Marylène MENARD, manager of the hôtel Mercure – Granville le Grand Large, opened her doors to us to share her best practices in sustainable development.
Breakfast terraceBreakfast terrace|
Breakfast terracePresentation of the plant
The hotel has been open since 1993. Facing the sea, it was erected in the former villa of Christian Dior’s childhood friend, Serge Heftler-Louiche. Every Mercure hotel has to have a theme, and for the Granville hotel, it was only natural to give pride of place to the famous couturier. Replicas of Christian Dior’s sketches can be found in the entrance hall, the stained glass windows from the old villa have been preserved and integrated into the living room door, and the headboards of some bedrooms are illustrated with colorized sketches. Each year, we make it a point of honor to institute a nod to the current exhibition at the Dior Museum; for the “Dior en roses” exhibition, the receptionists donned a rose in their buttonholes.
Consisting of 66 rooms, the hotel also features a meeting room, a fitness room and a sea-view solarium terrace.
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Examples of actions implemented
5 themes (management, energy, water, waste, products) are covered in a charter, here are some of the actions implemented in our establishment:
- Customer awareness : Guests staying more than one night can choose to reuse their towels more than once, to save on laundry costs. These savings are then invested in planting trees in agricultural plots in various French regions
- Breakfast. To avoid waste, uneaten croissants and pains au chocolat are transformed in-house into pudding. Home-made preparations are also offered to customers: far breton, egg cream. Yoghurts and cheeses are made by local producers. Placemats are reusable
- The snack menu features mainly local products, such as jars from a Brécey company and fish rillettes from a Bréhal producer
- Individually packaged products are being replaced. Reusable containers for eco-labelled shower gels and shampoos available in our rooms. Cups/mugs to replace paper cups. Jam in bulk. For prestige rooms, individual coffee pods are recycled and come from a local supplier whose purchases contribute to medical research
- Each room is equipped with electricity savers, Led light bulbs, water reducers on taps, reversible air conditioning
- The hotel’s exterior lighting is programmed to limit light pollution
- Cleaning products are eco-labeled
- Local newspaper purchases have been reduced, and customer invoices are sent electronically
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The best sustainable action is the commitment of the staff. Indeed, all 14 employees are involved, particularly in this anti-gaspi approach, and they enjoy coming up with new ideas. After the pudding for breakfast, less than 2 months ago was developed the pink meringues, egg whites reused when making the homemade mayonnaise for the seafood platters supplied by Viviers de Granville (offered only to hotel guests).
We need to reclaim our values
Testimonial from Marylène Ménard (Hotel Manager, Mercure – Granville le Grand Large)
Why did you get involved?
For many years, we’ve been sensitive to food waste. Together with the team, we imagined a transformation of our uneaten croissants and pains au chocolat into a delicious pudding. But also to the waste of individual soaps, where the latter after being collected, are repackaged by disabled people from the Sapocycle company and distributed to improve the sanitary conditions of families in need.
Since 2014, we have joined the internal sustainable development program, advocated by the ACCOR group, Planet 21 – Acting Here, which since 2016 has been oriented towards positive hospitality. 3 levels of performance are proposed (Silver, Gold, Platinum) and acquired according to the list of actions implemented. This program is evolving and to date, the Mercure Le Grand Large hotel is silver level.
The ACCOR group has also deployed a Charter of Ethics and CSR, which frames our approach to responsibility, both in terms of management ethics, integrity and respect for the law, as well as social, societal and environmental responsibilities.
Would you like to share?
Contact : Amandine Launay – Tél. : 06 40 67 26 74 – Email : a.launay@otgtm.fr
