RIU's Jamaica hotels receive the Travelife Gold Award for their commitment to sustainability

RIU's Jamaica hotels receive the Travelife Gold Award for their commitment to sustainability

Palma de Mallorca, 17 December, 2014

Thanks to the involvement of their staff teams, these hotels have achieved the highest level of compliance The hotel chain will meet its goal of having a sustainability certificate for all its hotels by early 2015 The five RIU Hotels & Resorts in Jamaica have received the Travelife Gold Award. The Gold certificate represents the highest level of compliance with the requirements established by the Travelife international sustainability certification scheme. The certification of the RIU hotels in Jamaica represents a major step forward towards achieving the Corporate Social Responsibility Plan's strategic objective of having all its hotels certified, something that RIU expects to accomplish during the first months of 2015. >From the moment the project to certify all RIU hotels commenced, the participation and involvement of their staff have been vital to meet the goals set. In the case of Jamaica, auditors have stressed the high standards of the hotels as well as the clarity of the documents submitted. The hotels distinguished with the Travelife Gold Award have been: the Riu Negril and Riu Palace Tropical Bay, in Negril; the Riu Ocho Rios, in Ocho Rios; and the Riu Montego Bay and Riu Palace Jamaica, located in Montego Bay.  In total, 74 RIU hotels have so far been certified by Travelife, and all of them have achieved the highest grade of compliance. These hotels are located in Spain, Cabo Verde, Portugal, Morocco, Bulgaria, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica. Within the next few weeks, the audits of RIU's hotels in the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Aruba, Panama and Saint Martin will be completed; the aim is to receive the certificates at the beginning of 2015. The Travelife system involves a range of social and environmental criteria and, depending on their level of compliance, tourism companies can be awarded three levels: Bronze, Silver or Gold. This tool allows travellers to choose, from among all the products and services available, those hotels that are making an effort to operate more responsibly in terms of the environment and the local community, showing their commitment to issues such as fair wages and a reduction of water and energy use. About RIU Hotels & Resorts: The international RIU chain was founded in Mallorca by the Riu family in 1953 as a small holiday firm and is still owned by the family's third generation. The company specialises in holiday resorts and nearly 70% of its establishments offer its acclaimed All Inclusive by RIU service. With the inauguration of its first city hotel in 2010, RIU is expanding its range of products with its own line of city hotels called Riu Plaza. RIU Hotels & Resorts now has more than 100 hotels in 16 countries which welcome over 3,5 million guests a year and provide jobs for a total of 27,107 employees. RIU is currently the world's 29th ranked chain, one of the Caribbean's most popular, the largest in Spain in terms of revenue and the third largest in number of rooms. Source: RIU Hotels