Iberostar provided tremendous efforts to become greener. At Praia do Forte, staff and facilities are moving towards sustainability rapidly.

We were particularly curious to discover more about their practices, especially because we had never interviewed an all-inclusive resort and we were curious to know how they handle waste especially. We got the possibility to visit the backstage of the resort. The resort is not yet certified green hotel but aims to be by mid-2016.

welcome praia da forte Iberostar

We met with the vice director Mirsha and Margareth, the green manager.  They replied to all our questions openly and gave us the possibility to stay at the hotel which allowed us to make a full review on their sustainability practices from the bedroom to the outdoor facilities.

facilities Praia Do forte

 

How to get there?

To get to Praia Do Forte, you can leave from Salvador via Onibus (linhea Verde or booked via your hotel there) to Praia Do Forte. The journey last 1h30 (most of the time it is 2hours) and cost around 70R$ per person. Or you can take a public bus for 6R$ but the journey will last minimum 3h as it stops everywhere. Then from Praia Do Forte town, you have about 8.5Km left to Iberostar.  That will need to be done by car. So if you arrange it earlier, the hotel could arrange a transfer for you or you can grab a taxi in the town. It is 15min away from Praia Do Forte by car.

location iberostar Praia DO Forte

Building

Iberostar owns about 200 hectares in this area. Only 10% of it is constructed, the rest remains to the nature and the native flora and fauna. The painting used is water-based. The hotel has sponsored the restoration of the municipal park nearby. The furniture is apparently given away to associations when damaged or not suitable for costumer usage anymore. Of course this whole area is protected as it is part of the linhea verde, a very important coast line for the marine biodervisity such as turtles. The hotel has been built respecting the regulations, meaning no bar on the beach, no major constructions near the beach either and restauration of native vegetation. The building is not certified green though, but they are apparently investigating that. We’ll keep you updated whether or not they get a green certification.

They use electric cars to circulate within the resort, which keeps clients away from toxic exhaust gas.

bedroom praia do forte iberostar

Food

Brazil is a complicated country when it comes to food certifications. There is a national label for organic food. But the food in Iberostar Praia Do Forte and Bahia is not certified at all. There are no labels of sustainability and they do not track the origin of the meat they serve. Of course, they do have vegetarian options but there is no specific organic/vegetarian nor vegan corner in the restaurant.

buffet iberostar Praia Do Forte

We wished for labelled food. None of the food is sustainably supplied. The process to get a certification will be long as they will have to change food supply too. They are currently investigating to get the Cristal certification.

Energy

The management of the hotel certified that all the lighting was 90% LED. There are motion sensors in the bedroom that turn on/off the lights depending on the activity in the room. There is no card switcher only those motion sensors. We haven’t been able to verify if they really work or not.

energy management iberostar praia do forte brazil

The hotel also uses soar panels to heat the water for the showers and the SPA. Thery are also using low-electricity consumption appliances like for the minibar Dometic.

Waste

The hotel recycles glass/ plastic / aluminum/ food. We had the opportunity to see where the hotel puts all the garbage. The kitchens and restaurants recycle and staff is trained for that. Unfortunately, there is no recycling in the “public” area (meaning clients don’t have the opportunity to recycle their own garbage). There aren’t any sorting waste bins anywhere. The management told us they will change that to make sure to recycle at least 75% of the hotel waste.  We’ll keep you updated.

There is no bar on the beach to prevent any waste to end into the see. This not from the hotel will but because of the Ibama legislation that forbids hotels on the linhea verde coastline to implement structures on the beach.

waste iberostar praia do forte plastic beach

Despites hotels good will, we saw a lot of trash on the beach and nearby the hotel. The hotel also distributes disposable to its customers especially plastic straws! We were actually very shocked to see so many self-service plastic disposables. That is terrible especially so close to the sea and to turtles for whom plastic is a real threat (they confuse it with their favorite dish, the jellyfishes).

The waste management in this hotel is at a transition. Disposables need to be changed, the beaches need to be cleaned (the hotel doesn’t want to do it as the beach is public, it is supposed to be done by the municipality).  We wish the hotel take more proactive actions cleaning and making sure to use sustainable disposable.

The food waste is pretty big; but they do use it as compost.

Water

The rain water is collected for gardening. Even though we haven’t seen low-flow showerheads but they do have recent toilets with 1.6 gallons per flush toilets.

The pest management is done via a cat’s community. In the hotel, you will find some free cats walking around. They come from a shelter and have been rehabilitated on the resort territory to hunt miles and have a natural pest management. Brilliant idea, but people keep on being suspicious about the reason why there are cats in a hotel. Please be aware you should not feed them as they are supposed to hunt for living.

water management praia do forte iberostar

Regarding laundry and cleaning, the hotel told us they are using Ecolab products which has an ecofriendly policy. Unfortunately, the toiletries in the bedrooms are not organic nor biodegradable.

There is chlorine in the swimming pools, and we are not sure about the insecticides usage in the gardens.

Community

The hotel does a lot for the community. They donate old towels and other home sheet to charities. 40% of the staff comes from the local communities. The hotel provide housing to their employees and takes them home once a week with the hotel bus.

Regarding the environment, the hotels also supports local projects such as the project Tamar. As they built the hotel on a natural reserve, the hotel has created a small research program together with the Tamar project called Tamarinho. You can visit it easily by just walking along the beach. The resort has implemented once per week an educational program for kids about the project and the importance of saving the turtles.

The resort also organizes once in the month a “Clean the beach” day. Everybody is invited to clean up the trash on the beach. And they also have every year a “save the planet” day.community work iberostar praia da forte

Near the resorts, there is a park which has been restored together with the hotel and the municipality. The hotel built a bridge inside the park.

location tamar praia do forte iberostar

iberostar praia do forte green brazilian resort green hotel responsible travel

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