HOTEL BUSINESS REVIEW

May FOCUS: Eco-Friendly Practices

 
May, 2021

Eco-Friendly Practices: Now More Than Ever

One theory about the pandemic states that future viruses are more likely to originate and flourish due to global warming. If true, the urgency to accelerate the adoption of eco-friendly practices is greater than ever. Of course, there are many other reasons to create a sustainable operation, including reduced utility costs, savings on operational costs, healthier and happier guests and employees, and positive publicity, marketing and community goodwill. Many hotels are introducing innovative programs into their operations - from recycling bins in guest rooms to starting a roof top garden. Other hotels are using eco-friendly cleaning products, reusing towels and sheets, sourcing locally grown food, supporting the use of electric vehicles, and permitting guests to refill their reusable water bottles with clean, filtered water. Finally, some hotels are encouraging guests to get involved by making it possible for them to participate in local community clean-up projects. The May issue of the Hotel Business Review will document what some hotels are doing to integrate sustainable practices into their operations and how they are benefiting from them.


This month's feature articles...

Robert Allender

Fair warning. If the terms climate change, ESG, and net zero do not currently pepper the paragraphs your hotel's business strategy, its marketing strategy, and its executive committee meeting conversations, they soon will. This article explains how a hotel's management team can build a rock-solid energy-use strategy and thereby deal with the #1 underlying 'cause' for all three of those related mega-transitions in one single document. READ MORE

Becky  Zimmermann

Becky Zimmermann, president of Design Workshop, an international landscape architecture, planning and urban design firm, shares examples of how three leading resort hotels are implementing sustainable practices without sacrificing luxury. While there is not a one-size-fits-all approach for hotels to reduce their respective environmental impact, these three properties demonstrate critical best practices that can be adapted to fit the needs of individual properties. Read more here.... READ MORE

Steve Bowie

Hotel properties continue to leverage "green" to not only reduce costs, but also illustrate to guests their brand's commitment to conserving resources. Today's on-premises laundry equipment offers a variety features that save time and resources. In this article, Steve Bowie, general manager of the on-premises laundry segment at Alliance Laundry Systems, explores the game-changing green technologies available to hoteliers. READ MORE

Joseph Ricci

TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci explains the impacts on hotel sustainability of laundry machinery efficiency, linen life and product life cycles. He quantifies the extent to which large-scale laundry conserves natural resources, suggests housekeeping practices that prevent linens from being removed from service too soon and describes the "cradle-to-grave" green benefits of choosing reusable textiles for restaurants instead of disposable equivalents. READ MORE

Scott Parisi

COVID-19 pandemic guests now require and demand a much safer experience when staying at hotels for business and leisure travel. With solutions and vendors marketing to the hotel industry evaluation and proof of effectiveness is extremely important. All hotels must have an indoor air quality strategy to insure guests are staying a safe and clean environment. READ MORE

Natasa Christodoulidou

Industry 4.0 trends around the Internet of Things are paving new ways to make hospitality operations more sustainable. In particular, the guest room, as the biggest energy and water consumer in the hotel environment is set to undergo a transformation; intelligent connected devices can now use their newly found ability to gather and exchange data to optimize resource consumption in ways that not possible just a few years ago. READ MORE

Sara Southam

Sustainability can seem overwhelming to implement, especially considering the pressures operators face with the pandemic, staffing levels, and reduced revenue streams. How we can traverse the gap in bite-sized and financially viable ways? This article touches on how properties can create partnerships within their communities and supply chains to leverage industry scale. Sustainability and financial profitability are not mutually exclusive. READ MORE

Matthew Lobach

Although conventional wisdom would propose that the global pandemic dissipated a focus on sustainability within the hospitality sector, Hersha Hotels and Resorts recognizes that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) will be one of the most essential aspects of "building back better" through the recovery of our industry and the economy. Hersha's sustainability program, EarthView, was created in 2010 and is the driver of Hersha's ESG strategy. READ MORE

Suzanne  Owens

Extended stay properties offer a kitchenette equipped with a 2-burner cooktop. These cooktops can be green, socially responsible and sustainable, yet they do not carry Energy Star ratings, which may seem contradictory. By changing and upgrading older properties away from coil cooktops, savings attributable to the newer technologies can be both fiscally beneficial and socially responsible and sustainable. Read on! READ MORE

Jan Peter Bergkvist

Are you ready for the Sustainable Hybrid Meeting Market? Across the globe a consensus is building up amongst business leaders, politicians, NGOs and the majority of the global citizens. A green restart is the only way forward post-COVID. And when paradigm shifts occur there is no time to lose, you need to be prepared to become a winner! READ MORE

Paloma Zapata

Gone are the days when hotels could encourage guests to reuse towels and call themselves "green." As travelers become more aware of the environmental impacts of their actions, they are increasingly choosing brands that adopt eco-friendly practices. With climate change at the forefront of the global conversation, hotels should be taking these three steps to become carbon neutral. READ MORE

Hans Pfister

This article covers some lessons learned about "how sustainability really mattered" in the past year and how this has prepared us for a strong comeback. It focuses on stakeholder relationships and the importance of treating employees right no matter what. It also explores the opportunities in innovation and how the pandemic has been acting as an accelerator. READ MORE

Taryn Holowka

The COVID-19 pandemic has been felt around the world and has shaken the hotel and lodging industry. In anticipation of the "next normal," hotels around the world are revisiting their strategies in an effort to evolve their business and operations practices. In fact, many hotels are turning to green building as a way to demonstrate their re-entry plans and safety measures to guests. READ MORE

Ranjit Gunewardane

Climate change is real, and it is spectacular in how it is changing our weather norms around the world. So, at this point, we need all possible assistance to combat the climate crisis. Hotel Managers could contribute heavily towards battling against this factual threat. Simply understanding that the decisions hotel managers make about how to operate the hotel have important consequences and help determine the gravity of climate impacts. READ MORE

Robert O'Halloran

The discussion of sustainability, green and or eco-friendly has been happening for years but many of these initiatives did not get integrated into the planning and thought processes of a lot of hotel management teams. The practice of eco-friendly hotels is sometimes aligned with an organization's mission and ethics. The discussion in this article offers steps to identify resources and plan for operating an eco-friendly hotel. READ MORE

Peter Kjellberg

Peter Kjellberg, CMO and Head of Global Verticals at Dometic, explores redefining the outdoor guest experience looking at the ways in which the global pandemic experience has caused shifts in perspective that are shaping and will continue to shape the luxury hotel guest experience. This article looks at new concepts and product categories that can aid hotel executives to leveling up the outdoor guest experience amenities moving forward. READ MORE

Coming up in March 1970...