In Sri Lanka there are only nine hotels who have achieved a Gold award and Reef is exceptionally proud to be one of them.

On 29th July 2013 'everything' was examined by an independent Travelife Auditor. Everything. And the auditor used a tooth comb with the finest of needles to do so from examining our employment contracts and salary sheets to check that we were paying staff fairly to looking in our bins to check if we were separating waste as we said we were.

The flow rate of our showers was checked.

Did we have dual flush loos was another question.

Our loos were also flushed to check they were working properly.

It went on:

Were our egg shells really reaching the compost heap?

Do we have a staff handbook?

Do we source our food locally?

Do we encourage guests to explore outside of Reef?

Do we know how much water we use per room night?

Can we prove it?

Travelife expect a minimum of 50% low energy bulbs to be installed but we actually have 100%.

Do we minimise the use of chemicals?

Yes most certainly (we use super colloids with carrots for our housekeeping).

Also we have only have fogged mosquitoes twice in five years for we have guppy fish in the ponds that eat the larvae.

What else?

Are we actually trying to minimise our energy consumption?  Yes, our yearly bill has gone down, year on year, even with increased occupancy.

All in all there were over 100 questions we had to answer satisfactorily relating to various areas of our
business.

So we're pleased we've achieved Gold and are still constantly striving to improve.

Reef Villa & Spa is now included on the Travelife Collection website:

http://www.travelifecollection.com/search_results

Travelife is an international certification scheme for hotels and accommodations that helps them to improve how they manage their environmental and social impacts, such as the way their energy or water consumption, or how they treat the people they employ or the local community where they operate.

Travelife is a wholly owned subsidiary of ABTA and is dedicated to making holiday experiences more sustainable by working conjunction with the industry and its suppliers to deliver environment and social improvements throughout the tourism supply chain.

Ends

Reef Villa & Spa is a spectacular and luxurious boutique hotel in Sri Lanka set in three acres of lush, exotic tropical gardens with palm fringed pavilions and reflection pools that re create the romance and grandeur of Sri Lanka.

To maintain the romance and privacy, we offer just seven unique and exclusive palatial suites; they are the ultimate in elegance, luxury and discretion, designed with breathtaking extravagance on Indo-Colonial lines.

With our vast sandy beachfront, all weather tennis court, large swimming pool, tropical gardens, tranquil lily ponds, garden pavilions, gourmet kitchens and the sanctuary of our Reefresh Spa, Reef sets a new bench mark for luxury accommodation in Sri Lanka. It is intimate, romantic and completely beautiful.

Reef Villa and Spa, 40 minutes south of Colombo - an oasis of enchanting tranquillity with breath taking views of the majestic Indian Ocean.

Contact bernadette@reefvilla.com for further information