RIU properties get Travelife Gold Awards

Seven RIU Hotels & Resorts properties in Spain and Morocco have received the Travelife Gold Award, which certifies them as environmentally and socially responsible. Travelife is an international system that establishes social and environmental indicators and, according to degree of compliance, tourist companies may be awarded a Bronze, Silver or Gold certificate. RIU hopes to have 75% of its hotels certified at the end of 2013 and 100% in 2014. The Hotel Riu Calypso (Fuerteventura, Spain), the Riu Garoe (Tenerife, Spain), the Riu Tikida Dunas and the Riu Tikida Beach (Agadir, Morocco), the Riu Belplaya (Torremolinos, Spain), Riu Nautilus (Torremolinos, Spain) and the hotel Riu Monica (Nerja, Spain) were the first hotels in the RIU chain to be audited and receive Travelife’s Gold certificate. The next to undergo an external audit to evaluate the degree of compliance are three hotels in Morocco, four RIU hotels in Cape Verde and two in the Algarve. That will be done in 2012, so RIU will begin 2013 with 16 hotels certified with Travelife. A second phase will be carried out in 2013, with RIU presenting for audit all the hotels on the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Madeira, Bulgaria, Morocco, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Costa Rica, a total of 59 establishments. “The success of this project will mean that in two years RIU will have around 75% of its facilities certified as environmentally and socially responsible. The work will continue in 2014 with the aim of having 100% of the hotels certified,”the company says. (http://www.riu.com)