“We are going to remove the plugs from the bathtubs in the rooms”: Saving water, the doctrine of Catalan hoteliers

However, Christophe Bechoux, France’s minister of ecological transition and territorial cohesion, was not easily impressed and was himself impressed by Brice Sannac’s goals. On March 21, in Torreia (Eastern Pyrenees), the Catalan president of hoteliers and restaurateurs (Umih) outlined new measures that must be taken to save precious water without compromising the sacred comfort of holidaymakers. Fifteen days later, at the same time, the promise was a charter signed by Thierry Bonnier, Prefect of the Eastern Pyrenees. The document, in which professionals participate, contains about fifty measures that, on paper, should significantly reduce drinking water consumption in 1,500 establishments that will receive several million customers in the coming season.

“We take a defensive position not only to preserve a resource that we may run out of. We are here above all to offer our visitors an environmentally responsible stay, a first in France, to make their holiday a unique experience with the stated goal of reducing water consumption by 40% by 2030,” predicts Brice Sannac. its members (1,000 of the 1,500 hotel sector operators) to apply these new measures, described as common sense and good family practice: no longer wash terraces with large quantities of drinking water, reuse water from toilets or showers, remove plugs in bathtubs. rooms, replace ice buckets with cooling socks, etc.

Eco stay and discounts

Measures that go further by offering green holidays. “This formula involves systematically not replacing towels or not renewing housekeeping every day, with a possible compensation of a 10% discount on the stay,” says Bryce Sannak, who hopes to get vacationers themselves involved in this virtuous movement. Save Water’s Umih strategy involves all operators: hotels, restaurants, bars, beach clubs, dance halls, nightclubs, music bars. Because the water problem affects everyone who works in the summer. Pools will be covered at night to limit evaporation. But this measure is normative in nature and is already included in the prefectural resolution.