Sustainability is everyone's responsibility
Since of late, I’ve been asked on more than a few occasions, whether hotels are doing enough in the name of sustainability? And, that has got me thinking. For starters, let’s ask ourselves ‘Are enough hotels doing enough to be sustainable? For sure, there are a great number of hotels – big and not so big, constantly pursuing ways and means to reduce their consumption of water, and energy. And, why not? With water and energy costs continuing to rise - and rise they will, efforts to reduce consumption can only make a significant impact on the bottom-line. So, in reality, it’s bottom-line driven rather than a desire to propagate sustainability in a holistic manner. Sadly, most hotels interpret resource efficiency to equal sustainability.
Sustainability is a constant journey of self-improvement and one which developes as our knowledge improves. Most hotels have moved past the days when replacing incandescent light bulbs was considered doing enough. Placing a card in the guest room asking guests to put up with bed sheets and towels that have been used more than a day was another initiative. This however, failed to mobilise the desired guest behaviour, as most people considered these ‘towel’ schemes as ‘greenwash’ rather than serving the interests of saving the planet.
Another question that needs to be asked is ‘Shouldn’t sustainability commence even before the hotel is built?’ Why are we not netting in the big fish? Let’s face it - the hotel operator’s capability to make an impact is actually relatively insignificant. Admittedly, not using too much soap, changing linen and towels every other day, avoiding single-use plastic and the like - are all laudable small steps. But they will continue to be only small steps.
Sustainability is simply not just the responsibility of the hotel operator. In tourism, there has to be lot more of the stakeholders involved in sustainability, from the architects to the designers to the contractors to the owners to finally the operators. Take the case of beach-side resort hotels. You’ve got architects who plan beautiful projects, but it requires cutting down a cluster of trees, completely leveling a piece of land and clearing the soil. The contractor then pushes all the soil away and the soil washes down to the sea and destroys coral, etc.
Ho Kwon Ping’s (founder of Banyan Tree Holdings) succinct take on sustainability, “Everybody is green until the greenness changes to the colour of money…If you can be green without any sacrifice, everybody wants to be green, but when there is a trade-off, that’s the real test. And I think owners, by and large, if there’s a test of greenness, they’ll sacrifice one green for the other green.” about says it all.
Ilzaf Keefahs – writes on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike. |
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