Iñaky Bau, Corporate Brand Strategy Senior Director en Palladium Hotel Group

Iñaky Bau, Corporate Brand Strategy Senior Director en Palladium Hotel Group.

Special supplement on sustainability: ‘Baleares Green Experience’.

– How important is sustainability within your corporate brand strategy?

The development and consolidation of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy is one of our strategic projects, both at company and brand level. We are focused on developing a programme that brings together all the initiatives that we have been carrying out for years in all the destinations in which we operate, defining a new and renewed approach, which allows us to give it greater coherence under a new action plan that is sustainable over time. This programme is called “Palladium Cares. Caring by Doing”.

 

– What environmental performance is required of a hotel chain today?

Until recently, most of us in the tourism sector have been focused on offsetting the impact of our activity on the environment, implementing existing regulations as effectively as possible, but also acting proactively by implementing measures, which were not mandatory by law, but which did represent a commitment to society and to our natural environment.

However, there are other issues that need to make a difference, and so we have decided to go a step further and identify where we can make a positive impact on people’s lives, both our employees and those who live in the communities where we are doing business, and where we have an inevitable socio-economic impact.

 

– How important is the environmental strategy in Palladium Hotel Group’s business, and in which areas do you focus your efforts?

The environmental strategy has a great importance, being one of the three priority pillars of action within our CSR plan, together with social and economic aspects. In the area of environmental commitment, we promote the circular economy through programmes for the reuse of resources, recycling and reduction of plastics. We also encourage the responsible use of resources such as water and energy, installing photovoltaic panels at most destinations and establishing responsible energy consumption formulas. This has led us to achieve 100% of energy consumption from renewable sources in the group’s hotels in Europe, and 55% globally. We also take care of the environment in which we live, creating protected areas for the rehabilitation, care or recovery of protected species, protection of biodiversity, cleaning of beaches, and recovery of flora and fauna.

 

– With a global brand, how is it possible to apply a sustainability plan in the different destinations where you operate, taking into account such diverse realities?

It is a question of ethics due to the high impact that our sector has on the destinations where we do business, and it is aligned with our values as a company.
For more than 50 years, we have developed various actions in different areas, with the aim of contributing to positive change in society and on the planet.
For this reason, we have put all our efforts into helping the front-line agents of our business, attending to the most specific needs of the reality of each place in which we operate.

 

– How important is communication for a sustainability project?

The global development of a CSR strategy allows us to develop an overall vision for all employees and areas, involving them and making them participants. It also allows us to determine medium and long-term objectives as a company, outlining an effective line of communication that brings us closer to consumers, who are increasingly aware, and positions us as a benchmark brand in the eyes of stakeholders.