika started the Aleenta Marine Turtle Fund to help support local turtle repopulation, rehabilitation, the education of locals, and even purchase GPS tracking devices to study their journey through the Andaman Sea for scientific purposes. The fund has raised one million baht over the last four years through a variety of events.
Another project is the construction of a coral reef located 20 metres offshore from Aleenta Resort & Spa Phuket-Phang-Nga.
Explaining the concept behind this innovative project, Anchalika says, “The park is a real coral reef based on artificial substrate designed to attract dozens of fish, crustaceans and shell species, which in turn will enable a brand new ecosystem to be created.” And over the next three years she will organise a variety of events to raise the Baht 3 million needed to finance the project.
Her immediate mission next year though is to ensure that all hotels under the Aleenta umbrella receive the Green Globe Certification, the premier global certification for sustainability.
“I want to live and practice what I preach/believe in,” says Anchalika about her new mission. “If I want to create awareness in people, I have to start with myself and my business before I can expect others to understand and do the same. For many years tourism has made profits from Thailand’s natural beauty that has been handed down over generations. But our present generation is destroying it for quick profit, uncontained development, and a general lack of long-term thinking, planning. I hope to somehow be a part of the change that halts the rate of this destruction, so that we can all co-exist with nature for a long time, thus ensuring that my sons can enjoy it when they grow up”
Based on internationally accepted criteria, the Green Globe Certification Standard is a structured assessment of the sustainability performance of travel businesses and their supply chain partners. The businesses can monitor improvements and document achievements leading to certification for sustainable operation and management. A three-step process, certification first involves the integration of an energy management too, which is used to measure key indicators on energy usage, water consumption and waste output management. The next step focuses on employee training, ongoing management of energy consumption and implementation of customer satisfaction measures, while in the final stage, an independent third part audits the hotel’s efforts.
About Aleenta Resorts & Spa
Aleenta Resorts & Spa is a collection of small, award-winning luxurious boutique hotels offering suites, pool villas, and private beachfront villas, combined together with stunning design and personalized service. Located in much sought-after settings with pristine beaches, the resorts include Aleenta Phuket-Phang Nga, Aleenta Hua Hin, and opening soon in 2011, the brand-new Aleenta Samui. All Aleenta Resorts are proud members of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH)
About Akaryn
Founded in 2008, Akaryn is the management company for Aleenta Phuket- Phang Nga and its sister property, Aleenta Hua Hin-Pranburi.
Akaryn is renowned for its profitable management of small resorts. The company’s mission is to maximize resources on a reasonable economy of scale, which allows smaller property owners and developers to achieve better than expected results.
Based in Bangkok, Akaryn is headed by Anchalika Kijkanakorn and a team of visionary and experienced professionals from the hospitality, financial and human resources sectors.
Akaryn's current developments include Cambodia's first ultra luxury resort on a private island near Srihanoukville, a new lifestyle resort on Chaweng Beach in Samui under its new brand "the Akyra" (opening March 2011), and the new Aleenta Resort Samui on Chengmon Beach (opening August 2011).
For more information, please visit www.akarynmanagement.com.
Akaryn Hospitality Management Services (AHMS)
Anchalika Kijkanakorn, Managing Director Akaryn (anchalika@akarynmanagement.com)
Tel. +66 2 514 8112 www.akarynmanagement.com www.aleenta.com
