Assisting Hotels With Sustainable Goals

Today we will take a look at two companies that help hotels improve facilities, enhance efficiency, and cut costs. Two notable companies, Evolve and Inncom, are particularly important within the hotel industry, because of the innovative technology that they employ.  These firms entire mission is to help other companies meet and surpass sustainable goals.  There are many certifications that hotels can obtain to showcase their socially responsible initiatives.   Evolve and Inncom help hotels reach these standards, by decreasing their overall energy consumption. We will analyze the effects that these subsidiary businesses have on major hotel chains.

In the past many hotels relied on the housekeeping staff to limit energy usage.  These individuals would be responsible for making sure that lights were turned off when no guests were in a particular room, or they would be tasked with lowering the thermostat during routine cleaning. But, this still did not solve the problem for many hoteliers. Energy costs can often be 4 to 6% of total revenue (or more) for many hotels.  Over 50% of these costs come from heating and air conditioning. The next highest cost comes from lighting.  This expense can average about 15% of most hotels total energy consumption.  But, there are many ways to lower these percentages that help hotels become more sustainable in the process. Companies like Evolve and Inncom help hotels fight these rising expenditures by automating guest room control systems.

A guest room management system is a structure that connects guest rooms with the central control system. Currently, there are several arrangements that comprehensively manage heat and light settings to maximize the use of resources while optimizing guest comfort.  This proves the holistic benefit to hotels of guest room control systems, since the customer experience is always of the utmost importance.

For example, Evolve’s energy management systems can sense when someone is in the room.  When no one is present, the system adjusts energy utilization appropriately.  This system is priced at a relatively low cost with respect to the high benefits.  Additionally, Evolve has created a simple touch-screen control panel that can be installed in each hotel room.  This tool provides differentiating value that helps guests “feel like they’re just a little bit more at home…even if they’re thousands of miles away” (Evolve Guest Controls.) Adding value through innovative programs like this helps differentiate hotels through their sustainable practices.

Alternately, Inncom has many sustainable solutions that help hotels save energy while supporting customer comfort.  The range of options that a hotel can implement depend on how much they want to spend.  But, solutions like Inncom’s “ecoMODE” program make it easy for hotels to implement facility changes.  This technology allows guests to press a button on the thermostat to opt-in to the hotel’s conservation program. Systems of this type can be linked with other sustainability programs for a comprehensive effect.  Check out more about Inncom’s custom solutions here.

Overall, Evolve and Inncom are industry leaders that are helping hotels sustain socially responsible practices in a cost-effective manner.  The implementation of guest room control systems allows hotels to become one step closer to sustainability.

Welcome to Week 2!

Hello Readers, 

This week we will be discussing analytical explorations, meaning that we will be informing you more and more about our topic and the importance of it. Each post will have a central point involving you all where we will be discussing our argument that has been linked to our mission statement. We hope you enjoy!

 

-The Sustainable Hospitality Group

Breaking Down Sustainability — Hilton WorldWide

Hilton WorldWide is a powerhouse in the hospitality industry with over 4,000 hotels in 91 countries and while their profitability has been stable for decades, they have more recently broken down sustainability into sections in order to conquer what they believe to be the most pressing pillars. Hilton understands that while profitability is important for the stock holders, their corporate social responsibility needs to be as in touch with the community around them and affect the world in a positive way. It’s their new “Living Sustainably” mantra that attempts to combine guest satisfaction with positive, worldly influence by slicing and dicing sustainability into sections. Now let’s take a look at how Hilton has used sectioning to their advantage.

“Sustainability is simply good business. Since Hilton Worldwide brands touch thousands of communities and millions of people every day, it’s important for us to lead our industry with sustainable practices that deliver great guest experiences and protect the world in which we live.”           —    Hilton WorldWide

This company’s sustainability initiative starts with the categorizing of different components into sections. Hilton has created the following sections to continuously work on and improve throughout all of their hotels: LightstayTM, Energy, Carbon, Waste, Water, Supply Chain, Engagement and Awareness. By breaking down sustainability into subsections, Hilton can more easily delegate goals and tasks which can make them much easier to achieve. They create goals that match their customers specific needs which allows them to use task-forces to reach these goals more efficiently.

