Savoy Hotel Manila

The 4-star, 11-storey, 684-room Savoy Hotel Manila (SHM), the Philippines’ Leading Airport Hotel for four consecutive years (2021 to 2024) is, aside from hospitality, also dedicated to sustainability through practices that contribute meaningfully to environmental solutions and the Philippines’ ongoing efforts against food scarcity.

A proud advocate of sustainable tourism, the hotel is an official signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, launched on November 4, 2021. The declaration’s goals include cutting greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030, achieving Net Zero by 2050 or earlier, and annually reporting progress on climate action plans.

The Vertical garden overlooking the swimming pool

A testament to this is its Vertical and Rooftop Gardens, where guests enjoy fresh, locally grown produce such tomatoes, eggplants, Chinese kale, red amarante, romaine lettuce and herbs, reducing the hotel’s dependence on external food sources. To further reduce waste, the hotel recycled and repurposed over 500 laundry chemical containers from its Housekeeping Department and used plant boxes made from scrap materials, minimizing the carbon footprint between garden and plate.

The Rooftop Garden of SHM

In line with these goals, the hotel has introduced the innovative WeSave Sustainability Program, which aims to reduce its operational impact, such as greenhouse gas emissions, measure its carbon footprint, reach carbon neutrality by 2030, foster a culture of recycling, and integrate eco-friendly practices into daily operations.

The program also answers to the sustainability campaign of Megaworld Corporation, MEGreen, in contributing to greener townships. In fact, Megaworld maintains a 9-hectare, solar-powered Central Nursery in Tanza, Cavite, opened in 2016, that propagates sampaguita as well as provide all of the tree seedlings, plants and flowers for their Luzon townships.  The project intertwines Filipino culture, sustainability, and social responsibility through activities such as sampaguita planting, storytelling, and livelihood programs that have benefited over 5,000 families.

The dedicated staff, the backbone of the hotel’s sustainability efforts, embody this commitment by making eco-friendly practices a natural part of their daily routines both at work and at home. A rigorous food waste management system measures waste and identifies spoilage patterns by analyzing every aspect of the food handling process. Future menus align servings with actual consumption, reducing waste and optimizing efficiency for both guests and the environment.

SHM not only redefining hospitality but also left an indelible mark on sustainability’s future by forging an innovative collaboration and partnership with Diversey, a global leader in hygiene and cleaning solutions. Actively redefining the way the hospitality sector interacts with the world, at the heart of this partnership are Diversey’s transformative sustainability projects: Linens for Life: Weaving Threads of Compassion, Soap for Hope: Recycling Cleanliness, and Coffee Briquets: Brewing Sustainability. These initiatives, not merely about reducing waste and sustainability, are designed to create a lasting impact on both the environment and the communities that surround SHM.

In Linens for Life, instead of discarding its used and worn-out linens, SHM chose a more compassionate path by repurposing these linens which find a second life in the hands of the Nagkakaisang Mamayan ng Legarda (NML) community who transform them into tote bags, cart linens, and more, reducing waste, creating a sustainable livelihood and fostering an atmosphere of shared responsibility and collaboration.

In the Soap for Hope program, instead of discarding used soap bars generated from its operations, SHM collects them, giving them a new lease on life by recycling them for distribution to countless individuals in the underserved communities in need, thus promoting, not only hygiene, but also a sense of well-being. This initiative and simple act of kindness not only showcases SHM’s dedication to reducing waste but also its resolve to extend a helping hand to those less fortunate.

In the Coffee Briquets program, SHM collects its used coffee grounds, upcycling them by ingeniously transforming them into a valuable resource – charcoal briquettes.

The author (center) at the Rooftop Garden of SHM

For its sustainability efforts, SHM has been the recipient of a number of awards and citations such as the following:

• In November 2022, their WeSave Sustainability Program received a “Badge of Honor” from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Inc.
• Additionally, the program’s dedication to reducing food waste earned it the “Guardians of the Grub Badge” from the UK-based Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a testament to the hotel’s commitment to sustainability.
• Most recently, Savoy Hotel Manila was named one of the top six finalists in the Business Marketing category of the Green Destinations Story Awards 2024 at the ITB Berlin tourism conference.
• Their Good Travel Story, “WeSave – Empowering Sustainability, Transforming Lives in Pasay City,” has also been nominated for the 2024 “People’s Choice Award,” allowing the public to vote for their favorite destination and Good Practice Story from the 2023 Green Destinations Top 100 competition.

SHM General Manager Mr. Ferdinand “Den” Navarro and Compliance Manager Mr. Karlo Evangelista holding the UNEP Badge of Honor

Savoy Hotel Manila: 101 Andrews Ave., Newport City, 1309 Pasay City. Tel: +63 (02) 5317-2869.  E-mail: stay@savoymanila.com. Website: www.savoyhotelmanila.com.