The 5-star Hotel, Costa Adeje Gran Hotel, the 4-Star Hotels Fañabe Costa Sur and Isabel are property of GF hoteles, a small hotel chain belonging to Fedola Group, which has three hotels in the south of Tenerife and one in Puerto de la Cruz in the north bound of the Island. From the beginning this group has been focused on innovation and environmental awareness and has always been at the forefront as a leader in quality and service excellence.
In June 2012 the Management Board of GF Hotels decided to have the cooperation of Plan B Group to implement an Integrated Management System (IMS) according to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and EMAS III hotels regulation of Costa Adeje Gran Hotel, Hotel Fañabe Costa Sur and Hotel Isabel, respectively. The main objective of the hotel chain was to demonstrate to its customers and third parties its commitment to the quality of its services and the industry’s highest level in Europe in terms of environmental awareness. By obtaining the three certificates, it has raised tour operators ‘ confidence thereby achieving a higher volume of customers.
GF Hotels show their clients a firm commitment with the highest quality and environmental care.
The implementation process of the three standards was driven by the legal requirements applicable to the three hotels, especially those having to fully comply with environmental legal requirements, due to the harsh demands of EMAS III Regulation, as for the validation of EMAS any deviation not allowed in this context (Industrial safety, permits, licenses, inspections, etc). Simultaneously with the implementation of the necessary measures to comply with the requirements of the clients documentation and the requirements of these three standards, there was held specific training to all the staff organization (over 550 employees) to implement correctly quality and environmental management system.
The implementation of IMS provided by Plan B Group had several handicaps to overcome, since the scope of the system was extensive and affecting all departments (reception, entertainment, catering, address, bars, department, purchasing department management, service and cleaning floors, maintenance department, etc.). Each hotel separately submitted to the Ministry of Environment their environmental statements and were validated without having to undergo any further correction due to the thoroughness with which they were stated.
After six months of hard work, finally implementation was achieved in November 2012 obtaining the ISO9001, ISO14001 and EMAS III certificates after successfully completing the audit / verification of certification by Bureau Veritas.
Thanks to the implementation of IMS, it has improved the efficiency in hotel activity, improving service delivery by minimizing errors, ensuring full compliance with legal requirements, reducing environmental impact and providing a more competitive and innovative image of the company. It has also been able to reduce costs in the consumption of raw materials (water, paper, fuel, electricity, etc. ) thanks to good environmental practice which encourages the adoption of an environmental management system based on ISO 14001 and EMAS III Regulation.
For renewal of licenses necessary to continue auditing / verifying the IMS year after year, GF Hoteles will continue to count on the collaboration of Plan B Group for conducting internal audits necessary for renewal.
In the picture, Liher Alonso, Plan B Group consultant, developing environmental declarations under EMAS III Regulation of GF Hoteles.