The Independent Hotel Show, presented by James Hallam Insurance Brokers, returns to Olympia on 15 and 16 October where it will bring together more than 6,500 members of the boutique and luxury hotel community to attend insightful discussions, meet with a selection of premium exhibitors and network.
Sustainability is one of the themes of this year’s show and is embodied in this year’s live installation The Conscious Bedroom, powered by Criton and designed by London design studio Harris & Harris. As The Telegraph reports, many hotel groups, including Marriott and Hilton, are planning to ditch small plastic bottles for toiletries and replace them with larger refillable bottles to help avoid millions of kilos of plastic end up in landfill. However, sustainable polices can be costly to implement and take time to generate a return on investment. For independent hoteliers, it’s wise to take steps one at a time and manage each stage well.
Ahead of the Show, some of its key partners and speakers suggest how hoteliers can approach consciousness in different ways.
Cut energy consumption
Boutique and luxury hotels require high levels of energy to operate multiple areas of the business, from heating water for rain showers to powering stoves to cook breakfast, so choosing to work with a renewable energy supplier is the first step in operating more sustainably and being more conscious about their carbon footprint.
“As customers, and government push businesses to do more on sustainability, switching to clean energy is a quick win,” says Tim Wynn-Jones, head of energy solutions sales at Good Energy, partner to the Social Business Space at the Independent Hotel Show who believes one of the most important, and easiest things a hotel can do is switch to 100% renewable power and source carbon neutral gas.
“It is critical that hotels understand their energy usage and look to where efficiencies can be made either through raising staff and guest awareness or through wider programme investment,” he says.
Wynn-Jones recommends investing in technologies that reduce energy usage and energy assets such as roof-top solar panels to enable hotels to become more energy self-sufficient.
At Watergate Bay in Cornwall – an early adopter of sustainable energy – electricity demand has fallen by 45%, for example. For more on how the hotel has saved energy and its conscious approach, check in to the Social Business Space on Tuesday 15 October where managing director Will Ashworth will speak in the session Championing Consciousness.
Source wisely
Hotels must be mindful of where all products, from the carpet used to cover floors, to the eggs served at breakfast come from, and how they are made if they want to take a truly conscious approach to running the business.
Alex Harris of Harris & Harris, who is designing The Conscious Bedroom, felt it was important that the mileage of each product selected to appear in the installation was kept to a minimum by only sourcing products made in the UK.
Jamie and Lou Graham of Graham & Green, design partner for the Hotel Vision Stage, say the ‘drive towards sustainability’ means more hoteliers are choosing products crafted from natural or recycled materials ‘that will stand the test of time’. Alternatively, sourcing second-hand items found in flea markets or vintage stores and giving them a new lease of life can be a great way to help the environment as well as inject some personality into a room or public area.
The pair are planning to take this approach in their design of the Hotel Vision Stage.
“To ensure we are also promoting a strong message on creating a sustainable and environmentally aware environment, we’ll be mixing together some of our favourite pieces crafted from natural materials with one-off vintage finds,” they say.
An area where sustainable sourcing is most apparent is in food and drink. Working with local food producers and even growing food on-site can help cut food miles.
However, not all food and drink can be sourced so close to home, so Rupert Lovie of Ellis Wines, wine partner to the Independent Hotel Show, encourages hoteliers to check the provenance of their goods with those supplying it to them to verify their sustainable credentials.
The company deals with over 30 producers of certified organic or biodynamic wines as well as carbon neutral and certified sustainable wineries. It will pour a Viognier and a Shiraz from certified sustainable winery Vina La Playa from Chile in the Suite, the show’s exclusive space for the Independent Hotel Show Members Club and guests. Other wines sporting ethical credentials will also be available to taste on stand.
“We always try to communicate these credentials to our customers but if in any doubt, hotels should be asking their wine suppliers, as they would any other type of supplier, if they want to know the provenance and ethical nature of their wines,” Lovie suggests.
Support the community
Taking a conscious approach to running a hotel includes working closely with the local community believes Julio Marques, general manager of London Bridge Hotel.
The hotel has supported the community in the borough of Southwark for many years, most recently through an art exhibition, created to mark Marques’ 21 years as a resident of the borough and to highlight creativity in the area.
The London Bridge Open exhibition allows artists living, working or studying with the borough of Southwark to display their work in the hotel. The hotel also promotes the initiative via its social media accounts and website.
Marques, who will join fellow hoteliers Nick Davies of The Cottage in the Wood and Tim Holloway of The Manor at Sway at the show on Wednesday 16 October for discussion Community Business, says: “In its purest form, a hotel is simply a business that is located in, and works within, a specific community. Throughout the years, we’ve worked with a number of like-minded businesses in Southwark and Shard Quarter, have employed local staff and have always tried to be a ‘good neighbour’.
“I am an active member and take the chair for the retail and leisure on the committee for Team London Bridge Business Improvement District which again, raises the status of our neighbourhood and helps both local businesses and local residents with employment opportunities and attracting tourism dollars.
“In these uncertain times, and as we particularly saw with the London Bridge terror attacks, we work together to help and support – whether its beds for the night, information distribution or simply another pair of helpful hands. We have each other’s backs. It’s what community is all about.”
Think holistically
Choosing to run a hotel more consciously means checking every aspect of a hotel’s operation against sustainable and ethical credentials.
When coming up with the design for The Conscious Bedroom, Harris & Harris ‘felt it was crucial that sustainability was considered across every inch of the room’
“Not only the architectural finishes, furniture and decorative items but also areas which may usually be overlooked such as the artwork, bedding and even the floor underlay,” explains Alex Harris. “Connections were made with a number of brand partners to provide products that included recycled, organic, natural or sustainably sourced materials or had low energy use such as LED lighting and low-flow taps & showers that reduce water consumption.”
Harris says it is also important that the room is accessible to ensure guests with mobility difficulties can use the room as easily as able-bodied guests.
Technology company Criton recommends hotels ‘get rid of the old and dusty guest directory’ and digitise all guest information.
“This means that hotels will save time and costs associated to creating and printing the in-room guest information, and will make their business more sustainable,” says Julie Grieve CEO and founder of Criton.
Considering sustainability across every inch of the business, not only helps save costs and the environment, it can also help a hotel be more competitive says Good Energy’s Wynn-Jones.
“Sustainability concerns will continue to grow in prominence and become central to how all hotels operate in the future. We expect to see more hotels focus on minimising their environmental impact through supporting local supply chains; investing in renewable power and new energy generating, storage and charging technologies. The added benefits to this shift come from a stronger, more competitive offering.”
And once your hotel is a beacon of sustainability and is supporting the community, don’t forget to tell your guests, suggests Wynn-Jones.
“Customers often make choices based on which businesses are doing more for the environment. Creating simple, visual reminders of what hotels are doing behind the scenes, such as supplying energy from renewable sources, is one way to communicate your credentials and attract business at the same time.”