S'pore hotelier sees room for progress in biodiversity journey

Pan Pacific Hotels Group aims to help ensure recovery of species, ecosystems

- Claire Huang

While many hospitality players in the world are deliberating how they can make their business greener, veteran hotelier Choe Peng Sum has already set in motion his ambitious plan to run hotels that contribute to biodiversity.

Such nature-positive hotels are a pilot project, the chief executive of Pan Pacific Hotels Group told The Straits Times in an exclusive interview.

A nature-positive process is one that reverses current declines in biodiversity so that species and ecosystems begin to recover.

So far, two of its eight hotels Pan Pacific Orchard and Parkroyal Collection Pickering - are fully nature-positive by design.

The group is also retrofitting its existing properties to make them nature-positive.

To reduce its carbon footprint, the group installed green features such as solar panels and low-emissivity windows at several of its hotels during the Covid-19 pandemic, when occupancy rates plunged.

Pan Pacific Singapore is now undergoing a review of solar panel installation.

"It's more than just removing straws and plastic. It's a lot of infrastructure, it's a lot of money...

Introducing all these is not cheap but we are really excited," said Mr Choe.

The 62-year-old, who took over as the hospitality chain's chief in September 2019, three months before Covid-19 struck, is expanding his green vision to hotels in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.