Hilton focuses on ways that they can be more sustainable in electricity in the LightstayTM and energy sections by coming up with ideas such as installing a master light switch in each room so the guest can just switch one light-switch off when they leave to turn off all electricity—a very imaginative idea. They then concentrate on their emissions in the carbon and waste sections. By instituting a bike to work and a compost program they are doing their part to lower emissions.  Lastly, they continually work on their internal operations with the supply chain and engagement and awareness sections. While this is more open ended, their is a great deal of improvement happening here as well.

Breaking down sustainability into sections made it easier for Hilton WorldWide to focus their energy and create specific tasks to meet their sustainable goals.

Take a look at Hilton’s “Living Sustainably” plan.

Also stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter to find out more about sustainability in the hospitality industry.

—Sam

Value of Small Hotel Chains

Small inns, B&Bs and independent brands are a niche that must execute the right implementation and the right strategy in order to provide value and gain market share within the hotel industry. Our mission is to go beyond well-known names and big chains and really focus on the value that smaller inns provide to attract guests and draw them away from the major players in the game, which is explained in the About section.

A teacher quoted in thegaurdian.com, states that the best practices are in small hotels, as he is referring to sustainable ecotourism.With smaller hotels, it is much easier to adopt sustainability because of the smaller scale of the hotel. Cutting prices is more attainable and with a smaller staff the culture of the company is more consistent through their practices. The smaller hotels also typically provide more transparency with their customers and with their employees, which show that the hotels are genuine with their engagements and beliefs. This adds value for the company, the employees and to the customers, which incentivizes them to return.

 

In addition to winning customers over with sustainability, and shared beliefs and values, small chains are notorious for their exceptional customer service and providing an intimate exciting experience. Boutiques aren’t as common in the US as they are abroad but they are quickly starting up all over the world now and using ecotourism to their advantage. The one thing that many people appreciate from these boutiques, are the personalized service that they receive, which is rare in larger chains.

 

The biggest change and adoption that customers have the hardest time with, is the move away from the bigger chains and the compromises they must make with sustainability. Big chains such as the Marriot, the Hyatt and the Hilton are all companies that have been in business for many many years and have built their name and their brand. Those larger well-known hotels are comfortable for many people, and many customers may have difficulties of straying away from those chains if they don’t know what the smaller inns have to offer. Secondly, many people love the idea of “green” and sustainability, but many don’t realize the compromises they must make to do their part. This includes but is not limited to, paying a higher price for the stay, being conservative of water or energy, or even compromising luxuries that non-sustainable hotels provide.

 

Small hotels have proven that with the right practices they are able to obtain a competitive advantage over larger hotel chains. Boutiques and B&Bs have unique value that many people are beginning to choose over larger brands. For more advantages on small hotels visit USAToday‘s article.

 

Follow along our Facebook and Twitter for fun facts about small inns and how they practice sustainability.

 

-Julie

Hyatt Thrive

Hyatt has been making a splash in the hospitality industry by rolling out their new sustainability platform “Hyatt Thrive .” Hyatt’s motto for Hyatt Thrive is to make this a place where their employees want to work, hoteliers want to visit, their neighbors are proud to live next to them, and business men and women want to invest in them. Hyatt stands firm in their belief that no one knows and understands their companies issues, and the solutions to those issues except for the people working and living around them. Hyatt is proud to give their program, Hyatt Thrive, many different resources to be able to help fix the needs for many different places all over the globe to help create a widespread global impact.

Thrive has invested in more than 95,000 employees in over 500 locations globally to bring together people of all different types. Their main goal is to focus on local projects that effect the communities success, future and prosperity. According to the Hyatt Thrive website, “this programs design draws on the knowledge and insight of a global cross section of stakeholders-including corporate leadership, property owners and associates throughout our organization, community leaders and guests (HyattThrive.com).”

This hotel branch has four main areas that it focuses on to better its companies communities. Hyatt focuses on environmental sustainability, economic development and investment, education and personal advancement and health and wellness. Hyatt believes that through each of these main ideas it will achieve the success and desires that it wants. In my later posts I will go more into detail about what each of these programs entail.

