Corporate Social Responsability

At Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort, we embrace nature and the importance of limiting our carbon footprint on the planet.
We are happy to share with you our hotel new Sustainability Management Plan and Environmental Policy which explores our impact on the local environment and biodiversity around us, as well as the local communities. We hope to raise awareness and inspire change for all stakeholders from our Ambassadors and amongst our guests. Together, we are committed to leading the journey towards a greener and more sustainable future in the hospitality industry.

At Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort, we are proud to be involved in education projects, local community  & sustainable initiatives that have a positive impact in our beautiful country, Cambodia.

Education

Schools

We support Cambodian youth

We are committed in the local community by supporting schools.

Every year, we welcome students to train them to luxury hospitality. Throughout our departments, they practice what they learned at school.

Most of our managers or team leaders are graduated from those schools.

Sala Baï School

The goal of the program is to train 150 young underprivileged Cambodians each year, and free of charge, in the main professions of the hospitality industry.

After 16 years in operation, more than 1,500 students have been trained and found a job in one of the fastest growing economic sector of the country, enabling them to achieve economic independence and improving the living conditions of their families.

Ecole Paul Dubrule

Their goal is to deliver top quality education for their students to enable them to work with confidence at both local and international levels.

Learning takes place in a fully developed school with a real-life training hotel and restaurant, and modern infrastructure. Cambodian employees have already taken key managerial and instructional positions, passionately contributing to the success of the school: 90% of our team is Khmer.

Bayon Pastry School

In 2014, Bayon Pastry School opened. This school provides vocational training in pastry to underprivileged women.

The rigorous selection process chooses young women based on their motivation and their family’s income level. Pastries are sold at the school’s coffee shop and the benefits help finance the school. The training is free and students benefit from free housing, lunch and pocket money for dinner.

Egbok

EGBOK (Everything’s Gonna Be OK) enables underprivileged young adults in Cambodia to be self-supporting by providing education, training, and employment opportunities in the hospitality industry and utilizing a comprehensive approach with an emphasis on life skills development.

They provide the necessary tools for their students to become self-supporting – thereby breaking the cycle of poverty that exists in Cambodia today.

PSE

PSE is a registered charity; both apolitical and non- denominational.

For over twenty years, PSE has been operating in Cambodia to help children escape destitution and provide them the skills required to get a job. It has been recognised by the Cambodian authorities. The charity respects the country’s traditions and culture and collaborates closely with Cambodians.

Food supplier

Local, Fresh & Organic

We support local farmers

We are committed in the local community by supporting local farmers.

We want to offer our guests, the best produce. With Agrisud and Eggscellent, we prepare local, fresh and organic food on a daily basis.

Agrisud

At Agrisud, they do not accept the idea that today almost one billion and a half of individuals are living in poverty and are often experiencing great difficulties to feed themselves daily.

It is well known in the South as in the North that poverty is caused especially by economic exclusion, which gradually leads to social exclusion. We are now convinced that one way of resolving this situation is to help those people back into the economy by helping them become entrepreneurs.

Eggscellent

Eggscellent eggs are farmed in rural Cambodia. The farm is based on a cage-free egg ideal, meaning the chickens get to roam through our spacious barn with a feeling of freedom. This includes playing, flying and dust bathing all day long.

They believe that this is not only unsanitary, but it is also unethical, Eggscellent follow a different philosophy. At the end of the day, thousands of chickens call our farm home.

Workshops

Handcrafts

We support local Workshops

We are committed in the local community by supporting local workshops.

Silk, lacquer, wood carving, stone carving, jewelry… Siem Reap offers a large choice of locally and handmade products.

Display in our Boutique Shop, we also support their actions by highlighting their projects.

Stocker Studio

Eric and Thierry Stocker created their workshop in 2008. They master the art of lacquer, an ancient technic lost for decades in Cambodia.

They train deaf Cambodians to create luxurious handicrafts blending lacquer and other textures.

With their workshop, they deliver job for about 400 people and observe the re-birth of old jobs.

Artisans Angkor

Artisans Angkor has developed from the ambitious belief that it is possible to revive ancient Cambodian Arts & Crafts while improving the lives of thousands of people living in rural areas.

They are also committed to the preservation of Cambodia’s cultural legacy, and want to empower individuals by helping them secure their future by the means of education and welfare.

Arts

Entertainment

We support local artists.

We are committed in the local community by supporting local arts.

Every year, we organise one of our biggest event with the Phare Circus. Along with incredible performance, we also support the work done for this project.

Phare Circus

Phare, The Cambodian Circus is one of Cambodia’s most innovative social enterprise models. Profits generated through ticket, refreshment, merchandise and private performance sales support the free education, professional arts training and social support programs of Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang.

More than just a circus, Phare shows are unlike any in the world: dance, theater, original live music and breathtaking circus arts are used to tell uniquely Cambodian stories from recent history, folklore and modern society.

Phare artists are graduates of Phare Ponleu Selpak, an NGO school and professional arts training center in Battambang, Cambodia.

Environment

Recycling, City Clean Up, Tree Planting

We support local Workshops

We are committed in the local community by preserving the planet and our environment.

Surroundings of our hotel is important for the overall experience of our guests. Also, we are aware of our impact on the planet and we try to reduce our footprint and show the example.

