Sustainability

Spahotel Casino has Green Key and STF Sustainable Travel Finland certificates. They are both environment certificates for hospitality and tourism industry.

A hotel that has received the Green Key label is committed to increasing environmental awareness of its staff and customers and the efficiency of energy and water use, as well as reducing the environmental burden of its operations. Green Key -certified companies receive the internationally known Green Key label as well as support for their environmental work and communication about it. Green Key labels have been awarded in Finland since 2015 and internationally since 1994.

Spahotel Casino’s sustainability plan

Financial sustainability and social responsibility

We are committed to developing and using financial resources in a way that promotes sustainability from both a social and environmental point of view. By acting responsibly, we ensure that the tourism industry and our business continue to be profitable also in the future.

We make acquisitions and investments that do not harm biodiversity, but on the contrary can promote it. Our company and subcontractors comply with the legislation on employee rights. We only use trusted, regular suppliers and do not support the grey economy. We also inform our partners about our responsibility. We prefer organic and local products, as well as domestic raw materials.

We provide all of our employees with work and leisure insurance. With our actions, we combat all kinds of harassment and exploitation. In problem situations, the human resources manager and supervisors, who are accessible to every employee, help. We anticipate security risks, e.g. with surveillance cameras, security walks and round-the-clock guard duty, as well as by making sure the passenger cards required by law are filled out.

Sociocultural sustainability
We are committed to increasing the environmental awareness of our personnel and customers through instructions and training. Every employee receives training on environmentally-friendly working methods at the beginning of the employment contract. We advise customers on responsible travel, e.g. with the instructions found in the rooms.

We hire minority representatives and women equally for all positions, including management positions. Our hiring criteria are based on qualifications and suitability.

We treat every employee and every customer we meet equally. We do not discriminate against anyone because of ethnic background, gender, disability, sexual orientation or any other external or internal factor. We strive to make our facilities more accessible, for example for people with physical or sensory disabilities.

We are committed to promoting and maintaining local culture. We buy products and services from local and nearby companies. We sell sustainably manufactured products by the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation and local small entrepreneurs. It is important to us that the services we use are locally and ecologically produced. We consider the surrounding nature in the planning of all of our operations.

Ecological sustainability
We measure our carbon footprint and aim to reduce it with our actions. We want our operations to curb climate change, and collecting consumption data helps to monitor our progress.

By reducing water consumption, we minimize the environmental impact of hotel operations. The most water is consumed in the bathrooms and toilets of the hotel rooms, the spa, the restaurant’s kitchen, cleaning and yard maintenance. The maintenance company regularly checks that there are no leaks. We have an electronic service book and an on-call property maintenance service, which allow anyone to report a leak they notice. We measure water consumption and constantly come up with new solutions to reduce it.

We use eco-labeled detergents and cleaning textiles for everyday cleaning. Our cleaning company and employees have work instructions regarding the safe and correct use of chemicals.

Disposable tableware and containers are used only in exceptional cases, such as for safety reasons in the pool department and in take-away sales.

Reliable waste management, processing and everyday routine sorting reduce the load on landfills and enable the reuse of waste. We instruct our staff and customers to sort waste correctly and monitor waste amounts regularly.

We prefer refurbishing surfaces and furniture, for example with environmentally-friendly paints, instead of buying new ones. Our maintenance company takes the to-be-recycled furniture to the recycling center.

Acquiring and using energy is related to many different hotel functions. With responsible energy measures, we can influence climate change and the use of natural resources. When minimizing energy consumption, attention is drawn to many different functions. The most important of them are lighting, air conditioning, use of electrical devices and heating. The lighting and unnecessary electrical devices in empty spaces are turned off. We also advise our customers to do the same when leaving hotel rooms and meeting and exercise facilities. Windows and doors are not kept open unnecessarily during the heating season, nor when the air-source heat pump is turned on. If necessary, we lower the base temperature of unused spaces to reduce heating energy and costs.

By monitoring and reducing food waste, we reduce environmental stress. We reduce food waste with the following measures: With regular inventories, we keep a record of the contents of our warehouses and the dates of the products. We order products and put food on the buffet in proportion to the number of customers. We also encourage our customers to reduce food waste. The waste management company supplies us with the amounts of our biowaste annually.

Our restaurant does not use endangered or protected animal species as ingredients for its dishes.

There are no animals at our site, and we do not trade in animals, plants or historical or archaeological objects.

Our location on the shore of Lake Saimaa provides ample opportunities for environmentally-friendly activities. Our guests and staff can borrow for example city bikes, walking poles and snowshoes. We recommend the nearby outdoor routes to our customers and instruct them to respect and protect the environment when in nature. Our hotel does not have vehicles of its own. We encourage our staff and customers to use public transport and other ecological means of transportation instead of private cars.

Our promises and goals
Laws and regulations related to sustainable development lay the foundation for our operations. Our management team actively monitors that they are complied with. Our goal is to year by year develop into a more responsible destination. We want to be involved in making the tourism industry more environmentally friendly. We hope that our activities inspire both customers and our staff to do the same.

Sustainability plan to download.

The Saimaa ringed seal, “norppa”
The Saimaa ringed seal, “norppa”, is one of the rarest seals in the world. Its protection was started already in 1979, after which its population has increased in Lake Saimaa. However, the Saimaa ringed seal is still endangered and requires protection for a long time. Donate to the protection of the Saimaa ringed seal here (in Finnish).