I had the benefit of spending a day with sustainability experts Dennis Quaintance, Alex Susskind and Alyssa Farrell on Friday, March 12th. This was a tremendous learning experience for me. Of all the topics we are covering in this webcast series for the hospitality industry, sustainability is the one I knew the least about. If you want to hear how this all really works from someone who has been there, I highly recommend checking out this session! Here are a few things I picked up from the time I was able to spend with these passionate and informed individuals:

1. Hospitality industry still has a lot to learn about sustainability. Dennis made the point that we are still learning the words and their definitions. Think about how much we’ve learned about the internet over last eight or ten years, and how much more we know now than we knew then. Sustainability will be the same. Operators and owners should learn as much as they can about sustainable technology, and the procedures that make sense for their business. The more you know, the more prepared you will be to talk intelligently about your efforts – and avoid the “greenwashing” that has made our guests suspicious of our efforts to date. The majority of viewers said they have active programs in place, which is admirable. In three years we will have learned so much that these programs will seem rudimentary at best.

I really liked Dennis’s point about not depriving the guests of anything during their stay. Obviously, you can’t take anything away (water pressure, lighting levels) once it’s part of the service experience, but well thought out sustainability initiatives can be relatively “invisible” to the guest. They can have just as excellent of an experience while using fewer resources, and maybe not even know it!

2. Be sincere. This was Dennis’s major piece of advice. There are more than 70 different sustainability certifications for the hospitality industry. Some will certify you if you just send them a check. Simply achieving certification by dotting all the i’s is not enough, and our guests can see through that. A genuine commitment to running a sustainable business is necessary to make all the right decisions, from which initiatives to put in place, which suppliers to work with, and which employees to hire. Alex talked about the role of education and team building in the success of a sustainability program. Employees will see right through you if you are only doing it because you have to, or because it’s the standard, no matter how good your training is.

3. Measurement and validation are keys to a successful program. Both Dennis and Alyssa spoke at length about the importance of measurement and validation. Dennis spoke about the key role that measurement and validation have played in their efforts. I particularly enjoyed the story about them noticing that the air conditioning was on in one section of the property. The measurement system alerted them and they realized the problem was on the south side of the building, where the sun was strongest. Simply closing the drapes two-thirds of the way ensured that the air conditioning was not needed, and saved both money and resources! I liked this story for two reasons, first, that the solution was identified by the measurement system, and secondly, because the solution to the problem was easy, low-tech, and inexpensive! Alyssa also made the excellent point about including the supply chain in the analysis. As an industry that’s very dependent on sourcing product from a variety of locations and producers, we can only be truly sustainable if the suppliers conform to our values as well.

You can view this session on sustaining the right balance or the entire Webcast series.