Ecological vs. Luxury
An old fashioned rumour equates “green” hotels with cold comfort farm. However, both contemporary and traditional designers recognise that keeping their edge means getting out of the “luxury = wasteful” rut.
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For the less enlightened, staying in an “environmentally friendly” hotel conjures up images of cold dribbling showers (if you get one at all), hessian sheets, no airconditioning and no fun. That’s only because that is what they want you to think. Who are “they”? “They” are manufacturers and suppliers who sell products which are damaging to both the human and natural environment, are cheap to manufacture yet have big marketing budgets to push them as being luxurious with an associated price tag. “They” are the hotel brands who do exactly the same thing but on a service level. They say “green means we can’t pamper our guests”. (see Publisher’s note)
This is a falsehood. Dozens of surveys and whole hotel empires say it’s not true (Six Senses, anyone?). Even celebrities are jumping on the eco-wagon, Brad Pitt is currently developing a five-star eco-hotel and if he can do it, surely professional hotel groups have a shot. Unfortunately, it seems that it is not in “their” interests to spend effort changing anything because they think they can still charge top dollar without it. Luckily, times are a changing. These product suppliers, hotel owners and operators are increasingly in the minority. Now it’s not just the whole supply chain who knows it’s worth investing the time and effort in going green, customers know it too. As Gerhard Hardick, COO, Roya International, who conducted a survey on the subject noted “you have to find a way”. And the way is not too hard.
green luxury brands
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James Lehouiller, President, Di Leonardo, says “Sustainable design and LEED certified hotels is not a trend or fad. This is a movement that has been building over the past decade, and now reaching critical mass.” One could conclude that if nothing else, hotels and hospitality designers should offer training programmes to teach staff how to respond to ‘how green is this?’ queries from guests and the press. In addition, a regularly updated schedule of sustainability measures should be consulted in order to stay on top of luxury green offerings that are swamping the market all over the world.
Hardick’s study on green hotels sought to discover how much more expensive it would be to go green, with the assumption that five and six-star hotel brands could never be green. He found his assumptions wrong on both counts. Luxury hotels could go green, and futhermore environmental strategies did not cost extra so long as they were fully and strategically integrated into the design process. “Add on” green items or concepts do incur additional costs but are no more expensive than any additional features added to the original design brief. If hotel developers were to integrate strategic environmental goals into the design and approach to construction and operation of their projects, there would be no significant additional cost.
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Hotel brands simply have to learn how to adopt environmentally friendly goals without compromising service quality, Hardick concluded. Incorporating these goals at the project design stage is far simpler and cheaper than after a project has started. It is more difficult to get non-operator developers to take a longer term operational view but the capital value of the asset is also increased in the luxury as well as other sectors. Simple little things such as sensors in the toilets can make a difference though designers, engineers and operators can do a lot more than that. For example, luxury staples such as imported Italian marble is a bit passe for some designers. A locally sourced alternative is likely to be the greener, and more chic choice.
conservation of resources
Conserving resources such as water and electricity has been known to save money. In a credit crunch this is important. Andrew Cosslett, Chief Executive Officer, InterContinental Hotels Group (hardly a shabby brand) says “working with owners we are finding we can save on average of 20 percent on bills, and it’s a real win-win situation”. Unfortunately, the uneducated or those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo purport that environmental policies negatively affect the guest experience. For example, water saving shower heads only let you have a trickle of water. This need not be true. Outmoded fixtures that are poorly placed and difficult to operate do not belong in luxury properties. In fact, a water saving toilet is only a problem if it doesn’t work, shower heads that blast out excessive amounts of water are apt to lead to flooding which can damage flooring prematurely. According to one hospitality designer who asked not be named, the extremely luxurious Opposite House in Beijing, which uses large showerheads and lacks adequate drainage, is in danger of such maintenance problems.
As for encouraging guests to pick up and reuse towels, most hotels have been doing this for years. If the bathroom has been so poorly designed that guests have to use the towels to mop up bathroom sized lakes then they will be less likely to heed a request to keep the hotel laundry bill down. This is one way to maintain high standards and reduce environmental impacts. This point was proven when a group of small and medium sized hotels in Wales were offered a water audit. After the audit the owners were required to implemented various upgrades and changes in process to reduce water wastage.
Following the upgrades every property reported water bill cost savings and crucially, none of the properties had to reduce guest comfort to do so. In fact the opposite was the case. The slow torture of the dripping tap was eliminated, the cacophony of outdated cisterns was gone for good and the agonising naked wait while water was warm enough to jump under reduced to seconds. The introduction of water saving technologies actually improve the guest’s experience of the hotel. Given the right incentives, property managers could implement similar measures in the snap of a finger, if they had an incentive to justify the capex. In this case, winning measures included high quality push taps and plugs, modern dual flush toilets and point-of-use water heaters.
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According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association the average hotel room uses about the same amount of water as the average American family household per day. However some 40 percent of that water is consumed back of house. The opportunities to save are enormous and only serve to increase the quality of the hotel while reducing its operating costs. Anyone looking to preserve the long term value of a hotel for sale, or their own operations, should understand that a high revPAR plus low operating costs is what creates this value. Anything, like efficient plumbing that does both, while also improving the company brand, should be prioritised. The other area where this could not be more apparent is in the field of energy usage.
Heating Ventilation and Air-conditioning (HVAC) specialists will tell you that inefficient air conditioning systems are costly. Hotel guests will tell you that inefficient air-conditioning systems, ruin a good nights sleep and tend to leave a bad, if not stinky, impression. Energy efficient air-conditioning systems are cheaper to run and more effective. They are automated, and easily adjustable by the room occupant. They are connected to sensors and a functional thermostat. They turn off when the room is not occupied and can be preset automatically for different times of the day or year. They are accompanied by an invitation to guests to consider the environment before altering the temperature. How is this not luxury?
The final area where green is meeting luxury is in branding. Green hotels are cool. The “Millennials” and “Gen Y” that are the darlings of the marketing industry are a little bit sickened by what used to be considered luxury. As the panel chair pointed out, this generation would consider the environment only second to cost when selecting a hotel. In more elevated circles, not being green is considered declasse. This is something for hotel operators to cash in on.
Lehoullier notes: “Many of our clients are realising operational cost savings, increased marketing value, and higher asset value for their properties through these efforts.” Starting from scratch to cash in on green cache requires imagination, research and determination. In the past a bit of gold leaf and a white gloved hand opening the door sufficed for luxury. Now people expect green leaves and a high tech, personalised check in system that effortlessly transports them to their preselected temperature controlled room. It’s not a question of can luxury be green, the new luxury is green.
