Gütersloh, 02/03/2025

Parkhotel Gütersloh receives certificate for sustainability

The Parkhotel Gütersloh, a wholly owned Bertelsmann subsidiary, has been certified for its social, ecological and economic actions. For this purpose, the Green Sign Institute tested the Parkhotel using 130 criteria that assess its commitment to sustainability. The Green Sign Institute is, according to its own statement, one of the leading European institutes for certifying hotels in the field of sustainability.

"The certification was a big step that we prepared thoroughly," says Kay-Chrstian Dubbert, Head of Brand Communications at Viveno Group, the umbrella company for Bertelsmann's hotel and restaurant operations. "We decided to tackle the issue at the beginning of last year. As a first step, we formed a 'Green Team' and in this round we looked at the 'actuals' and the question: Which points of the certification catalog do we already fulfill?"

Good result in the context of initial certification

The conclusion: "We were surprised by how sustainable we already are in many areas," says Dubbert, looking back. "After the first self-evaluation, we were already at around 70 percent on the rating scale. After that, we were gripped by ambition and tackled some additional things with a view to the first certification."

The auditors stayed at the Parkhotel for a day and a night to look at the details. They put the hotel and its commitment to the environment through their paces - with success for the Parkhotel's "Green Team". Compared to the self-evaluation, the hotel even gained eight percentage points and scored 78%. "This is a good result for a 40-year-old hotel in the context of its first certification," says Dubbert.

Raising awareness among employees and guests

The Parkhotel scored particularly well in the areas of culture, social affairs and business. "In these areas, we scored particularly well thanks to our affiliation with Bertelsmann and the associated strong basis in the area of social affairs as well as our strong ties to the East Westphalia-Lippe region," notes Dubbert. The Parkhotel also achieved a good result in terms of regionality.

This is not the end of the "Green Sign" certificate project. "The certificate is renewed every three years. Our goal is, of course, to continue improving and advancing," says Dubbert. The "Green Team" will remain active beyond the certification process, overseeing action plans and identifying further opportunities for the hotel. Additionally, the certification now serves as a foundation for participation in the ERDF project "Model Region Sustainable Tourism Teutoburg Forest" (MoNaTour).