Scenic Hotel Group’s Strategy for a Sustainable Future

At Scenic Hotel Group, our vision is to become industry leaders in sustainability in the hotel and hospitality sector

For over forty years, New Zealand-owned and operated Scenic Hotel Group has led the way in caring for visitors from around the country and the world. Part of this uniquely New Zealand hospitality experience is connecting guests with people, experiences and places – particularly in many of New Zealand’s most treasured environments and communities where tourism along with primary industries are the key drivers to their economies.

It’s all talk until you measure

Scenic Hotel Group has partnered with Toitū Envirocare to certify and measure our emissions and reductions so we can be confident in our work and actions. We are serious about positive change, and this will be proof our actions speak louder than words.

We have achieved our 2025 Toitū Certified Carbon Reduce Certification for our New Zealand properties.

Our total emissions for 2025 were 2241 tCO2e, which is only 0.36% higher than our 2022 baseline and a commendable 4.56% down from our 2024 emissions. This is a great effort considering there has been a 66% increase in room nights sold, and several business units added to the group in that period.
Our carbon emissions per room sold have dropped from 9.99kgCO2e (2022) to 6.02kgCO2e (2025). A whopping 39.7% reduction in this metric since 2022.

We diverted up to 31.4% of waste from landfill in 2025, up from 26.5% in our 2022 baseline year. This is an 18.5% improvement in the diversion rate over this period.

Water consumption improved slightly, reducing from 291 to 288 litres per room sold between 2022 and 2025, a 0% reduction.

Toitū Carbonreduce Certification

Scenic Hotel Group, a respected leader in New Zealand’s hospitality industry for over four decades, is excited to share its recent Toitū carbonreduce certification (ISO 14064-1).

Tawaki Fiordland Crested Penguin_Website_Regular

Tawaki (Fiordland Crested Penguin) – Image Credit West Coast Tourism Board

Nature Economy Partnership – How your stay helps protect our flora and fauna

Many travellers want their holiday choices to have a positive impact on the destinations they visit. The Nature Economy Partnership helps make that possible by connecting businesses with projects that protect and restore the natural environment.

Through the partnership, Scenic Hotel Group supports initiatives including the West Coast Penguin Trust and the Ōkārito Plant Project, helping protect biodiversity, restore habitats, and strengthen environmental resilience across the region.

Updates & News

Scenic Hotel Group is amplifying our commitment to communities and the environment, accelerating progress in critical areas and encouraging others to support us for a better tomorrow. Our hotels are active in supporting community initiatives, alongside a strong social and environmental mandate for the regions in which we reside. We are now building on this foundation to take a group wide approach to ensure a more sustainable future for hospitality and how we do business in New Zealand and the world beyond.

Read about our latest initiatives

Sunrise over grape Vineyard; summer winery region morning landscape

Celebrating New Zealand’s Primary Industries

Home Grown

Scenic Hotel Group’s Home Grown program is about celebrating and supporting New Zealand’s farmers, growers, fisheries as well as the secondary production manufacturers who lead the way in producing innovative and sustainable products.

Find out more about Home Grown

Our Environmental Journey

Scenic Hotel Group cares about our people and our community, and strives to always leave a positive impact on both. We are committed to being a leader in responsible and sustainable tourism. We continually review and adapt our internal and external practices to ensure we’re taking advantage of all appropriate initiatives to influence our impact on the world and communities around us.

With the cooperation of our guests, staff, business partners and the wider community, we strive for a better tomorrow. The Scenic Hotel Group Sustainability Team ensures the implementation of any new environmental initiatives, administers the group’s environmental plan, plus reviews and ensures all introduced procedures are being adhered to.

Our Sustainability Commitment & Vision

At the end of 2021, Scenic made a strategic decision to shift our direction and deliver on each of the pillars of sustainability for our staff, our customers and our community. We partnered with Third Era Sustainability to help us reshape our organisation so that we were not only the best in the world but also the best for the world.

We are committed to delivering the highest level of social, economic, cultural and environmental sustainability for our staff, guests and the communities in which we operate. For us, being sustainable is not mutually exclusive to providing an exceptional guest experience. Our sustainability journey has shown us that by being better stewards of the environment and for people, tourism is going to thrive.

Our Sustainability Priorities

At Scenic, sustainability includes environmental, social, economic and cultural sustainability. Our promise is to work towards a healthy and prosperous NZ and Pacific across each of these pillars.

To help identify our sustainability priorities we committed to Agenda 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). We talked to our staff and stakeholders about what sustainability issues were most important to them and where they believed Scenic could have the most positive impact.

Climate change impacts us all

Scenic Hotel Group is committed to being a positive influence and doing our part in this global issue. We have chosen to align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) focusing on six core values.

Why we chose SDG 17

Partnership for the Goals

At Scenic we know that sustainability won’t be achieved alone. We rely on collaborations and partnerships with our staff, suppliers, guests, the wider industry, mana whenua and the community. Our goal is that sustainability is not a point of difference for Scenic but a part of business as usual and in order to achieve that we are committed to fostering partnerships to achieve the goals.

We launched our Home Grown program which celebrates New Zealand businesses and producers. Find out more about Home Grown here.

family-in-lavender-field-brighter-sky-small

Why we chose SDG 3

Good Health & Wellbeing

Our staff, our guests and our communities are at the heart of Scenic’s licence to operate. Our role in the tourism and hospitality industry is to bring joy and wellbeing to peoples lives and to the environment and communities we work and live in.

What this means is that in order for our business to thrive we must ensure that all those who contribute to our mahi also thrive. Therefore SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing was a non-negotiable.

Extreme cooking. Profesional chef teaching his two young trainees how how to flambe food safely. Restaurant kitchen

Why we chose SDG 8

Decent Work & Economic Growth

As a proud employer in communities around New Zealand our role is to foster opportunities, quality employment and inclusive growth for people within the Scenic company and our supply chain.

We are committed to hiring those in the communities we are proud to be a part of as well as to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and to the protection of human rights.

Why we chose SDG 11

Sustainable Cities & Communities

It is our privilege to operate and participate in some of the most beautiful regions in New Zealand and the Pacific.

As proud members of these communities we see it as our responsibility and duty to ensure that we minimise our impact on the places we love and to restore the environment and public realm to create places that people love and cherish.

Why we chose SDG 12

Responsible Consumption & Production

The hotel, hospitality and tourism industry produces a significant amount of waste and uses vast amounts of resources. However, it also poses a significant opportunity to reduce our impact, the amount people consume and change production habits.

Although daunting, we are excited to lead the challenge of reducing waste, embedding circular economy approaches and protecting the most precious resources in our sector such as energy and water.

Pacific Northwest rainforest hiking trail

Why we chose SDG 13

Climate Action

Climate change impacts us all. Scenic Hotel Group is committed to being a positive influence in this global issue by taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts on the world around us.

We are actively working to reduce our Greenhouse Gas Emissions, increasing our green cover and working alongside guests and staff to educate them on their own personal impacts.