IHG Hotels & Resorts partners with Ant Group to encourage sustainability

IHG Hotels & Resorts has joined hands with Ant Group’s green energy initiative to encourage its IHG One Rewards members in Greater China to use fewer single-use toiletries to protect the environment.

Through this partnership, IHG encourages IHG One Rewards members in Greater China staying at participating IHG hotels to opt out of single-use toiletries in their rooms, such as toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and soap.

By doing so, they can obtain 92 grams of green energy in the Alipay Ant Forest mini-programme within the Alipay app after 72 hours of checking out. According to calculation by professional environmental institution China Beijing Environmental Exchange (“CBEEX”), the action translates into 92 grams of carbon emission reduction.

The green energy points can be used to support various conservation projects. If all of IHG One Rewards members in Greater China take one such action every year, it would generate 1,380 tons of green energy points in Alipay Ant Forest. These green energy points can be used to plant 77,000 saxaul trees in areas threatened by desertification. Users can also use these green energy points to support other environmental projects.

“Since we came to China 38 years ago, IHG Hotels & Resorts has been continuously reinforcing and enriching our brand portfolio while keeping up with the latest market trends, iterating our brands and services to meet ever-evolving customer needs,” said Daniel Aylmer, managing director, IHG Greater China. “We are very pleased to work with Ant Group to offer innovative ways for responsible travel and promote green actions among our customers.”

“We are excited to partner with IHG Hotels & Resorts to promote environmentally friendly actions through the Green Energy Initiative,” said Cheng Jiang, general manager of green & social good department, Ant Group. “The green energy points from Alipay Ant Forest offer our brand partners more incentives to encourage their customers to take greener actions. We look forward to welcoming more partners from all sectors to join our journey.”

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