Our Mission
At The Elephant Crossing Hotel, sustainability isn’t just a practice; it’s a promise. We are dedicated to minimizing our environmental footprint while supporting the local community.
Waste Management
- Composting and Biogas: Food waste is composted or used to generate biogas, producing clean energy for up to six hours of daily cooking.
- Responsible Disposal: We carefully separate waste for recycling and repurposing wherever possible.
Plastic Reduction
- Refill Stations: Guests can refill their water bottles at conveniently located filtered water stations, helping to reduce single-use plastics.
- Eco-Friendly Amenities: We provide refillable, locally sourced shower gel and shampoo bottles crafted by Les Artisans Lao, a social enterprise supporting the Lao community.
Water and Energy Conservation
- Laundry Policy: Towels and linens are refreshed every three days for guests staying multiple nights, reducing water and energy usage.
- Energy-Efficient Design: Our property is designed to maximize natural ventilation and light, minimizing energy consumption.
Support for Local Communities
- Locally Sourced Products: From organic sticky rice to handcrafted furniture, we prioritize local producers and artisans, reducing our carbon footprint and uplifting the regional economy.
- Fair Employment Practices: We hire from surrounding communities, offer paid maternity leave, and support ongoing education for our staff.
Tours
We refer our guests to local tour companies who use local guides and avoid local corruption schemes as much as possible.
The tours we recommend that operate in local villages provide percentage of the tour fee back to the village and make a direct payment to participating families.
Staff
We pride ourselves on being a fair pay and equal opportunity employer. By recruiting actively from Vang Vieng and surrounding rural areas, we help to keep income in the local community.
We are committed to staff development and continually work with staff to help their career progression. We encourage all staff to continue their schooling and education. We do everything we can to ensure staff attend school, have time study time required for exams and seek ongoing opportunities.
For our female staff we offer a paid maternity leave scheme with a back to work program.
Staff loyalty is rewarded with a yearly scheme.
Solar Power
One of the key initiatives of our sustainability program is the use of renewable energy sources. We have installed solar panels to generate a significant portion of our electricity needs. As a result we are able to run our hot water system solar powered.
Laundry
For guests staying more than one night, we launder sheets and towels every three days or when requested, rather than daily. Thanks to our guests participating in minimizing the requirements for fresh towels and linens, we are able to reduce both energy and water consumption and improve our environmental footprint.
Did you know? Silk pillows in our rooms and suites are handwoven and coloured with natural dyes by local village artisans from Saoban.
Supporting Resources
We welcome you to review our sustainable practices below. Including information on Cultural Do’s and Dont’s in Laos, our Sustainability Mission and Initiatives and ways that our guests can help us meet our environmental goals. We would also love you to visit our Eco Alcove, up on Level 2 in the hotel. This noticeboard has been created from recycled materials across the property and features updates on our internal initiatives and local projects we support. For further details on Silver Naga’s sustainable journey, our full folder can be found at reception.