The associated fee financial savings of sustainability are properly appreciated within the hospitality trade, and oftentimes these will be achieved by inside packages that drive employees practices, procurement methods, and constructing renovations that enhance vitality and water effectivity and cut back waste. Acquiring a certification that validates the property’s sustainability is an added problem, because the standards of an exterior group will now should be glad. However many hoteliers discover that stringent course of fairly worthwhile.
“Licensed sustainability offers a sturdy framework that not solely yields operational value financial savings but in addition enhances marketability, reduces threat, and doubtlessly opens up new income streams,” noticed Stefan Mühle, vice chairman, regional managing director, Noble Home Inns & Resorts. “Inner sustainability packages can obtain some related targets however might lack exterior validation, which impacts model notion, consistency in operational enhancements, and entry to sure markets or incentives.” Marianne Balfe, vice chairman, sustainability, Highgate, confirmed the enterprise benefits of certification: “Licensed properties see constructive impacts on popularity and model choice, translating to elevated visitor loyalty and sometimes larger reserving charges.”
Bruce Becker, proprietor, architect + developer, Resort Marcel in New Haven, Connecticut—a LEED Platinum-certified, 100% electrical lodge—added that certification has a “sturdy advertising and marketing profit … significantly in reserving further group enterprise with the rising variety of organizations which are measuring and reporting their progress in assembly sustainability targets.” Balfe additionally noticed that “company RFPs more and more ask whether or not every respective lodge has achieved a globally acknowledged third-party inexperienced certification.”
Selecting a Certification
With these business-driving benefits in thoughts, it’s necessary to pick out a sustainability certification that’s well-known and revered within the journey trade—by each eco-conscious visitors and lodge manufacturers. Crescent Inns & Resorts had this criterion in thoughts when it chosen Inexperienced Key World, which is collectively operated by the AHLA and the Resort Affiliation of Canada. “This certification is acknowledged internationally and focuses on numerous facets of sustainability, making it a complete alternative for our properties. As Crescent Inns & Resorts manages properties of many various manufacturers, it was essential to find out which certification packages had been accepted by these manufacturers,” defined Abdi Mohamed, regional director, gross sales and advertising and marketing, Crescent Inns & Resorts. Noble Home Inns & Resorts additionally chosen Inexperienced Key World “after doing intensive analysis into the certification course of, necessities, and popularity throughout the hospitality trade. Inexperienced Key World was chosen as it’s the lodge and lodging trade’s sustainability certification program of alternative,” mentioned Mühle.
Amongst certifications for inexperienced buildings, LEED has probably the most cachet, which was an element within the Resort Marcel group’s determination to pursue it. “As probably the most extensively revered inexperienced constructing customary, LEED conveys the best profit by way of advertising and marketing and substance—there are various meaningless certifications and requirements, a few of which will be earned with none verification in as little as 48 hours,” Becker famous. “Most people is more and more conscious of and skeptical about ‘green-washing,’ and fewer rigorous inexperienced constructing certifications can do extra hurt than good, in the identical manner that offsets at the moment are been seen as undermining substantive sustainability progress.”
Along with the certification’s pedigree, alignment with the imaginative and prescient and targets of the certifying group is a key consideration for hoteliers. For instance, Noble Home has “dedicated to being 100% enrolled in Inexperienced Key World’s Eco-Score Program” partially as a result of this system “helps training and consciousness of sustainable practices for lodge employees and visitors, making a tradition of duty and respect for the planet,” mentioned Mühle. The corporate has additionally chosen to embark on Inexperienced Seal, certifying a number of of its motels and resorts with Inexperienced Seal’s Customary for Resort and Lodging Properties (GS-33). “Inexperienced Seal is a nonprofit group whose mission is to make use of science-based packages to empower customers, purchasers, and corporations to create a extra sustainable world. Inexperienced Seal units management requirements that goal to scale back, to the extent technologically and economically possible, the environmental, well being, and social impacts all through the lifecycle of merchandise, companies, and corporations. This was of explicit curiosity to Noble Home,” he defined.
Highgate, whose North American properties are primarily licensed via Inexperienced Key World, has discovered that the requirements align with Highgate’s sustainability priorities, whereas offering thorough help and instruments whereas nonetheless being budget-conscious, mentioned Balfe. “We worth GKG’s alignment to the 17 UN Sustainable Growth Targets and sourced enter from WSHA, Travalyst, and ISO, offering a complete framework that covers important areas comparable to decarbonization, vitality and water conservation, waste discount, and group engagement.”
