San Francisco's Eco-friendly Hotel
Hotel Nikko is a leader among eco-friendly hotels in San Francisco with a focus on sustainability, conservation, and community. From composting food and reducing water flow to outreach in the San Francisco community, our hotel strives to make a positive impact in everything we do. Through our eco-conscious initiatives and policies, we strive to be San Francisco's greenest hotel. Together, we can help preserve our neighborhood, city, and planet.
Water
- Hotel Nikko San Francisco has worked with the SFPUC on reducing water faucet flow rates from 2.2 gpm to 1.0; and upgraded its previous 3.5 gallon per flush to 1.5 gallon per flush water closet.
- We partner with Ecolab, utilizing the Aquanomic laundry program, which relies on environmentally friendly low-temperature chemistry to maximize laundry efficiency. This program saves more than 150,000 gallons of water per month.
- "Green cards" allow guests to inform the hotel of their daily laundry preferences for linens and towels.
- The in-house laundry program utilizes a re-use system whereby the always fresh second and third rinse cycles are saved, filtered, and re-used for first cycles.
Recycling
- The Nikko earned the Silver TripAdvisor Green Leader 2016 Award
- Excess food scraps and kitchen waste are sent offsite to be converted to high-quality compost
- Paper, plastic, tin, cardboard, and aluminum are recycled
- Housekeeping donates all linens no longer used by the hotel to homeless shelters and other charities; torn linen is used for cleaning rags
- All hotel guestroom keys are fully biodegradable
- A recycling program is available in guest rooms and active in meeting spaces.
Energy
- Guest room thermostats are equipped with sensors which turn the heating, ventilating and air conditioning off when rooms are vacant
- In 2015, the Nikko installed two 65kW microturbines on the hotel's roof to generate our own electricity via capturing exhaust heat from the building, and through heat exchanger cogeneration, convert the exhaust into thermal energy. Microturbine Cogeneration Power System
- Service areas have motion sensors that turn off lighting when the vicinity is not occupied
- Ninety-two percent of the building's lighting is compact fluorescent or LED, saving electricity and cutting greenhouse gas emissions
- Ventilation fans have Variable Frequency Drives installed
- Replaced its HVAC units with two 280-ton Daikon Magnitude chillers, operating on sustainable R-134a refrigerant, and the frictionless magnetic-bearing compressors are much more energy efficient. Daikon Nikko Case Study
Community Outreach
- Hotel colleagues dedicate more than 250 hours annually to assisting the local community.
- We partner with the SF SPCA. Proceeds from the book, "49 Dogs and One Cat, The Insider's Guide to San Francisco" and from our Buster Plush are donated to SF SPCA.
- Awarded the Community Service Award by the California Hotel Lodging Association, and Community Spirit Award by the Hotel Council of San Francisco.
