Fair Trade Tourism certification distinguishes our landmark hotel!
In October 2015, Oude Werf Hotel received official certification from Fair Trade Tourism – an organisation that recognises and promotes sustainable and responsible tourism and hoteling on our continent.
For us it is a well deserved ‘cherry on top’ after many years of major improvements and additions to our historic hotel, the last of which were completed just recently.
It’s also a special acknowledgement of more than a decade of practising our own kind of Responsible Hoteling through our progressive ‘Living Green’ philosophy – an ethos that’s delivers a great hotel experience to our guests, while also preserving and enriching the environments, communities, and people of our unique Cape region.
How did we achieve this certification? Via a rigorous independent audit that examined every part of our operation, including our business practises, how we look after and progress the lives of our personnel and how we encourage entrepreneurs and assist local communities. It explored how we reduce our environmental impact and how we contribute to the heritage and culture of Stellenbosch and the Cape Winelands and the prosperity that flows from it as a top tourism destination.
Did you know, for instance, that we have solar/thermal energy arrays on our roof, as well as water and electricity-saving devices installed in every room. We’re avid recyclers – our food waste recycled via the bokashi process into compost. We source from a variety of local entrepreneurs – even our cookies are home-baked for us by a staff member. Our Hotel team and guests contribute to vital upliftment projects via our unique Our Kids of the Cape Fund. We run a soup kitchen, assist with local community skills-training, volunteer at local hospice, and even look after a section of indigenous Aloes in the nearby Jan S. Marais Nature Reserve.
And did we mention that among the many ways we preserve our precious three century- old heritage, that one of our newest projects even created room numbers using designs from original porcelain shards unearthed during archaeological excavations at the Hotel?
They’re a few examples of the many things we do daily in the practise of Responsible Hoteling that are now recognised by the Fair Trade Tourism mark. One that we proudly add to our pedigree as National Monument, site of South Africa’s first church, and since 1802, its oldest continuously-running hotel.
To find out more about our certification, what it means to us and to our guests, please contact our General Manager, Elanie Fourie, or our Environmental Manager, Chris van Zyl (e: chris@vineyard.co.za).
Or visit us at Oude Werf to sample our unique brand of Fair Trade Tourism-approved hospitality that’s been centuries in the making.
Click here to view our Fair Trade Certificate
Click here to view our official Fair Trade Press Release