In Hyatt’s Human Rights Statement the hotel explains its goals for the community, its stakeholders, its employees and customers. The hotels main goal is to “make a difference in the lives of the people we touch everyday.” The most important part of this statement, is that fact that Hyatt wants to manage its business in a way that is parallel to fundamental human rights. For example, some of there main strategies along with sustainability, include protection of the rights of children and elimination of human trafficking. This statement just shows that this company is not only trying to better themselves as a corporation, but they are trying to improve the world around them as well.

In this video from Hyatt’s CEO, Mark Hoplamazian, describes how Hyatt Thrive is building on its history of community engagement and environmental stewardship. Through their environmental sustainability program Hyatt has been reducing consumption of resources, waste and emissions of their hotels while still protecting the areas surrounding their hotels. They are continuously boosting local economic growth and development opportunities for people and businesses in the areas surrounding their hotels as well. Most importantly, they focus on health and wellness. Their companies motto is to provide authentic hospitality.

Lastly, this is an interactive map that shows what different Hyatt Thrive properties around the world are doing to better the communities around them.

As you can see, Hyatt is doing some amazing things around the globe. I hope you are just as excited as I am to read about them in these upcoming weeks!

Enjoy,

Taylor

 

 

 

 

Why should hotels care about sustainability?

In the current marketplace it is hard for consumers to distinguish between the variety of different hotel options. Individuals are looking at things that make certain hotels different, since there are so many hotels of similar caliber.

It is easy for individuals to find a good deal on their lodging with little hassle through prevalent booking websites like Expedia.com, Hotels.com, and Booking.com.  But, this model forces hotels to become increasingly competitive, and ultimately price sensitive due to the similarity between accommodations.  An article by William Reed Business Media states that:

“The continued use of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) is contributing to the increased commoditisation of certain areas of the hotel industry, with hoteliers now having to work harder to add a point of difference and focus on ‘value’ rather than price.”

(Read more here.)

A product or service  becomes a commodity when members of a particular class become the same.  This has evidently occurred in the case of hotels and there is little that can be done to reverse this scenario.

Some hotels tackle this problem by cutting costs in every way possible.  For example, it is common to see hotels adding a charge for WIFI, or toiletries.  But this approach often leaves customers frustrated, and it can damage branding.  This business model is particularly ineffective for higher-end chains.

The best way for hoteliers to differentiate their properties is by adding substantial points of difference to their value proposition.  Mark Lewis, managing director of Hotel Rez asks:

“If you’re a consumer and you’re looking at a website and all of the hotels look pretty much the same, then on what basis are you selecting that hotel?  It will be based on something else – a ‘value’ that the hotel is offering with the rates.”

One of the most effective ways to do this is to enact socially responsible initiatives.

Watch this short video to see some evidence for the increasing importance of socially responsible practices:

Overall, there are many recent statistics that support consumers’ interest in sustainable practices, and there are many different ways for hotels to achieve these sustainable goals.  Not only will many socially responsible practices add value to hotels, but also these same initiatives can help hotels cut costs.

This blog will continually showcase socially responsible practices that specific hotels have enacted, while drawing attention to the companies that helped them achieve these goals along the way.  The importance of socially responsible initiatives for creating value and cutting costs is paramount, and all market leaders are taking note. Sustainable initiatives can be enacted in many forms, so hotels should fulfill the methods that are best for their size and service type. For example, certain hotels focus more on giving back to society and others primarily emphasis programs that improve efficiency or help the environment.

Look out for our next post to learn more about sustainability and #efficiency.  Also, follow along on our Facebook and Twitter pages to get additional updates!

-Lisa

 

Stay Tuned for our First Blog Post of the Week!

 

 

 

Informative Foundations Week

Welcome readers! This week in our blog posts we will be discussing our overarching topic: Sustainable Hospitality. We will delve into why sustainability adds value to hotels.  Then, each blogger will be discussing their selected topic, whether that be The Hyatt, The Hilton, The Marriot, or small chain hotels. We will be showing what each of these facilities is doing to be sustainable along with how this affects their customers, and the industry they are in and the pros to being a sustainable establishment. Along with posting research that we have learned about our topic, we will also be posting links to other information that we feel is valuable to you to help you understand why this topic is so important. We hope you enjoy this week of posts and we hope that this topic becomes as important to you as it is to us!

 

Enjoy,

The Sustainable Hopitality Group

Sustainable Hospitality