With the increase in both casual and business travel, the levels of waste produced by guests have grown exponentially and the only way to remedy this situation is through the reorganisation of existing practices in favour of more environmentally friendly solutions.
Luckily, guests are more concerned than ever with their environmental footprint and will gladly take their business to hotels which strive for sustainability. As such going green is no longer simply a matter of consciousness but a business opportunity not to be overlooked.
Green hotels are an enterprise which favours sustainable living techniques without sacrificing the comforts of modern life. Here are some of the ways in which you can achieve this:
Conserve Energy
Excessive energy use benefits no one, which is why switching to energy-preserving technology should be the first thing on your list. Consider the following:
- Replace traditional lights in corridors and common areas with motion-detecting long lasting led lights.
- Reduce the hours spend on housekeeping practices such as doing laundry and vacuuming. Mind this, most guests do not expect that their rooms would be cleaned every day and you should encourage them to restrict their use of towels and fresh linen to what is available in their room upon their arrival. This can be achieved with an award system, where they are granted a complimentary experience, such as a spa session in exchange for being more resourceful with their linen.
- Use key-cards as a way of making sure that guests are not leaving the lights on when they leave the premises.
- Solar panels are a great source of renewable energy and are an option worth exploring in the long run.
Hotel energy conservation has many benefits to its name and aside from improving your establishment’s environmental footprint, it can also save you a pretty penny.
Reduce Water Waste
Food waste is inevitable if your establishment runs its own restaurant, but a good way of making sure that any excess produce doesn’t end up in a landfill is to have a local composting service come about to take the organic leftovers of your dining service which can then be redistributed fertilizers in your community. But having less food to compost would be ideal, which is why it’s best to use local vendors and fresh seasonal produce. Guests are much more likely to engage with such a menu, meaning that there would be less to throw out, to begin with.
Retrain Your Staff
The biggest change your business will go through is the one you and your team will experience. Creating a green team is crucial to establishing environmentally healthy business practices.
You can begin by implementing a zero waste policy by establishing a recycling process which your team must abide by. Despite its infamy of being a time drag, recycling is actually one of the most sanitary ways of waste-handling which will certainly come in handy if your hotel faces an inspection.
Supplying your housekeepers with organic biodegradable cleaning supplies and training them how to implement green cleaning practices is also a must. Your staff must understand the value of building a sustainable service, meaning that they must implement these conditions which will benefit both the environment and your hotel in turn.
And finally, give your team the tools to help themselves and their guests by updating your hotel software to a cloud-based property management system (PMS) such as Clock PMS+. This will aid them in running a seamless operation, reducing time spent on everything from front-desk management, distribution channel updates, all the way to housekeeping.
Involve Guests
Many modern guests are both environmentally engaged and self-sufficient which is why it’s so important to communicate your sustainability practices and encourage them to participate at their fullest.
If you give your guests the option to recycle they will do so, if you provide them with the opportunity to handle much of their own guest experience at your hotel, they will most certainly take it.
A hotel self-service app would allow them to check in and choose the services that they would need for their stay, while a self-service kiosk would help them in completing their registration and paying while also issuing their room’s keycard. Self-service applications are a huge relief to hotel paper waste as all transactions remain in the guest's digital wallet where they can access them if needed.
Brand Yourself Green
Green hotels are more than a trend, nowadays companies will favour sustainable hotels for their events as part of their own branding with environmentally friendly practices. Private guests will also look at your business with new eyes as sustainable hotels are the epitome of innovation, proving that you can help yourself by doing the smart thing while helping preserve the environment.