Keeping Green: Sustainability and Covid-19 - Short Term Rentals - 1 views
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It is important in a moment like this to ask the question – will sustainability stay as important to hospitality?
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Sharmista Mitra-Kelly, senior associate at JCJ Architecture, noted: “They all have different expectations, but a very similar mindset when it comes to wellness and preservation [both self and natural], and that means a focus on sustainability.”
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Giles Fuchs, entrepreneur and owner of the Burgh Island Hotel, said: “For business hotels, such as Premier Inn, they have found that individuals are far more likely to stay in hotels who are making an effort to provide a more sustainable environment.”
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Fuchs added: “There’s that obvious tension between price and quality.”This tension is at the heart of all business and tends to become unbalanced during times of hardship. When businesses are existentially threatened, as some say hospitality is with the coronavirus outbreak, logic would dictate that price takes over afterwards.
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For some hospitality businesses, sustainability may actually be a solution to cut costs with a more difficult market. Basic measures, such as opting out of turndown services and using energy efficient lights and recycling water can realistically be used to shave certain expenses.
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In this instance sustainable development can be a double-edged sword. High upfront costs can hamstring businesses with less cash on hand but can create necessary savings for those with just enough.
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Madu Rajesh, director for International Tourism Partnership, told HospitalityNet: “There is a strong business case for sustainable hotels including reducing operational costs through utility savings, benefiting from national and local incentives, and increasing control of energy costs through installing on-site renewables.”
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The consensus among many professionals is, however, that sustainability is no longer a choice that can really be made by businesses. The future of hospitality will be inherently sustainable.
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Paolo Trevisan, head of design at Pininfarina of America, said: “Over the next six to twelve months, consumers will be giving everything a more critical look, from their homes to their vacations. As such, we believe that sustainability –– especially principles of biophilia (access to natural light, green space, etc.) –– will continue to be a topic on the forefront of people’s minds.
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Mitra-Kelly said: “More than anything, this pandemic is teaching us that we are so dependent on things that are not locally sourced or sustained.”
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The ethics of sustainability are dependent upon the personal views of those who lead a company, but the business sense is not.
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For some, sustainability may be the way to recover from a time of genuine business concern. For others it may fall by the wayside.The idea, however, is still present and, while maybe temporarily deprioritised, is set for a significant comeback.
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The article describes the origins of green hotel and hospitality movement, provides the experts' opinions on green movement within the industry and predicts the possible future actions of the hotels in the after COVID-19 times. Financial aspects of the implementation of environment friendly actions are also discussed.