Better choices are always in place! Original Sokos Hotel Lappee is a Green Key-certified hotel and we are also part of the Business Finland's Sustainable Travel Finland sustainability-program. Aspects of sustainability include financial sustainability, social responsibility, socio-cultural sustainability and environmental sustainability. As a hotel, which is part of the S group and Etelä-Karjalan Osuuskauppa, Lappee wants to support financial sustainability with its own activities and bear its share of social responsibility.

What is Green Key?

Green Key is the world's leading sustainability program and certificate in the tourism industry. There are already more than 4600 Green Key-certified destinations in a total of 60 different countries. The criteria for the certificate is based on the UN's sustainable development goals. The criteria include requirements related to reducing the environmental load, increasing social benefits and supporting the local economy. The criteria are practical, taken into account the characteristics of the tourism industry. The Green Key certification tells about meritorious sustainability work.

You can read more about sustainable tourism and Green Key here.

What is STF?

The STF program offers our hotel a 7-step sustainable tourism development path. Each step has its own criteria and the fulfillment of the criteria is verified by Visit Finland.

The steps are:

• Commitment
• Developing skills
• Development plan
• Sustainability communication
• Certification & Audit
• Verification
• Measurability
• Contract & Continuous development

You can find more information about the Sustainable Travel Finland sustainability program here.

This is how sustainability can be seen in Lappee;

One big theme of our company's Etelä-Karjalan Osuuskauppa 5-year strategy (2025 - 2029) is sustainability. Sustainability is part of our daily life, from the perspectives of social and personnel responsibility, as well as environmental and financial sustainability. Lappee is involved in the planning and development of sustainable tourism in the region, in cooperation with the local tourism organization GoSaimaa.

Responsibility can be seen in our everyday life, as follows:

• We treat job seekers, employees, customers and stakeholders fairly and within the framework of the law. We offer comprehensive employment relationships to our employees. In the competition, we follow good business practices. Procurements are planned and in the planning attention is paid to the ethical manufacturing of the product, the length of the life cycle, durability and also recyclability. We develop our operations sustainability first. The aim is to make as many purchases locally or domestically as possible.

• We always treat job seekers, employees, customers and other stakeholders fairly and within the law. We strive to offer comprehensive employment relationships to our employees and our employees can also perform additional work in other Eekoo units if they wish. In accordance with Eekoo's strategy, our state of mind is to take care of children and young people, and that is why we offer young people work environment for work practise periods, internships and summer jobs whenever possible.

• All the hotel's purchases are carefully planned. In the design, attention is paid to the ethical production, life cycle length, sustainability and also recyclability of the product. We develop our operations step by step, taking responsibility into account. We strive to make purchases largely locally or domestically. We always follow good business practices in the competition.

• We are proud of our province of South Karelia and want to promote the well-being of local culture. We let people know about local culture and competing companies, using the #reasontocome hashtag on social media. In the minibars we sell favorite sweets made at Fazer's Lappeenranta factory, just 1.5 km from the hotel. Fresh Rikkilä bakery bread from a local bakery is served for breakfast, from which the bread travels less than 5 km to us every morning. Refreshments from the local Tujun Panimo are sold at Venn & Rosso - the Tuju Taproom brewery restaurant is located in the historic Rakuunamäki less than 2 km from our hotel. Our themes of the rooms renovated in the hotel in 2022-2023, Pihka and Paatti, respect the local nature, Lake Saimaa and the forest industry.

• Ecological responsibility is strongly linked to saving resources. We aim to use energy in reasonable amounts and save energy consumption wherever possible - for example, renovated rooms and corridors have motion sensors and automation in lighting. In a large hotel, water consumption is sometimes quite high, but we aim to reduce it, for example, with technical solutions. By communicating, we encourage our customers to reduce stayover cleaning, as changing sheets and towels consumes a lot of water annually. Sorting is constantly being improved - we have added sorting points to the main elevator lobby on the 2nd and 3rd floors, and clearer sorting instructions for the trash in the rooms. We aim to reduce food waste at breakfast and in our restaurants through well detailed planning. If customers wish, they can purchase safe to eat-waste food through the ResQ application at breakfast and in the Coffee House, both of which have been awarded several times for their responsible operations by the ResQ-Club.

• We take the environment into account in our operations. Original Sokos Hotel Lappee supports WWF's work to protect the Saimaa ringed seal with an annual financial contribution. We guide customers to enjoy the city in a way that has the smallest possible environmental impact, and for that reason customers can find route and movement instructions for nature on the info television. In summer, customers can borrow a bike from us and hit the beach, and in winter they are given a sled and directed to the sledding hill!

• We have noticed that sustainability as a concept is still challenging to understand. We are continuously working to improve our customer communication on sustainability at the reception, on our digital channels and in the hotel rooms, thereby also increasing customer awareness of sustainability.

As a customer, you can also participate in our sustainability work by paying attention to your energy and water consumption, by sorting your waste, by choosing organic or vegetarian food options, and reducing breakfast plate waste. Skip the stayover cleaning and enjoy finnish tap water - one of the purest in the world!

Small actions are big steps towards a better tomorrow, so thank you for caring!