ABSTRACT

The “ibex fairstay” is a label for hotels denoting the hotels’ level of sustainability performance and management. In a comparative study, the ibex fairstay was seen as one of the best sustainability labels in tourism. Some 55 hotels and hostels are certified against the “ibex” method, a dozen of which with the highest “platinum” level. The methodology allows a hotel to assess—and ultimately to improve—its sustainability level in five dimensions: management, economic, environmental, societal and regional/cultural. The ibex fairstay is built similarly to the ISO management standards (9001 and 14001), but focuses on actual content compared to management system. A full management system according to the Swiss Tourism Quality Programme can be built up with the ibex fairstay as well, leading to the highest (QQQ) level. The ibex fairstay improves the quality of management as much as it spurs improvements towards more sustainable performance of hotels. The chapter describes the ibex fairstay structure, as well as some detailed analyses of hotels’ performance in selected environmental and societal issues, such as energy, waste and staff-related management. In addition, the chapter presents learnings from participating hotels and across all ibex certified houses.