Our environmental work and charities we support
Columbia's Caring Luxury
As well as caring passionately about delivering a high-quality service for our guests, the team at Columbia Beach Resort cares about the local environment and doing our bit to protect it. Discover how we are reducing our environmental impact, supporting a local cancer charity, and what we are doing to look after local stray cats.
Reducing our impact on the environment
The installation of a third degree water treatment facility means that every drop of waste water we produce is recycled and used on our gardens or supplied to local farmers. To reduce water waste, we have also introduced water-saving devices throughout the resort, including auto-stop taps and two-phase flush toilets.
Energy consumption at Columbia Beach Resort is now at an all-time low following upgrades including LED lighting and sensor-activated air-conditioning and lighting. Brand new electromechanical upgrades allow individual building systems to heat water as required and solar panels are used to heat the water needed in all our suites, the Hébe Spa and indoor pool.
In an effort to curb noise pollution and maintain air quality, all of the resort's large machinery is brand new, state of the art and regularly maintained, checked and replaced. Most of our oil-powered machinery has been replaced with electric-powered alternatives.
Other smaller environmental initiatives carried out by our Green Team include regular beach clean ups, local conservation and sponsoring community events. We also encourage guests to reduce their environmental footprint by minimising their water usage and re-using towels where possible.
Cat Care Project
The main aim of the Columbia Cat Care Project is to help look after the ever-increasing number of stray cats in Cyprus by neutering and vaccinating those in our area, then ensuring they are well-fed and groomed. There are a number of ways that you can get involved in the project. You could become a 'godparent' or take part in our 'Name a Cat' programme to help care for our cats, or even officially adopt a cat through the project and take it home with you.
If you're interested in supporting the Columbia Cat Care project speak to reception while you are here, call +357 25 833 000 or email anthea@columbiaresort.com
Click here for our Columbia Cats Calendar 2024!
Anti-Cancer Society
The Cyprus Anti-Cancer Society cares for people with cancer, providing them with palliative care services, as well as supporting their families and caregivers and informing the wider public about cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and relief.
To support this amazing local charity we will add on a donation of €5 to your suite bill. If you wish to make a larger donation, or no donation, then please let us know when you check out and we will adjust your bill accordingly.
Green Key Award
Columbia Beach Resort Receives Eco-Honour ‘Green Key Award’
Columbia Beach Resort is excited to share that it has been recognised with the tourism industry’s prestigious eco-honour, the Green Key Award.
An international eco-label for hotels and tourism facilities, the Green Key Award honours enterprises that put environmentally sustainable practices at the forefront of their development, ensuring that their business activities not only seamlessly assimilate with, but positively impact their surroundings and local community.
To receive Green Key certification, Columbia Beach Resort displayed its high-standard compliance with a strict set of criteria, spanning environmental management, and water and energy efficiency, to green activities and corporate social responsibility.
“This is a matter close to our hearts,” explains Columbia Beach Resort’s Marketing Manager, Anthea Vikis. “We are very conscious of the fact that our legacy extends far beyond creating memorable holiday experiences for our guests. By adopting sustainable practices, ensuring we engage the local community and suppliers, and supporting our surroundings to not just survive but thrive, we hope to create an environment conducive to learning.”
Concluding, Ms. Vikis notes: “We can all become ‘green’ ambassadors if we are educated correctly. The more we know, the more we can achieve.”
The strict Green Key criteria were established by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and are recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.
Gold Standard Award for Health & Safety
Columbia Beach Resort Receives Gold Standard Award for Health & Safety
Columbia Beach Resort is thrilled to announce that it has received Gold Standard accreditation from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) in recognition of its unsurpassed protocols relating to health and cleanliness.
As part of the ‘Stay Small, Stay Safe’ initiative spearheaded by Small Luxury Hotels of the World – of which we are a long-standing and proud member – Columbia Beach Resort submitted its health and safety protocols (including those pertaining to Covid-safety measures) for review by the GBAC STAR accreditation programme.
For a property to receive Gold Standard accreditation, it must prove it is fully compliant with the programme’s 20 core elements, which range from standard operating procedures and risk assessment strategies to personal protective equipment and emergency preparedness and response measures.
Of the standout accreditation, Columbia Beach Resort’s Director, Stelios Kizis, explains: “In an ever-changing world, health and safety endures as our top priority. We pride ourselves on ensuring that our guests feel safe and secure so that their only concern when staying with us is embarking on a holiday experience of a lifetime. And, of course, this is now truer than ever.”
GBAC is a division of ISSA, the world’s leading trade association for the cleaning industry.
ISSA’s Executive Director, John Barrett, details the GBAC STAR accreditation programme thus: “In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the GBAC STAR accreditation programme is exactly what facilities need to confidently reopen and keep staff, customers, and communities safe.
“The way the world views cleaning has changed overnight. To effectively recover from this crisis and prepare for the next, it’s essential that businesses take these necessary steps—and we’re thrilled to have a stable of top organisations that have already committed to the programme.”
Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Network
Columbia Beach Resort Becomes First Resort Worldwide to Join the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Network
It is with immense joy that Columbia Beach Resort shares news of its new caring initiative by joining the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. Forever spurred by a desire to unfailingly deliver hospitality with heart, positioning our guests’ experience at the forefront of our vision and mission, Columbia Beach Resort aspires to create meaningful partnerships that enrich and enliven interactions with our guests.
The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower is the apotheosis of this aspiration, which aims to improve everyday experiences and interactions for people with invisible disabilities.