Naga Earth

Providing NGOs and environmentally friendly businesses in Cambodia with clean burning Biodiesel and natural soap.

Naga Earth is collecting used cooking oil from their partners to create biodiesel.

They also manage other projects such as plastic and glass recycling.

Eco Soap Bank

Eco-Soap Bank is a humanitarian and environmental non-profit organization working to save, sanitize, and supply recycled hotel soap for the developing world. Our work has three objectives:

• Contribute a highly cost-effective hygiene product to improve health.
• Significantly reduce the waste generated by the hotel industry.
• Provide livelihoods and free education to disadvantaged women with no other reliable source of income.

Botanical Garden

Garden & Sanctuary

We have embraced a symbiotic relationship between our resort and the environment, inviting nature to take center stage, featuring predominantly throughout the property.

Green Oasis

Since the opening 23 years ago, today we have over 990 plants, 83 different species living around the property’s botanical garden

By reading the placards, guests can learn about how nature and the local environment and plant life they are surrounded by relate to the Cambodia’s culture and history. The plants ranging from green tea plants to red and yellow lily flowers, as well as pink and white lotus. Due to the size and diversity of our Botanical Garden, we take great pride in developing a unique home and sanctuary for birds, which enabling us to redefine sustainable luxury in Cambodia.

Home of Biodiversity

Phokeethra Country Club is home to an abundance of biodiversity due to the large species of fauna around its 127 hectares.

Our bird sanctuary provides the perfect habitat for over 75 different species of birds. Visitors are invited to embark on a guided tour across resort’s botanical garden and the Golf Course, which is run in a partnership with the Cambodia Bird Guide Association.

Local Community

Our development program also supports local community development through the Bamboo Project.

Since 2020, we have been allowing members of the local community to cut under careful regulation, limited bamboo trees along the sanctuaries border in order for them to build houses. We are proud to take great care of our green spaces in the Botanical Garden and the Sanctuary at the resort’s Golf course.

We also, support the development of local sustainable construction projects, whilst planting many trees of our own, to help offset our carbon footprint as much as possible.

Rewilding Program

Restore the wildlife

Habitat Restoration Project at Phokeethra Contry Club.

Biodiversity within the land of Phokeethra Country Club has been restored. The final goal is the purposeful rehabilitation of an area to recreate a functioning ecosystem, that is habitat restoration. The processes divided into three phrases.

Assessment

Understanding the ecosystem and the organism operating in it is fundamental to interact with the ecosystem correctly, especially when planning reintroduction and relocation of wildlife.

This operation is done carrying out surveys with different methodologies and technologies, such as Field surveys, Camera Traps, Habitat assessment and mapping of the area, Turtles survey, Bird survey, Plant/tree survey. The information and media collected in this phase are also useful to produce advertising and

educational material…

Pioneer release projects

To release animals that will remain permanently in the area increasing the biodiversity and promoting the habitat restoration.

The release of wild animals can be carried out following two main methodologies: commonly called “hard release” and “soft release”. Hard release means that the animal is transported in the new location and released into the habitat without further actions. The soft release instead includes a period of acclimation of the animal, soft release pen or enclosure often used in this phase. The release projects are varied and depend on the species.

Education & training

To raise awareness on the environmental issues and educate on the respect of biodiversity and to appreciate the beauty of the natural world.

We arrange activities that both adults and children can be involved with, such as birdwatching and tree planting. Activities can be done in public events involving customers, local officials and celebrities, putting under the spotlight the good work being done with nature.

Phokeethra Country Club is going to preserve Cambodian biodiversity which in turn will generate good publicity for the business.

Energy

Consumption

Enhancing Water Management

We are committed to water conservation saving techniques.

The waste waters are treated in large tanks. Then, the water is pumped into our lagoon of 800m3 and is used for watering our gardens.

In guestrooms, sinks are equipped with aerators in order to reduce water consumption and energy.

Reducing Electricity Consumption

On a daily basis, we manage lighting according to the time of the day, and we make sure not to waste any energy.

We are using led light bulbs for approximately 90% of the entire hotel lighting.

The wasted heat coming from air conditioning is absorbed by our heat exchanger which then heats water.

Recycling Waste

We aim at creating a full-cycle by bringing new functions to our waste.

In collaboration with Naga Biofuels, we transform our cooking oils into clean burning biodiesel.

What’s more, most biodegradable organic material located in the hotel are collected and fed into a digester tank called biogas system, to create energy. Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra is the only hotel in Cambodia implanting the Renewable Energy Program.

Room Amenities

Moved away from Single-use

Sustainable packaging for bathroom amenities. We have moved away from single use plastic and are using sustainable company makes them from Bamboo and FSC certified packaging.

Bath amenities

Refillable dispenser

We no longer use a single-use plastic packaging. Instead, we have installed durable dispenser that allowed us to refill.

Dry amenities

Greater quality consistency & greater distribution and cost efficiency

With the support of the Global Procurement team, we present to you a zero-plastic amenities collection carefully chosen for ALL luxury & upscale brands.

Hotels are now able to enjoy greater quality consistency, as well as greater distribution and cost efficiency through our appointed global supplier Ming Fai Enterprise International.