Kuala Lumpur is known for gleaming skyscrapers and luxury resorts, but not necessarily for sustainable hotels. The Hotel Indigo Kuala Lumpur On The Park is determined to change that.
“We’ve been talking about sustainability from design to delivery,” says General Manager Ashleigh Garside.
Being sustainable in Malaysia comes with a formidable set of obstacles. Garside notes that compared to places like Australia and Singapore, general awareness around sustainability in Kuala Lumpur is low.
“There’s a growing awareness of sustainability in Malaysia,” she explains. “While it’s still gaining momentum, the interest is definitely building, with a lot of push from the government.”
Malaysia is grappling with massive environmental challenges. The country continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels. Recycling programs, where available, are basic. But it has recently created what it calls the Malaysia Renewable Energy Roadmap, which aims to reduce its economy-wide carbon intensity (against GDP) by 45 percent in 2030.
But while the government has stated ambitions for a greener future, the journey toward significant, measurable progress promises to be a long one.
That hasn’t stopped the Hotel Indigo Kuala Lumpur On The Park from trying to make a difference. The 180-room property draws its inspiration from the nearby KL Forest Eco Park, the city’s de facto greenhouse. The hotel has been built from the ground up with sustainability in mind, incorporated energy-saving internal systems. It also has the steadfast support of its Malaysian owners, a rarity in this part of the world.
“Built with a past but designed for the future”
You can see the hotel’s sustainability when you walk through the front doors. There’s a distinctive central staircase constructed from old railway sleeper cars. The rails are made from steel reinforced bars salvaged from the hotel construction site, giving it an industrial chic appearance.
“We rescued most of the wood you see here,” Garside notes.
The hotel also has a large-scale art installation made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. Even the reception desks are made from rescued tree roots sourced within Malaysia.
The Hotel Indigo doesn’t advertise these design elements, but Garside hopes guests will notice the recycled material and that it will keep them focused on the fragile environment.
Another place where they’re more likely to see the hotel’s sustainability efforts is in the guest rooms, where plastic water bottles have been replaced with refillable glass bottles and single-use soaps have been swapped out for refillable containers.
“The hotel is built with the past but designed for the future,” says Garside.
But it’s not the only way in which Hotel Indigo is trying to become sustainable.
Smart systems and a local focus
Guests might not see all the sustainable efforts, but they are definitely there, often operating quietly in the background. The hotel uses a sensor-based room control system that automatically turns off lights and air conditioning when guests are not in their rooms, conserving energy. While this feature is common in Europe and North America, it is relatively rare in this part of the world.
The Hotel Indigo also has a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system, which uses air-to-water technology to heat water efficiently. The system can extract heat from the outside air and use it to heat water, and it offers significant energy savings compared to traditional electric or gas water heaters.
But the hotel goes further by prioritizing local sourcing for everything from food and beverage to soaps.
“We’re very fortunate in Malaysia because we have incredible agriculture within the country,” says Garside. “We try to get 80 percent of the food within 180 kilometers of the hotel.”
This focus on local sourcing reduces the carbon footprint associated with transportation and supports the local economy. Even when it comes to amenities, the hotel opts for recyclable materials and a request-based system (you have to ask for its amenity kit) to minimize waste from single-use items. While this has led to some pushback from guests, Garside says the waste from damaged but unused amenities outweighs the perceived convenience of having them readily available.
Support for a sustainable future
Garside says the hotel’s sustainability drive isn’t just a marketing gimmick. It stems from the owner’ unusual commitment to sustainability. Malaysia is taking baby steps toward sustainability, but the Hotel Indigo feels like more of a leap.
She says the owners, Malaysian real estate developers Techvance Properties, built sustainability into the hotel before it opened in 2023.
“They designed a hotel that was sustainable by nature,” Garside explains.
This foundational support allows the hotel team to add various green initiatives, sometimes even when they require a greater upfront investment.
“Long-term, it’s not cost-effective to be unsustainable,” she adds. “We wanted the sustainability to be real. We didn’t want to do any greenwashing.”
Reality check: Guests are not coming to Kuala Lumpur, or even to the Hotel Indigo, because of its sustainability program. But they seem happy to find the sustainability programs once they’re here, says Garside. And over the long term, saving energy and resources promises to reduce the property’s operating expenses.
Of course, one hotel alone will not turn Kuala Lumpur into a beacon of sustainability. The challenges in Kuala Lumpur are systemic, from infrastructure to cultural norms around consumption and waste. But the efforts at Hotel Indigo offer a case study in what’s possible.