For more than ten years, Grand Pacific Resorts has made sustainability a priority in our resorts. We have standards of procedure that have been implemented company-wide and empower each resort to find creative ways to reduce waste and energy use. Our resorts have received numerous accolades as a result of our efforts, including five RCI Green Awards in the past two years alone. We’ve also received numerous Green Leader Awards from TripAdvisor.
Why is the environment important to us? As our sustainability chairperson explains, “For our owners, timeshare is a treasured part of their family traditions. It’s with these traditions in mind that Grand Pacific Resorts began its sustainability program. So much of what makes our resorts memorable is their natural setting. To give our children and their children the opportunity to experience these places, we need to care for more than the physical appearance of our resorts—we need to care for the destinations and the world as a whole.”
We’re never content with “good enough,” and in 2014 we partnered with a firm in Northern California to take our efforts to the next level. We now belong to a sustainability forum, which is made up of eight local businesses and meets monthly to share best practices and brainstorm new ideas. The goal is to develop a five-year “green business plan” for our company, with clear steps toward greening our resort operations, engaging our associates, and educating our owners, guests, and communities.
Our green business plan is still in development, but we’ve already implemented the following measures to reduce our impact on the environment:
- All of our resorts participate in a robust email collection campaign, reducing paper waste from owner communications by 75%.
- The company hosted its first annual beach clean-up in 2013, inviting associates from throughout Southern California to participate.
- Guests receive print newspapers only by request and are encouraged to download the digital version when possible, reducing paper waste from newspapers by 70%.
- We notify each guest of our sustainability program upon check-in, asking them to return their keycards and wristbands upon check out, be mindful of their A/C use, utilize recycling bins, and reuse their towels.
- All bathrooms have low-flow showerheads, reducing water use by approximately 30%.
- Coffee and water cups are made from recycled materials.
- Keycards are made from bamboo or recycled material.
- Posters in our elevators and lobbies remind guests to think about their impact on the environment.
- We use dishes and silverware for all internal functions.
- All Southern California properties have succulent gardens and indigenous, drought-resistant landscaping, reducing the need for water by 50%.
- Most resorts have a water dispenser in their fitness centers to reduce plastic water bottle use.
- We are currently in the process of installing LED lights throughout our resorts, with the goal of reducing energy use from lighting by 40%.
We’re committed to “Enriching Lives through Extraordinary Experiences,” and that commitment isn’t limited to our owners and guests. We want to enrich the lives of our associates, create extraordinary experiences within the communities we serve, and make wise choices as global citizens who recognize that our impact reaches far beyond our immediate sphere of influence. For all these reasons, sustainability is an important part of our company’s mission.
How exactly does sustainability enrich lives? Having a clean, beautiful environment is an important part of the vacation experience. But it goes far beyond that. By moving toward sustainability, we’re helping to preserve precious natural resources for generations to come. We’re coming up with creative solutions to our own challenges while inspiring other businesses and individuals to do the same, multiplying the effect of our efforts. Recently, ten green-minded business leaders from our sustainability forum toured two of our resorts, noting our innovations and discussing ways to implement similar methods in their fields.