Should the hospitality industry recruit its guests to reach their environmental goals?
The pandemic has hit most economies in more ways than one. Hoteliers are recovering from millions of dollars of losses over the past two years. Nevertheless, green initiatives and technology have boomed into the hospitality industry, creating a competitive edge for sustainability. This has left hoteliers helpless and urges them to re-think differently to be competitive in the market.
While the hotel industry produces nearly 650 million tons of waste each year, hoteliers realise that going green can help the environment and be a great way to stand out and build goodwill in this competitive environment.
Although many hotels are making progress in running their properties more sustainably, the environmental crisis that the world faces need more innovative solutions with involvement from their vendors, service providers, staff and guests.
It is no secret that the hotel industry is seeking help from guests in achieving green initiative implementations. While a hotelier can implement various green technologies and practices, the guest often must accept and choose environmentally sustainable options.
E-bill facilities, energy-saving floor-wise room allocation, locally sourced ingredients for menu options, offering housekeeping on alternate days, eliminating single-use amenity bottles, amenities upon request only, electric vehicle use, and water refill stations with reusable glass bottles are a few strategies hotels are implementing for their guest-involved initiatives to go green. The list can go on and on, but they are just examples of how easy it is to incorporate guests to be a part of the green decisions at the hotel. Of course, educating guests on the purpose of these initiatives would be necessary so that a guest does not misjudge a hotel.
However, are these guest-centric green initiatives contributing to bad guest experiences? For instance, limiting the usage of housekeeping services and expecting guests to request basic toiletries may lead to negative impacts. Especially if the hotel is not focusing on doing major green restructurings such as using cloud technologies instead of on-premises technology, which requires large server rooms, solar lighting, renewable energy usage and other non-guest-sacrificing initiatives. Further, while some hotels incorporate these guest-involved strategies, do the hotels really want to cause less harm to the environment?
It is evident that numerous hotels in the industry are genuinely trying to make a difference but on the other hand, are others contradicting themselves by offering lesser services and facilities in the name of “going green” and only cutting costs?
Today, many travelers are conscious of their choices and prefer environmentally friendly stay options. However, would taxing guests to contribute to green initiatives without their buy-in be unethical? It would help a hotelier to earn a free pass to sustainability for sure. Would it be more appropriate for a hotel to first encompass initiatives such as using the right technology, green architecture, renewable energy sources, natural cooling systems while implementing cost-effective and sustainable solutions to enable a hotelier to reach its green objectives more smoothly.
About IDS Next
Founded in 1987, IDS Next became India's largest hotel software company in its first decade of operations and Asia's largest in 2009.
Today, IDS Next is the leading provider of smart hotel software across Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania, serving over 6,000 customers in 45 countries with $10 million in daily transactions and 300,000 daily check-ins.
With the goal to redefine the way hotels operate through smart software solutions, IDS Next has been a trusted technology partner and preferred supplier to the international hospitality industry.
From contactless check-in, front desk, guest request and housekeeping management to payroll, finance, inventory management and procurement, IDS Next's award-winning software automates and streamlines front and back-office hotel operations, making sure all departments are covered.
With an open API approach, IDS Next integrates with over 100 of the world's leading, best-in-breed technology partners to ensure hotel operations run smoothly and securely to complement a hotel's existing systems and solutions.
Available in single modules and as an all-in-one solution, IDS Next's smart hotel software is designed by hoteliers for hoteliers through the company's in-house development team comprising 135 hospitality technology professionals and supported 24/7 by 90 customer services agents in 30 languages.
With all software PA DSS certified, front-of-house solutions GDPR compliant, and the business ISO 27001 certified, IDS Next's smart software solutions are accredited, certified, and compliant with the industry's most stringent standards for data protection and security.
