Location, reviews and price are three of the most common factors that guests consider when choosing a hotel. However, there’s an increasing number of travellers who are looking at something else about your hotel when making their choice - how green it is.
So, why should hotels go green and will it affect the number of visitors you have?
- How Going Green Can Help Your Hotel
- Adhere to Environmental Regulations
- Create a Great Place to Work
How Going Green Can Help Your Hotel
Making a more conscious effort to run an environmentally-friendly hotel can benefit you in a range of different ways.
Long-Term Savings
The more green technology that your hotel adopts, the more money your hotel will save in the long run. A quick and effective step is to replace all of your traditional fluorescent bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs. They last a lot longer and can cost around 90 percent less over a year.
Start with the bulbs but then think bigger. For example, renewable energy management systems - they can be a large one-time investment but over their lifespan, they can significantly reduce costs. And after you’ve been using them for long enough, green technologies become self-funding.
Solar panels, sensors in rooms so that lights aren’t left on and water saving laundry systems are just some of the innovations you can look into that will reduce the annual costs for your hotel.
More Attractive to Potential Guests
The modern traveller is aware of the impact they’re having on the environment as they move around the globe. They know that flying to other countries will increase their carbon footprint, so they’re looking for other ways to reduce the negative effect they’ve had.
This is why so many guests are looking at a hotel’s policy on the environment before deciding who to stay with. By showcasing your green energy commitments and the changes you’ve made to reduce your harmful impact on the environment, you’ll find the number of guests you have grows.
So, not only are you saving money by switching to more energy-efficient tech, you’ll also see an increase in visitors.
There are green energy certifications that you can use to attract guests to your hotel, especially those who are environmentally-conscious. This demographic is a growing one and isn’t one you should ignore. If you develop a reputation for not caring about the impact your hotel has on the environment, then you could find that you’re blacklisted by this community.
Adhere to Environmental Regulations
Depending on where your hotel is in the world, there might already be rules and regulations regarding energy usage and pollution that you need to meet.
If there aren’t environmental regulations like these where you are, then there’s a good chance they’re on the horizon. Whether it’s in a month or a few years, you’ll need to improve your hotel’s overall efficiency to make sure it meets future law changes.
Your competition might wait until the last minute to change their systems and policy. Get ahead of others and establish yourself as a hotel that cares about the environment and you’ll reap financial and reputational benefits.
Create a Great Place to Work
If your hotel is actively working to improve its environmental impact and create a green space that can be enjoyed for generations, then staff will enjoy working there.
Happy staff want to do the very best job they can. So much of a guest’s experience in your hotel comes from the service they receive from the desk staff, waiters and cleaning team. You can’t force staff to be approachable and friendly, but by creating a fantastic work environment, it can happen naturally.
Ignore green technologies and you could leave staff unhappy that you aren’t taking an important issue seriously. Taking responsibility for the hotel’s environmental impact shows that you care not only about the planet and the community, but also the staff that work there.
All kinds of different factors come together to make a hotel a great place to work, including the hotel’s policy on the environment.
For example, hotel staff usually have to wear a uniform of some kind when they’re working. Uniforms boost team unity and give a fantastic first impression for guests when they arrive. However, if the uniform isn’t comfortable or practical, then staff will be unhappy and won’t provide a high level of customer service.
Shoes are the most important part of any staff member’s uniform. The wrong pair can lead to aches, pains and avoidable slips which can cause serious injuries. Hotel staff need shoes that are suited to their specific job role, keeping them comfortable and safe during a busy shift.
Wow Your Guests and Keep Them Coming Back
Being eco-friendly might be enough to encourage a guest to book a room at your hotel. Then, it’s up to your service and the hotel itself to encourage them to come back in the future. To really wow your visitors and ensure that they visit again in the future, you need to go the extra mile.
For a few ideas and inspiration on delighting your hotel’s guests, make sure to download our eBook. It’s packed with suggestions that you can implement that will take your guests’ stay from great to outstanding.
It covers the check-in, rooms, facilities and check-out, with each of them an opportunity to impress guests. The aim is for them to tell all their friends about how fantastic your hotel is and our eBook can help with that.
Get your free copy now by clicking on the link below.