Operational Advantages
As Mühle identified, assembly exterior sustainability requirements can result in extra “consistency in operational enhancements” than an inside program, and that rigorous steering can translate to higher outcomes. The operational affect on Crescent’s motels is an instance. “The certification course of primarily helped us with persevering with our groups’ concentrate on their sustainability efforts. Inexperienced Key World offers a present ranking and a transparent plan for enchancment,” Mohamed associated. “This plan helps our motels prioritize actions for each short- and long-term success. Consequently, a lot of our motels have improved their scores from 3 Keys to 4 Keys, and some have even achieved the best ranking of 5 Keys.”
Mühle detailed a number of enhancements to the sustainability of Noble Home’s properties that resulted from complying with Inexperienced Key World and Inexperienced Seal in areas comparable to vitality effectivity, water conservation, waste discount, moral sourcing, and indoor environmental high quality. Examples embody:
- Vital reductions in vitality consumption, resulting in decrease operational prices and lowered carbon footprint;
- Decreased water utilization, particularly in landscaping and guestroom operations, which is essential for areas dealing with water shortage or excessive utility prices;
- Decrease waste disposal prices, improved recycling charges, and a lowered environmental footprint via round economic system initiatives;
- Higher alignment with the expectations of eco-conscious visitors; and
- Enhanced visitor satisfaction on account of higher air high quality and luxury, in addition to improved worker well being and productiveness.
A major instance of the vitality value financial savings that may end result from implementing a certification program comes from Resort Marcel, the nation’s first Passive Home-certified lodge and the most important Passive Home-certified lodge on this planet. “We dedicated to assembly Passive Home requirements based mostly on the underlying constructing science of the Passive Home system, which permits one to construct a constructing that makes use of lower than half the vitality as a traditional code compliant constructing,” Becker defined. “We did this out of self-interest because it reduce our vitality invoice by 75 %. A typical lodge within the Northeast spends over $15 per occupied room per night time on vitality. Resort Marcel spends lower than $3, saving us over $300,000 annually.”
Assist Alongside the Approach
Ideally, a certifying group doesn’t go away its enrollees in a vacuum through the technique of getting ready the property for evaluation. But it surely must be famous that “processes fluctuate,” mentioned Mühle. “Whereas certifications with some organizations are based mostly on preliminary self-audits that will likely be verified at a later level, organizations comparable to Inexperienced Seal observe a really outlined path to eventual certification, which has been tremendous useful for our properties. Whereas a really detailed step-by-step method can take months to finish, it serves as an unimaginable coaching instrument alongside the way in which.” Inexperienced Key World provided sturdy help alongside the trail to certification. “We wished a accomplice that might help our groups all through the evaluation course of. Inexperienced Key World stood out as a result of they provide extra than simply certification; they act as a sustainability accomplice,” mentioned Mohamed. “They perceive our sustainability and certification targets and have assigned an account supervisor to assist us obtain them. Moreover, we’re organizing a name collection to maintain certification efforts high of thoughts for our motels in 2025, guaranteeing steady progress and engagement.”
Becker famous that the U.S. Inexperienced Constructing Council (the certifying group for LEED) provides “wonderful help and training, comparable to on the annual GreenBuild convention,” whereas the Passive Home Institute, Passive Home Community, and Passive Home Accelerator “present wonderful on-line sources and coaching.” By making the most of these sources, hoteliers can set themselves up for achievement in assembly intensive certification standards.
Nevertheless, Becker nonetheless recommends hoteliers accomplice with a third-party guide to “coordinate the design necessities with the venture group on the outset and all through the design and building course of. It’s the guide employed to supervise the certification course of that an proprietor would work with most carefully, and for Resort Marcel we engaged Steven Winter Associates for each certifications and had an incredible working relationship with each certification groups.” Balfe confirmed that “for inexperienced constructing certifications like LEED and BREEAM, third-party consultants are sometimes important for assembly certification requirements. The complicated scoring methodologies for ranking dedication have to be thought of all through the design-build course of for each facet of the venture.” Moreover, a third-party guide can conduct a mock audit, which “permits groups to determine any gaps or weak areas earlier than the formal audit,” she added (see the sidebar on web page 19 for extra tips about the certification course of).
A Calculated Determination
Whereas there are a number of nice certification packages which are extensively revered and provide well-supported pathways to a brand new degree of sustainability, whether or not to embark on such a course of ought to nonetheless be rigorously weighed in mild of a number of elements. “The selection between certification and inside sustainability must be based mostly on long-term targets, the will for exterior validation, and the way a lot your market values licensed inexperienced practices,” Mühle suggested. “Certification usually delivers larger ROI by way of popularity and enterprise improvement, whereas an inside program may focus extra on value effectivity with out exterior benchmarking.”
