Staying on top of hospitality industry trends and providing an excellent guest experience while keeping costs low is key to hotel survival. Fortunately, catering to the growing demand for sustainable tourism offers an opportunity to tick all three points.
Creating a sustainable hotel is necessary with growing environmental concern. Booking.com data shows that more than 70% of travellers believe sustainable tourism is a priority.
Eco-friendly hotels reduce their environmental impact by employing sustainable best practices in maintenance, services, and supply chains. Measures may include reducing energy and water consumption, aiming for zero waste generation, and using environmentally friendly products. Hotels may also streamline operations by using hotel automation software or other systems to be more efficient.
Hotels using a property management system have implemented changes using reporting tools available from popular PMS’s. These changes benchmark utility use and provide temperature set points. When the temperature is controlled and managed by the hotel, it’s easier to manage usage. Other technical improvements that can be implemented operationally are LED lighting, as well as installing high-efficiency water fixtures to control water use.
Go Paper-free
Invoices, workers’ notes to their co-workers, internal requests, orders… We don’t need to remind you how many reams of paper you’re using per day. This is why we recommend using something much more efficient and ecological: smart software that can store every note and every reminder, instead of paper that — you know — might end up lost somewhere.
Eco-Friendly Key Cards
With thousands of guests arriving in and out of your hotel every day, you’ll use thousands of keycards each year. Keycards are usually made from plastic, so your hotel will contribute quite a lot to plastic production.
Make the switch to an eco-friendly hotel with your key cards. With sustainable keycards, you can eliminate the use and production of virgin PVC, along with the build-up of substances extracted from the earth’s crust. Instead, you can increase sustainability by using earth-friendly key cards. Renewable sources reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Encourage your guests to participate in sustainability practices. Make sustainability a common theme around your hotel, and encourage them to participate. When your hotel promotes a green culture throughout guests’ stay, they will notice that and want to contribute.
Place recycling bins in convenient locations throughout the hotel. Encourage them to re-use linens, and leave signs in rooms requesting them to unplug appliances after use. Most importantly, ask guests for feedback. Find out if they have any ideas or suggestions for improvements for your green initiatives. The path to sustainable tourism requires group effort!
Support the Local Community
Source from nearby growers and food providers. However, not every hotel has the privilege of owning large gardens to produce their own products. It’s a great way to support area farmers while also reducing carbon emissions caused by trucking food from a distance. Menu selections should incorporate sustainable offerings, including vegetarian and vegan items that take fewer resources to produce than meat.
Prefer Natural, Eco-friendly Cleaning Products
Whether you’re looking for fabric detergents or cleaning products for rooms and common areas, try natural, eco-friendly products. These cleaning products use natural ingredients and less chemicals, which means they are less toxic to people and harmful to the environment. Everyone wins!
Your in-room guest experience will be revolutionised with Hepi hospitality technologies. This will allow your guests to request services conveniently, order food, and access other amenities directly from their room TV. This is done through a simple user-friendly interface.
By Implementing modern infra technology benefits a hotel in a myriad of ways. Overall, these systems increase efficiency, reduce operations costs, and benefit the environment, too.
Conclusion
Sustainability should be treated holistically across all sectors — from housekeeping to operations and the hotel restaurant. Guests should also be encouraged to be involved in the process so that they can take an active role and be encouraged to make sustainable choices within the hotel and within the local environment, choosing local tour operators, and investing in locally-produced goods. Among the latest technology trends in the hotel industry, a shift toward “smart” hotel rooms is underway.