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"Expect energy conservation moving sharply up the corporate agenda": Dean of Les Roches
Why sustainability in hospitality is the need of the hour?
The pressure is building for hospitality companies to make sustainability a key priority and this pressure comes from one such area.
First is at a stakeholder level, with the rise of ESG (environmental, social and governance) as investment criteria. We already see this becoming embedded in the United States (US), and growing fast in Europe, with the United Kingdom (UK) leading the way.
More pressingly, with energy costs soaring in most major economies, hotels and restaurants that don’t take steps to reduce their energy consumption or find alternative energy sources will find it much harder to balance their budgets.
Expect to see energy conservation moving sharply up the corporate agenda in the coming months.
Who else lays emphasis on sustainability in the hospalitys sector?
The other sustainability driver in the hotel industry is, of course, the customer and in particular the millennials and Gen Zs who are more conscious consumers and who are also fast becoming the dominant market force.
According to a study last year by Booking.com, 83% of global travellers think sustainable travel is vital, with 61% adding that the pandemic has made them want to travel more sustainably in the future. Hoteliers cannot ignore the needs and desires of the younger generation.
For me, it’s essential to have an open dialogue, because the biggest danger for hoteliers is to move too fast for their client base, and to overestimate their commitment to sustainability ahead of the little luxuries we enjoy during a hotel stay. After all, in hospitality customer satisfaction is our license to operate.
How can sustainable behaviour be encouraged in guests?
One of the best ways to encourage hotel guests to behave more sustainably is to incentivise them. And one of the big trends I think we will see in the next couple of years is hotel operators incorporating rewards for sustainable behaviour into their loyalty programmes.
For example, as part of its Planet21 initiative, Accor has pledged to “involve its customers”. I understand that Hyatt is also considering adding this element to its World of Hyatt program. It will surely take just one operator to formally introduce a sustainability component to its loyalty scheme and the floodgates will open.
