The Hotel Luise has been committed to environmentally friendly travel since the late 1980s. Managing and aligning a company in an environmentally, socially and future-friendly manner is our top priority. The sum of our actions as a hotel should contribute to improving the (environmental) world.

For us, improving the world means reducing social injustices, deploying and using resources in a circular manner, and being an active participant and supporter in local and supra-regional development and promoting the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The common good is also an essential element for us and is reflected and constantly promoted on the basis of the SDGs. We would like to use our role as a pioneer of sustainable tourism to offer our guests, colleagues and other stakeholders sustainable solutions.

Specifically, this means for us, among other things:

People & social environment

We ourselves are the central element of our hotel, as employees, friends and people with our individual needs. We are aware of how important personal happiness, well-being and a secure job are. The hotel uses various measures to promote exactly this. Advancing social justice and the common good, acting as part of the community and eliminating injustice are firmly anchored in our philosophy. We are working to continue to break down barriers, whatever they may be. We create incentives to connect with us and give back to society and neighborhoods as much as we can. We are clearly against discrimination of any kind and are actively committed to equal rights for all people.

Building technology & efficiency

We use extensive monitoring in conjunction with regular analyzes of our hotel by external energy consultants/auditors. We use this to document and analyze our consumption of water, energy (heat, cold & electricity) and our consumption behavior through load profile measurement. Based on these values, we look for innovative solutions to reduce consumption and increase efficiency. Regular renovations of the building envelope and optimization of the technical systems are planned in detail and implemented promptly.

Resource consumption & material use

Our basic attitude is not to consume (material) resources, but simply to use them. Resource consumption suggests use without circular thought. For this reason, we try, as far as technically possible, to only purchase recyclable materials and to put any resources back into the cycle. This means having a detailed recycling concept and planning the return of specific cradle-to-cradle products for the future. But the return of natural resources is also a priority for us. Biodegradable raw materials should remain that way, so the purity of materials is of great importance. But preserving existing furniture, repairing products and repurposing existing elements also play an important role for us in reducing waste.

Of course, this overarching goal also includes measures such as eliminating small packaging, promoting reusable concepts and analyzing and optimizing material flows in their entirety. We are also happy to support the help of our guests and suppliers.

Nature & environmental protection

As a city hotel, we only have a limited amount of space available. This space should also be used in harmony with nature. We are very proud of our excellent, natural garden design. We strive to implement natural but also innovative and sustainable planting concepts. We completely avoid using pesticides, clear the garden of garbage and use wells and rainwater cisterns in conjunction with efficient irrigation to keep fresh water consumption as low as possible. We use a variety of measures to promote the biodiversity of insects and plants on the site. Of course, this commitment does not stop at the property boundary and so we are committed to environmental protection locally and nationally. This also applies to our upstream supply chains.

Communication & Networks

We can only achieve the greatest effect through multiplication. That’s why communication and transparency about our sustainable efforts and measures is so important. We are part of many networks, share our knowledge openly and focus on exciting and intrinsically motivating language. We want to inspire people with our actions and find fellow campaigners who will save the world with us. Even though we’re not quite there yet, we strive for the “cut the bullshit” philosophy. We want to present our company honestly and openly. Our marketing should not portray us as better than we are. CO2 offsets should not relieve us of our obligation to continue to improve. We are clearly declaring war on greenwashing. We rely on clear and honest, if not perfect, openness. We do not shy away from criticism and are always ready to accept help and support from external experts.

The 230+ measures that we have implemented on all of these topics can therefore be viewed transparently on our Wall of Change.