In a recent Booking.com study, 64 percent of the 29,000 travelers surveyed said they prefer a sustainable accommodation. But what will the final booking decision look like. There is a still a big gap to be bridged between a preference and putting your credit card down.
Is this a genuine transformation of our industry? Are we seeing a real change in paradigm after the traumatic experience of Covid? Is this the realization that we cannot go on to do business as usual and that climate change is an even bigger threat to us than the pandemic?
It probably is still too early to tell. As our industry recovers from the pandemic, travelers are on the move again wanting to make up for lost travel during the past two years. There is little price sensitivity and vacationers feel like they deserve the best of the best. How much of a role sustainability plays in this in a global context? Only time will tell. But I do have some observations and thoughts on the topic.
With our guests at the Cayuga Collection of Sustainable Luxury Hotels and Lodges in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama, we do see an increased interest in sustainability. Our guests do want to know where their money goes and what our involvement in conservation and community development looks like. They appreciate every small detail and engage in conversations with our staff. The want to make their vacation count.
Catering to the luxury market, we are also aware that sustainability is accepted only as long as it does not create an inconvenience for guests. This is why we constantly strive to find that perfect balance between luxury and sustainability through innovation and creativity. Not an easy task, but we have made good progress over the past years.
But how can travelers be sure that the hotels that they are considering for their trips are truly committed to sustainability and not just "greenwashing" and taking advantage of this trend to increase occupancies and sales.
I believe that sustainability should not be used as a marketing tool. While there is a growing interest in sustainability - for the great majority of guests - location, price, reputation, and amenities are still the main factor for choosing one hotel over another.
However, we have found that once they stay at a hotel that is truly sustainable and are able to be a part of this experience, they turn from satisfied guests to raving fans. A great way to do this is to take guests to the back of the house and let them see first-hand your efforts to make the hotel operation more sustainable.
For over 20 years, we have been offering back of the house sustainability tours. Our hotels offer 100% transparency in our operations. Nothing is off limits. We will take you through our kitchens, storage rooms, laundry facilities, maintenance shops, employee dining and are proud to show you our wastewater treatment plant and solid waste management systems.
As Conde Nast Traveller's Sustainability Editor Juliet Kinsman stated on a recent visit to our hotels, "spending an hour exploring the back of the house of the hotel is maybe not the first thing that comes to mind on a tropical vacation to Costa Rica, but it really changes the way you see the operation. Understanding all that goes into becoming more sustainable creates a whole different level of appreciation of the hotel experience overall".
I have been implementing sustainability programs in hotels for almost 30 years and besides being totally transparent, the other important lesson that I learned is that sustainability can only succeed in an operation or community if it is focused on people.
At Cayuga, we only employ local talent. That does not only include housekeepers and gardeners, but all of our management staff is local and thanks to our career path program, tourism has been a great opportunity to excel. I turn down a lot of employment requests from managers from around the world. But when I explain to them the "why" they understand and applaud us for giving opportunities to locals.
Over the past years, we have seen a 17-year-old girl that started as receptionist work her way up to become general manager of one of the world's premier ecolodges. A construction worker took 10 years to become operations manager of one of Central American's most successful boutique resorts and a gardener has gone from raking leaves to becoming food & beverage manager and is also on a path to become general manager. Seeing their local peers succeed is a huge motivator for the other employees in the organization.
But once again, how are guests going to be able to distinguish hotels that walk the talk? How do they find out about all those initiatives? My recommendation is to check the hotel website and look for sustainability practices that go beyond reusing towels, led lighting fixtures and recycling.
Then talk to the reservations agent and ask them about sustainability. If you book online, call the front desk. Check online reviews for comments on sustainable practices and once on property, ask line level employees what sustainability means to them. You will get an idea quite quickly, by hearing their answers – or lack thereof, who is for real. You should be able to tell quickly who is in this because the marketing director gave the instruction to become "sustainable" from one day to another.
Look for actions that the hotel takes that go beyond energy saving and recycling. If sustainability is only used by an operation to cut costs, then take a closer look. Sometimes, being sustainable requires an investment and higher operating costs. Eco-friendly products are usually more expensive. For example, each single use bamboo straw that we use in our drinks costs us about 10 cents.
One practice that I have seen more and more recently is cutting housekeeping services in the name of sustainability. While there is nothing wrong with cutting hotel services if guests are ok with it and increasing operating efficiency, it is not ok to do so in the name of sustainability. That would be greenwashing. Entry level positions, such as housekeeper, are critically important for the economic development of the local communities where many of our hotels are located.
Hotels and resorts that offer year-round employment are much more sustainable than operations that only offer seasonal jobs and let go of a great part of their workforce during the off season. We have made a pledge to keep our staff employed year-round. This requires us to create incentives for guests to visit in the low season. When demand slows, we invest in cross-training and ask the teams to help out in maintenance and other areas of need.
Evaluate if the hotel looks and feels local and has a "sense of place". Is the architecture and decor in line with local themes? Watch out for furniture and decor imported from trendy places like Morocco or Bali. At one of the Cayuga Hotels in Panama, all furniture was made on the island where the hotel is located from fallen trees by local talent.
The culinary experience is one area where a true commitment to sustainability – or the lack of - can be identified quite easily. The number one thing to check is how locally sourced is the menu. It does not cease to amaze me that many hotels that consider themselves sustainable import their proteins and many other ingredients from halfway around the world. Why would a resort in the Maldives offer salmon from Norway on their menu? Why would a hotel in Guatemala offer lamb from New Zealand?
At the Cayuga Collection, we were able to reduce the imported ingredients used in our kitchens to below 10 percent. Most of this being made up by flour, olive oil, vinegar and some spices. We will continue to work on eliminating the remaining products little-by-little to ensure everything is as fresh and local as possible.
And of course, watch out for water in plastic bottles that is being imported from places like Fiji, France or Norway and sold at premium prices. We have not used any single use plastic bottles, cups or straws at our hotels for over 12 years. We continuously try to reduce the amount of solid waste that we have to recycle. Recycling is the last resource. Refusing, reusing and reducing are much better approaches.
Be aware of hotels that highlight just one or two "signature" actions in their sustainability efforts. To be truly sustainable, it is important not just to protect the sloth that lives in the tree next to your room or plant a few spices in the garden. The Long Run, a membership organization of nature-based tourism businesses committed to driving sustainability, has a great way of evaluating its members with giving equal importance to the four Cs of Community, Culture, Conservation and Commerce.
And remember that nobody is perfect. Applaud efforts to those getting started with sustainable practices, even if they are just baby steps. Everybody needs to learn how to walk before the run. See sustainability as a process that is never finished, but every step takes us closer to making sure that our industry is part of the solution and not the problem of the challenges that our planet is currently facing.
By Hans Pfister Owner, Cayuga Collection
