The hospitality industry wouldn’t thrive if it didn’t chase opportunities to make guests happier. It’s why hotels installed TVs in every room when they became standard in homes. It pushes management teams to rethink their interior design and keep up with what their competition does.
Over the last decade, guests have looked beyond amenities to decide where they want to stay. Now, they compare a property’s sustainable efforts to see if it matches their firmly held beliefs.
Read on to learn the top five trends in green hospitality and sustainability, so you can create a place where every guest feels welcome. The time and effort invested in tips like these will pay off once guests see how committed your team is to making the world a better place to live.
1. Minimizing water waste and usage
When someone decides to go green, reducing their water waste is often the first thing they try. It’s easy to minimize how frequently they do things like use the dishwasher, so hotel management teams should start there too.
Guests ultimately control how much they shower or use their sinks, but you can encourage them to participate in water waste reduction. Leave signs in each room to indicate how much water they’ll save with shorter showers, and list what your team does to conserve water as well. Not running large laundry loads or minimizing watering in lawn care will make a significant difference in your efforts to become sustainable.
2. Reducing plastic products
Plastic may be one of the first topics people discuss when they want to go green. Its effects on the environment are well-known, because people dump eight million plastic pieces into the oceans every day. Reducing the plastic on your property by not offering bottled water or straws will make the hotel a greener place to stay. Replacing plastics with reusable straws or glass bottles also gives your hotel a classier feel.
3. Eliminating food waste
When you’re in the business of feeding guests, some food waste is unpreventable. Still, there are steps hotel management teams can take to reduce the waste. The first step is to conduct a waste audit to see where you can make the most difference. Get staff from every hotel department to participate in figuring out where the majority of the waste comes from, and decide the best ways to reduce that amount.
4. Including allergen-free hotel features
Sustainability promotes a healthier environment, both inside and outside a hotel property. Approach this aspect of green hospitality by thinking about what triggers allergies in your hotel. It could be beneficial to consider allergy-friendly flooring, since that would free guests to relax in any area and never worry about dealing with allergy symptoms. The staff could also change indoor plants from flowers that may have allergy-triggering scents to sustainable plants that require infrequent routine watering and also lack any features that irritate seasonal allergies.
5. Monitoring carbon emissions
People mention carbon emissions in the context of vehicles or major factories. The UN recently called attention to hotel emissions, saying they account for 1% of all carbon waste. Management teams can reduce carbon emissions by investing in solar energy or turning off the air conditioning for unoccupied rooms. Hire a professional to conduct an energy audit for more specific recommendations for your particular property. It will take a bit of time to adjust to new ways of approaching energy usage, but it will minimize your carbon footprint and show your guests that your team is in this for the long run.
Get guest feedback
After you decide how to make your hotel more sustainable, get feedback from guests, so you know what works and what doesn’t. If a green effort disrupts their visit, it’s time to approach it from a new perspective. Plans to eliminate waste and reduce allergy triggers will all help make your hotel a greener place for your guests and your community.
