EcoTourism and Sustainable Tourism
We do not have a conventional restaurant, but rather the “Chef on Demand” concept, in which, through reservation, we prepare traditional Alentejo dishes with a more refined presentation. The “chef on demand” concept eliminates the waste of pre-cooked food and its consumption.
In relation to environmental sustainability, we have a carbon footprint, due to all our measures and carbon sequestration through the planting of thousands of trees. We produce more than 60% of our electricity with our photovoltaic panels, water heating and central heating is done by solar collectors, assisted by a pellet boiler on colder or rainy days. Both winter heating and summer cooling are provided by underfloor heating. All of our lamps are LED. We measure our consumption against the defined objective, which allowed us to be a case study in 2018 in our current having the Biosphere Hotel certificate by RTI (Responsible Tourism Institute), having the GreenKey certificate since 2022 and in the past having had the ECO Hotel certificate from Thuv Reihnland from 2015 to 2016.
We have a complete circular economy in terms of water resources. We extract the water, treat it, use it, treat it again, use it for irrigation and it infiltrates the groundwater again. We also retain all the water that enters here, with contour ditches and dams, to hinder erosion and facilitate infiltration into the groundwater.
Finally in job creation, all of our employees are from the region and we indirectly contribute not only through partnerships but also through our suppliers to the development of the region. We try in every possible area to buy our products from producers in the region. I don't make an exhaustive list here, but local suppliers make up almost 80% of the total.
Eco Hotel
The EcoHotel Rural Monte da Provença is a small charming hotel that aims to contribute to the “branding” of Alentejo as a region of Portugal with great quality and a lot to offer, both in terms of accommodation and in terms of history, culture, crafts, gastronomy, wines and other products. We also promote the concept of ecological and sustainable tourism.
At the moment we have a still new vineyard, which will begin its initial production in 2025. We invest in Aragonês, Alfrocheiro, Trincadeira and Alicante Bouchet grapes, to produce and sell high quality and exclusive wines at the Hotel.
Our guests interested in wine experiences will also be able to participate in the various activities related to the vineyard, as well as stay in the vineyard suite and room, located next to the vineyard.
We are a small paradisiacal garden in Alentejo, we have more than 3,400 trees, 5,500 shrubs and 1,100 other types that we have planted, to sequester CO2 and be zero carbon.
Having opened its doors in February 2015, we have already had customers from 64 nationalities in addition to Portuguese.
The Hotel building resulted from the recovery and expansion of a ruin, but maintaining the exact Alentejo design of the ancient “manor houses” in the region, which very favorably impresses guests by combining a return to the past with all modern comfort and contributes to the good landscape and cultural planning of the Alentejo.
To promote Alentejo products and culture, we started partnerships with several companies in the region to provide quality experiences for our guests. From wine tasting, winery visits, balloon rides, carp fishing, bird watching, horse riding, cultural visits etc. We also promote events in the region on our social networks.
Certificates
– Green Key ecol-abel sustainable certification (since 2022)
– Booking.com 9.2 9.0
– Booking.com Travel Sustainable Badge
– Biosphere Hotel – Institute of Responsible Tourism (since 2018)
– Eco-Hotel Certification – TÜV Rheinland (2015-2016)
– TripAdvisor – Travelers Choice Award (2019) in Category: Top 25 Small Hotels in Portugal
– TripAdvisor – 4.5/5
– TripAdvisor – Certificate of Excellence Award
– TripAdvisor – GreenLeaders Platinum Award
– Bikotel
– Tesla Destination chargers
– Tur4All (reduced mobility)
Since our opening in 2015
– We installed 2 Tesla chargers for Electric Vehicles
– We separate all used printer cartridges that we send to Hewlett-Packard for recycling,
– We separate all batteries for recycling
– We reduce plastic, eliminating plastic bottles and straws
– We eliminate food waste, as we do not have pre-cooked dishes
Last year
We sequester more than 155 Tons of CO2 from the more than 10,200 trees and shrubs we planted
We saved 38,796 KWh of electrical energy, using a photovoltaic system with 25kWp vs electricity from the grid;
We saved 58,586 KWh of electrical energy, with LEDs, class A+++ appliances and latest generation pumps, with low consumption compared to conventional ones;
We saved 25,860 KWh of thermal energy, through the use of solar collectors for heating and DHW vs conventional systems;
We reduced 48.35 Tons of CO2, through the use of renewable energies and fuels that are CO2 neutral vs gas and electricity from the grid;
We separated 1.3 tons of trash for recycling;
We separated 75 liters of vegetable oil for recycling;
We produce 10 m3 of compost per year that we use to fertilize the vegetable garden and garden
We avoided 3,600 PET plastic bottles, using water from our own good quality well in reusable glass bottles