A simple yet subtle and profound gesture of acknowledgment and assistance, Hidden Disabilities Sunflower was born in Gatwick Airport in 2016 when the dedicated Accessibility Team confronted the obstacle of being able to effectively support those living with invisible disabilities. Working with local and national charities, the team explored the idea of using a symbol to allow passengers to choose to indicate if they have an invisible disability and may need additional assistance.
A symbol of confidence, strength, growth and positivity, the sunflower was imbued with this distinction, and Sunflower Organisations have begun blossoming around the globe to help ameliorate the daily challenges faced by those living with non-obvious disabilities.
Training our staff members accordingly and providing complimentary Sunflower products, Columbia Beach Resort is now a Sunflower Organisation, a feat which Marketing Manager, Anthea Vikis, celebrates for its impactful potential: “We are over the moon to be able to support Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. The latter’s golden rules of offering assistance, being kind, listening closely, having patience, refraining from judgment, and showing respect are integral to our everyday life here at Columbia as it is, so becoming a Sunflower Organisation was a natural fit. Besides our unique location, architecture and facilities, Columbia is celebrated by our guests more than anything else for its staff members, whose sincere passion succeeds in forging meaningful interactions and long-lasting relationships. Defying the changes that have disturbed the status quo over the last year, Columbia remains steadfast in its quest to make all guests feel safe, understood, and appreciated. Indeed, this will never change."
SLH Considerate Collection
COLUMBIA BEACH RESORT NAMED ONE OF 26 HOTELS WITHIN SMALL LUXURY HOTELS OF THE WORLD’S NEW ‘CONSIDERATE COLLECTION’
A NEW COMMUNITY OF ACTIVELY SUSTAINABLE LUXURY HOTELS
[4 October 2021] Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) today announced the launch of Considerate Collection, naming COLUMBIA BEACH RESORT as one of the pioneering 26 founding hotels within the collection. Considerate Collection is a new community of actively sustainable luxury hotels going the extra eco mile, proving that luxury is compatible with longevity.
SLH has collaborated with the most respectable sustainable travel and luxury hospitality players to create a trusted and transparent framework. These include Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) – the international, independent, not-for-profit body established by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO); and Greenview, whose platform is the only GSTC-recognised sustainable tourism management tool.
Criteria for the Considerate Collection fully align with the GSTC’s global criteria across three key pillars ensuring all the hotels are **Community Minded, Cultural Custodians and Environmentally Conscious. These pillars are all underpinned by a strong sustainability management system.
Intimate, quaint, authentic, pastoral, and personal: Columbia Beach Resort has long served as a serene space. Spread over an impressive 75,000 m² following a landmark renovation in 2017, Columbia Beach Resort boasts only multi-purpose suites, gastronomic excellence throughout the resort with a choice of restaurants, sumptuous treatments at Hebe spa and families can feel peace of mind with expert child friendly facilities.
“We are immensely proud to have been invited into the founding embrace of the Considerate Collection community, curated by Small Luxury Hotels of the World,” explained Columbia Beach Resort’s Marketing Manager, Anthea Vikis.
“Seamlessly cradled by the peninsula of Cape Aspro – the white cliffs that define the sprawling Pissouri Bay – Columbia Beach Resort was not only brought to fruition in harmony with our treasured surroundings but continues to express this reverence for our environment, society and culture on a day-to-day basis thanks to the stalwart practices we have steadfastly put in place.”
Concluding, Ms. Vikis notes: “When mindfully taken, footprints in the figurative sand need not erode or adversely alter: instead, Columbia Beach Resort believes in championing responsible and respectful luxury, which we believe is conducive to the guardianship and symbiotic evolution of our environment and community overall.”
Daniel Luddington, VP of Development, Small Luxury Hotels of the World said “We’ve carefully curated the Considerate Collection to spotlight luxury boutique hotels exemplary in their sustainability efforts, making it easier for customers and the travel trade to make better-considered choices. COLUMBIA BEACH RESORT a shining example of a small luxury hotel making a big difference.”
Each hotel within the Considerate Collection either has been certified by a GSTC Accredited Certification Body or certified to a GSTC Recognized Standard or has passed an assessment by the SLH Sustainability Advisory Panel with review by the GSTC.
Columbia Beach Resort Partners with Minoa
Columbia Beach Resort is delighted to announce its pioneering partnership with Minoa, a Greek-based company that champions unique ecological solutions for bottled water.
Aligned with Columbia Beach Resort’s fierce focus on not just adhering to, but surpassing, international standards regarding preventative and protective environmental practice, Columbia Beach Resort values the wide-ranging impact of this brand-new partnership, a first of its kind in Cyprus. With water determined as being the largest category of liquid food, accounting for 75 billion litres annually, reimagining its packaging to be eco-friendly – that is, made from renewable sources, fully recyclable, with a low environmental footprint, and with FSC certification – could, indeed, make a world of difference. Uncompromising on quality, Minoa paper-packaged water is also revered for its functionality (being easy to open and store), with odour protection and sun protection, and has been recognised with three Platinum Global Awards for Innovation, Packaging and Design, and Quality. Of the initiative, Director of Columbia Beach Resort, Steven Kizis, explains: “The integration process is underway, and we are invariably proud of being able to spearhead an initiative of such far-reaching significance within the hospitality industry.” Elaborating further, Mr. Kizis reveals: “At Columbia, there has always been a sincere preoccupation with ensuring mindful integration with our surroundings, honouring both the traditions and cultures abounding in Cyprus, as well as the creation of opportunities for the wider community. As a hospitality entity, we take this responsibility very seriously, and this initiative is another stepping-stone in our quest of minimising our impact.