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Another Major Hotel Chain Is Getting Rid Of Travel-Sized Toiletries

(CNN) — Accor Hotels is the latest global hotel chain to eliminate travel-sized toiletries from its rooms. The company, which owns 40 brands including Ibi...
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(CNN) — Accor Hotels is the latest global hotel chain to eliminate travel-sized toiletries from its rooms.

The company, which owns 40 brands including Ibis, Novotel, the Fairmont and Mondrian, announced Wednesday that it’s removing individual tubes of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel from its 340,000 guest rooms. It’s part of Accor’s broader environmental campaign that includes getting rid of all single-use plastic items at its 5,000 properties.

Accor is replacing the plastic toiletries with either wall dispensers or glass, bulk-sized toiletries by the end of the year. The chain is also replacing a number of common hotel items usually made from plastic, including keycards, laundry bags and cups, with materials made from “relevant alternatives,” according to the statement. That change take place across all of its hotels in 2022.

More than 200 million single-use plastic items are used annually at Accor’s hotels. The company said in a press release that the changes are part of an effort that focuses on “reducing environmental impacts and strengthening efforts to combat plastic pollution of the world’s oceans and other natural environments.”

More than 2,000 Ibis Hotels, which is Accor’s budget-friendly brand, have already switched from travel-sized toiletries to soap dispensers. And almost all of Accor’s hotels across all of its brands have eliminated plastic straws and stirrers. Remaining hotels that haven’t done so, most of which are in China, will ditch the materials by the end of March 2020.

Accor is joining a growing list of hotel chains have been making changes to benefit the environment. Businesses are facing disruption from climate change and customers are increasingly demanding that products and services are environmentally friendly.

Holiday Inn-owner IHG, Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton all announced similar initiatives last year.

Last year Marriott said it was ditching personal toiletries from its more than 1 million guest rooms starting in December 2020. The chain, which also owns Ritz-Carlton and W Hotels, said it expects to reduce its plastic disposal by 30% annually.

IHG, which also owns Kimpton Hotels and Crowne Plaza, is in the process of replacing individual plastic toiletries with bulk-sized ones across its 843,000 rooms. The transition will be completed in 2021.

Hilton, which has more than 950,000 rooms globally, is also transitioning from single-use to bulk toiletries by next year. The hotel chain also has a number of other environmental initiatives in place, including participating in the Clean the World soap program and improving energy efficiency.

Guests staying at Hyatt’s global chain of 900 hotels encompassing 220,000 rooms will find bulk-sized toiletries by June 2020. The company owns more than 20 brands, including Park Hyatt, Thompson Hotels and the Andaz.

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