Stay sustainable: Hotels raise their green game

IT IS dusk on Sentosa, and the island’s latest show is about to begin. In the lobby of the newly refreshed Amara Sanctuary resort, guests are gathered round the evening’s star: a four-metre-tall pithecellobium confertum tree that sits under a skylight. As night falls, its feathery foliage begins to fold, like a dancer closing a Japanese fan, signalling the onlookers to whip out their mobile phones to record this curiosity of nature. 

The tree is not just putting on a show for rapt guests: it shuts its leaves every night to conserve water and helps purify the air in the area. 

It is also symbolic of a shift in how Singapore hotels are thinking about sustainability. Not too long ago, sustainability initiatives were largely limited to superficial measures, like opt-in linen change programmes and the swapping of plastic water bottles for glass ones. But over the past few years, properties have pushed towards integrating more rooted, innovative measures in their infrastructure.