Schipol, 11 October 2010 - Jose Nijhuis, President of the Board and CEO of the Schipol Group, opened the world's first Green and Fairtrade hotel floor today. He did this together with Peter d'Angremond, Director of Stichting Max Havelaar, and Kees Teer, General Manager of Dorint Hotel Amsterdam Airport. The floor has forty rooms and suites and is one of the Dorint Hotel Amsterdam Airport's new, sustainable facilities offering its guests green and fair options for short stop-overs, meeting facilities and longer-term accommodation. The hotel facilities form part of the sustainable policy aimed at developing Dorint Hotel Amsterdam Airport into the most sustainable hotel in the Netherlands.

'Schipol is like a metropolis, alive day and night, 24 hours', said Schipol top man Jos Nijhuis at the opening. 'We have banks, shops, restaurants, conference centres, chidren's play areas, hotel and even a museum, a casino and a library. I am very proud that Schipol, like a metropolis, now also has a Fairtrade hotel floor. Dorint Hotel Amsterdam Airport is making a direct contribution to our strategy of becoming and remaining Europe's preferred airport.'

The guests on the Green and Fairtrade floor sleep in handmade, 100 per cent sustainable Dorint Lavital beds. The beds are a Dutch product. The cotten used in the production of the beds is certified with the international Fairtrade mark, in the Netherlands better known as the Max Havelaar mark. This also applies to the cotton in the continental quilts, towels, bathrobes, bath mats and pillows. The flowers, the fruit, the food and drinks in the minibar and the hand lotion in the bathroom also have Fairtrade certification. The Green and Fairtrade floor demonstrates that daily activities such as sleeping, eating and drinking can be excellently combined with combating poverty and supporting sustainable development in Third World countries.

Each of the 40 CO₂- neutral rooms on the Green and Fairtrade floor has numerous sustainable applications such as the activation of the air conditioning's automatic circuit breaker when a window is opened, water-saving taps, inbuilt LED lighting and environmentally-friendly cosmetics. In addition, guests staying on the floor are refunded half of the costs if they travel by public transport from the hotel in an electric car to the centre of Amsterdam. Anyone travelling to the hotel in an electric car can park free of charge. Guests who park their hybrid car in the basement car park pay half the price. In the meantime, the hotel has installed recharging points for this fast-growing fleet of cars.

Peter d'Angremond, Director of Stichtin Max Havelaar, calls Dorint a real ambassador of Fairtrade in the hotel world. 'Practice what you preach. Other hotels have also switched to certified Fairtrade products in recent years. Fairtrade offers a complete package for sustainable development by not only demanding stringent environmental and social criteria but, not surprisingly, by also ensuring a fair price for the services rendered. Through the certification hallmark a consumer knows that his or her purchase contributes towards combating poverty and the sustainable development of smallholders in developing countries. The concepts of "people and planet by profit" is also starting to become a commonly-held view in the hotel world. The opening of a fair and gren floor in Dorint in once again convincing evidence of this.'

The Green and Fairtrade floor is one of the three sustainable products that Dorint Hotel Amsterdam Airport is launching. In addition to this green floor, these are Green Meeting and Green Mobility. 'But these are not the only products that are covered by our motto, Sustainable Dorint,' says General Manager Kees Teer. 'In our 2010-2011 sustainability plan we have stated that we will intensify our efforts in the field of business operations, staff policy, agreements with suppliers, informing the 250,000 guests whom we welcome each year, and collaboration with partners in the chain.'

The hotel's efforts are based on the principles of reduction, compensation, fairness and collaboration.

• Reduction: this includes, among other things, reducing the consumption of water, energy and transport, for example by purchasing as many regional products as possible.
  
• Compensation: the hotel compensates for CO₂ credits from water, wind and biogas stations abroad. 
• Fairness: this is interpreted in terms of open staff policy and Fairtrade international commerce.
  
• Collaboration: the hotel seeks collaboration with its guests, suppliers, Amsterdam Schipol Airport and colleague hotels in the Schipol region.
  

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Jos Nijhuis, President of the Board and CEO of the Schipol Group (middle) opens together with Director Peter d'Angremond of Stichting Max Havelaar (right) and General Manager Kees Teer of Dorint Hotel Amsterdam Airport the world's first Green and Fairtrade hotel floor.	Very relaxed. Green and Fairtrade spending the night at Dorint Hotel Amsterdam Airport.