How A Green Hotel Management Course Could Transform Your Business

Green Hotels are currently reaping the benefits of not having a huge amount of competition.

The Hospitality Industry, are very slowly moving towards sustainability, not realising the huge benefits that running a Greener Hotel can offer.

Make Strides Towards A Sustainable Business

Every week, I see social media posts about hotels or every larger chains of hotels making a pledge to abolish mini toiletries, or using only compostable take away cups, etc.

Yes, it is great to hear the industry is making small changes to reduce the enormous amount of single use plastics it creates, but running a Green Business, goes well beyond that.

I have worked in the Hospitality Industry for 20 years, I met my best friends working in Hotels and it has shaped me into the person I am today. You could say I LOVE IT. But I am also painfully aware of how damaging this industry is to the environment.

What really frustrates me, is that there are so many small actions, any Hotel Team can take on their daily activities, to reduce their business Carbon Footprint, but yet, the industry is changing very, very slowly.

The Benefits Of Running A Green Business

The way I see it, having worked in regular Hotels and Green Hotels, there are many more benefits to running a Greener Business than not. Let’s look at some of the top benefits:

1. Running a Green Hotel means controlling and reducing your business Carbon Footprint. This starts with reducing your use of energy & water and production of waste. Many Hotel Managers believe that running a Green business is more costly than a regular business, but this is far from the truth. When you reduce your business Carbon Footprint, you are also reducing your utility bills, your energy bills (electricity, gas & oil), your waste bills and your water bill. The potentials savings for a Hotel, that has never set up an Environmental Management System before at their property, with an average of 140 bedrooms and a leisure centre, are between €50,000 and €100,000 annually. I do not know any Hotel in Ireland, or the world, that could not benefit from having those kind of cost savings added to their bottom line. In Ireland, we talk about the damaging effects to the Tourism industry from Brexit, we talk about the increase on the Hospitality VAT rate as been devastating to the industry, but we are slow to admit that we are WASTING MONEY every single day, for not having set up proper Environmental Management Systems at our business. I don’t want to be harsh, but the reality is that we can only blame ourselves.

2. Opening new customer markets. Yes, believe or not, the last 12 months have seen a huge increase in the Green Traveller Market. According to the Travel Agent Central Statistics, 87% of global travellers say they want to travel more sustainably, and 67% of global travellers are wiling to pay a little extra for their holidays if it means staying in Green certified accommodation. A huge opportunity lies for those Hotels that are whiling to change, to run Greener businesses and get Green certification. Yet, we are failing to align the industry to our customer values. Turning your business into eco friendly accommodation will give it the credibility and reputation it needs to attract a whole audience of passionate customers.

3. Green Marketing & PR. Making headlines is not easy. There is so much competition in the Hospitality industry that it is difficult to have a project that is newsworthy. But look at those that are doing it, and doing it well. Hotel Doolin in County Clare, Ireland, announced last year that they had gone completely plastic free, for their customer facing activities. Not an easy task but they have demonstrated it was possible. Looking for a soft drink or water bottle? You will be given a can or glass bottle. Do you want to buy cookies in their café? You wont find individually wrapped shop cookies, you will find home made cookies in a jar. Toiletries in the bedrooms? You will find large bottles, bolted to the wall, that are refillable with one of the best seaweed natural products in the market. Hotel Doolin made headlines last year. And this year they are back again with another bombshell. They have recently announced they are the first Carbon Neutral Hotel in the country. BOOM! Another headline. This was not an overnight success story, they have been working hard for 7 years to create an Environmental Management System that works for them. They have monitored their use of energy every single month for 7 years, they reduced their energy consumption to as little as they could, and then the set on a mission to off set that Carbon Footprint. To say their client base is thriving and growing is an understatement. If you don’t believe me, head down to Doolin any weekend and see for yourself. Turning your business eco-friendly also opens up a lot of opportunity to be featured in a number of Green Business Awards, which can bringing welcome awareness to your brand. Find out more about entering awards, here.

4. Improving your team culture. Making a stand, giving your team a reason to love what they do, will make them be a closer and more motivated team. I recently attended a breakfast seminar at Shannon College, organised by the Irish Hospitality Institute. The Keynote speaker was John Burke, and Irish Hotelier that achieved a major goal in his life back in 2016 by summiting Everest. During the questions & answers session, a student posed the question: “How do you get young staff motivated in the industry?” John’s answer was phenomenal: “Make a stand, believe in something and set the Hotel’s culture to embrace that, whatever it is” For his family Hotel, The Armada Hotel in County Clare, it is mental health and well being. John set up a charity after his Everest trip, to empower young people to develop the skills, awareness, confidence and opportunities they need to realise their greatest potential. Developing a team culture within your business, will make the younger generations admire what you do, it will make them want to work there, it will make them want to be part of a team that are making a difference. And this is definitely the case when you make a conscious effort to run a Green business.

Be Careful Of ‘Green Washing’ Your Business

One thing to be very careful of, is Green Washing. That term is been used more and more lately. It refers to those that “pretend” to include Green activities in their businesses without really taking the necessary steps to reduce their Carbon Footprint. For example, some industries and businesses are writing and publishing Environmental Policies in their websites. But a policy without a plan, is just a piece of paper with words written in it. If you are not willing to take the necessary steps to reduce your Carbon Footprint, there is no point publishing an environmental policy.

Get Your ROI On Our Green Hotel Management Courses

Setting up an Environmental management system at your business is easier than you think, it is also much cheaper than you think, in fact, IT IS FREE, because your return in the initial investment will be paid back to you within less than a year. All you need to spend is time really, time to gain the knowledge you need, time to look at your current operations and identify areas for improvement, time to implement new systems and daily operational procedures.

Start Your Online Hotel Management Course Today

If you want to get started, but you are unsure how, you can book a discovery call with our team HERE, we can talk about your environmental goals and how to get there.

Until next week.

Raquel