The Langham secures hybrid limousines

MEDIA RELEASE

The Langham secures Australasia’s first fleet of hybrid limousines

(Auckland – 18 June 2008)

Environmentally conscious Sir Paul McCartney has one and now The Langham has three!

The Langham Auckland has taken possession of Australasia’s first fleet of hybrid limousines reinforcing its position as New Zealand’s most sustainable hotel.

The fleet consists of three Lexus LS600hL. These vehicles are the world’s first V8 hybrids and operate on a fuel consumption of 9.3L/100km, less than that of a Toyota Camry.

The Langham Auckland’s managing director Mr John Dick says: “It’s wonderful for us to be able to offer our guests the pinnacle of refinement and elegance with these vehicles in an environmentally conscious way.”

The vehicles are to be used by the five-star hotel’s corporate, diplomatic and leisure guests for airport transfers, business meetings, and for shopping and sightseeing tours.

The Langham luxury limousines will be driven by highly experienced, discreet and knowledgeable drivers trained in the art of gracious service. An added service for customers is the en-route check-in whereby guests are able to check-in to the hotel during their journey.

The designer limousines come complete with push button start, individual climate control seats, a 19 speaker audio system created by world renowned audiophile designer Mark Levinson, a rear seat entertainment system with a 9” LCD DVD screen, rear privacy shades, self closing doors, rear view camera, 10 parking sensors, and 12 SRS airbags. Each limousine retails at over NZ$250,000.

The Langham’s sustainable actions to date: - Take-away coffee cups made of corn-starch (they are 100% sustainable and biodegradable degrading into biomass, water and CO2) - Guest key cards are also to be made from corn-starch later this month - All cooking oil is recycled offsite and made into bio fuel and cosmetics - Fair-trade and sustainable ingredients are used in all restaurants so long as quality standards aren’t compromised - Plastic bin-liners throughout the hotel are made of 100% degradable ingredients (minimising the hotel’s operating footprint on the environment and landfills) - A climate controlled water system is used for garden irrigation (the system monitors the moisture in the air and only provides water when needed) - Sustainably produced cleaning products are used throughout the hotel - 100% recycled stock is used for all brochures where available (minimising fibre wastage, reducing bleaching and output wastes during the manufacturing process)

The Langham is also New Zealand’s only Green Globe* certified hotel and earlier this month received the first prize award from the Government for ‘businesses making a difference’ at the national Green Ribbon Awards.

Mr John Dick said: “Being sustainable is a huge process and we are the first to say we have a long way to go on our journey, but we are committed to making that journey and already our results are promising and the feedback from our guests is extremely positive.”

*Green Globe is the environmental accreditation organisation for the travel and tourism industry and operates in 52 countries.

ENDS

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