The First Star has heard that the Novotel at Darling Harbour in Sydney has a history of not paying overtime to their workers. This makes it hard for workers to buy essentials such as the compulsory $100 deposits for their own uniforms for work!
It seems the Novotel in Sydney doesn’t see the value of spending money on their workforce. We’ve also been told they’ve taken away the free flu shot and hot food supplied to workers. This leaves the workers with only one option – expensive vending machines.
In good news, The First Star has been told that 80 staff participated in a tree planting effort last week, on paid time and supported by the hotel.
While the sustainability effort at most hotels starts and stops with cost saving measures like towel recycling, it seems Novotel Darling Harbour is starting to take climate change more seriously and we think this is fantastic.
As part of the Accor chain, Novotel Sydney has participated in Earth Hour and introduced a formula to determine how much savings can be made through towel re-use and pledged to donate funds to the United Nation’s reforestation program.
Novotel was also the first hotel brand to undertake Green Globe certification in Pacific region. They are attempting to be the first hotel group in the region to be fully certified by Green Globe by June 2009.
However, as with every other hotel in this sector, guests need to ask if this is just greenwash or an authentic commitment to preserve the environment for future generations? This lack of a consistent, authoritative and transparent environmental rating system really means that no one can be sure if they’re being snowed by marketing or actually making a difference.
