Kelowna's Greenest Hotel

The Best Western Inn-Kelowna has received the Minister’s Award of Excellence from the Honourable John Yap, Minister of State for Climate Action. The first such award to be handed out from Minister Yap’s department, this award recognizes the hotels “efforts to reduce their carbon footprint helping to ensure the continued health of British Columbia’s natural environment”. Accepting the award was Greg Salloum, CEO & Partner. “The Best Western Inn-Kelowna is pleased to have been recognized with this award. Our Solar Hybrid Heating System has significantly reduced our Green House Gas emissions. With the completion of our LEEDS certified addition, currently under construction, a further reduction will be realized when a new geothermal component will be added which will complement our current solar hybrid heating system”.

Today there are programs and tools available that can assist in measuring our carbon footprint. We did not have these resources when we began our sustainability path in 1990. Businesses can also learn from each other and what we are all doing to address our respective issues. This can provide knowledge and assistance in determining where to direct energy for future carbon reductions.

We encourage all businesses, big and small; to take a look at what area of their business could be having an impact of GHG emissions and make a commitment to contribute positively to the planet by reducing their carbon footprint”.

A hotel that has shown national industry leadership and commitment to protecting the environment through wide range policies and practices. Mature programs that involve management employees, guests and the public have shown substantial and measurable results…

The Best Western Inn-Kelowna certainly meets this criteria, By example they have shown a genuine commitment to the environment and remain committed by continuing to recognize the opportunities that exists to further improve and increase performance and cost savings for the hotel; therefore creating an enjoyable and memorable stay for their guests.  The Best Western Inn- Kelowna simply walks the walk!

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The Eco-Nomics Awards were created to recognize businesses and organizations in Kelowna who successfully operate with environmentally sustainable practices. The awards aim to further educate businesses throughout our community on the benefits of employing these strategies.

The awards were created and are operated by Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Okanagan in partnership with The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce. SIFE Okanagan is a non-profit student organization at the Okanagan School of Business, which is part of larger global SIFE organization on over 1,800 university and college campuses in more than 50 countries. SIFE aims to teach and ignite young individuals to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities.

Click Here to read the press release