Mantis is a boutique hospitality group founded by conservationist Adrian Gardiner in 2000, with its main focus in Africa and the Middle East. Mantis grew from Gardiner’s vision to restore and rewild degraded farmland which he developed into the first private game reserve in the Eastern Cape. It was the beginning of “eco-tourism” in a an area which had few opportunities outside of commercial farming. The conservation-focused hotel group has been offering eco-lodges, curated eco-escapes and waterway experiences for 24 years. Sustainable Hotel News caught up with Gareth Venner, sales & marketing director, Mantis Collection to talk about how the communication of the Mantis Collection has had to evolve, banana leaf slippers, the move into the Middle East, and how Mantis is a responsible tourism pioneer.
Mantis has been part of the responsible travel movement since 2000 and with everyone talking about responsible tourism today, does it feel like Mantis was a pioneer?
GV: I’ve only been with Mantis for about 10 months but that is one of the reasons why I joined because it’s something very close to my heart; conservation and uplifting the local community, especially in a country like South Africa, and in the rest of Africa. Adrian Gardiner, our founder, has it instilled in who he is and that rubs off on anyone who works for Mantis. I think, one of the problems today is obviously you talk the talk, but do you walk the walk? I think we’re very fortunate that Mantis has been doing this since the year 2000.
What about the relationship with Accor?
GV: It’s really important to be part of Accor as it is also a forerunner in ESG and putting KPIs in place for all general managers across their 5,400 plus hotels. And it’s not just a tick list. They’re actually being measured against water waste, energy saving, food waste.
And with Accor being part of HARP does that follow down through to Mantis as well, in terms of your suppliers and how you look for those?
GV: It does filter through. We’ve all got access to the same resources, obviously, from the Mantis portfolio. We are in quite interesting and remote destinations so we try and source the majority of our suppliers locally as far as possible, but we do reference the global procurement guidelines, quite a bit. If we get something locally, we also know we supporting the local community.
Can you give an example of that local support?
GV: One of our hotels has a project running where they’ve provided the seedlings to a local community which grows the crops, and that is where we get our fresh produce. Because they are on the Chobe River, which is between the Namibia and Botswana border, you have to plan where to source produce very carefully. A lot of hotels do Farm to Table dining and that’s one of the programmes that goes back to sustainability but is also uplifting that local community.
Mantis introduced the Banana Leaf Slipper project last year at Mantis EPIC Hotel and Suites in Rwanda. Can you tell me more about this?
GV: So that’s a very exciting programme in Rwanda. As you know, the slippers you get in normal hotels are single-use slippers and they have a plastic sole, so you’re adding to plastic waste. Mantis EPIC Hotel and Suites in Rwanda, partnered with Hirwa Children Foundation to make the banana leaf slippers. As a result 21 women and 17 teenage mothers have been provided with income – generating opportunities so they can support their families. It also supports a school with 341 children by providing essential school supplies. It’s a really cool programme and it has gone on to be introduced across other Mantis properties in Rwanda so we are actually looking at speaking to the founders to see how we can roll it out to other properties elsewhere but because it’s a leaf the import and exports might be an issue.
Do you think hotels have a responsibility to pay more for more sustainable products?
GV: That’s a great question. Rwanda has got a zero plastic tolerance. So if you import anything into Rwanda that is plastic, you need to have a very good reason for using it. You’ve got hotels that are run by people that come from a finance background, and they normally look at the bottom line. And then you’ve got people that work their way up from a sales and marketing and we don’t like the Excel spreadsheets! We want the story and to go to a trade show and really connect with a customer from an emotional level. But you know it is the right thing to do. And our brand is supporting 21 women and 17 teenage mothers and the school with more than 300 children.
Is Mantis Collection having to change the way it communicates its sustainability stories because of the focus on language with the Green Claims Directive?
GV: There are programmes which are difficult to prove. Yes, we gave the seedlings to this community, but do we know that those seedlings are growing and now reproducing? It is quite difficult so we have to make sure that who we partner with can support us in the facts and the figures. The add on to that is now our finance team, or procurement team, needs to go and say, right, this is what we need from you, because we need to prove what we are actually doing and that just helps with that education. But yes, I think the way in which we communicate has changed.
So even though you’ve been doing it for the past 24 years, you changing the way in which you communicate?
GV: Yes because more and more of our customers are actually asking, especially with the laws in the EU. RFPs are also becoming more and more prevalent, whereas in the past, it was, “do you have an ESG programme?” And then you can do a 500 word summary of it, whereas now they’re actually asking for more information, or they’re asking for certification and things like that.
Do you think luxury and sustainability can go hand-in-hand?
GV: Yes. I think luxury is no longer the thread count and the pillow menu. It is really connecting with your roots and with the local community. And luxury is becoming the experience that you have, that story you’re going to go back and tell your kids or your grandkids, how 10 years ago, you went to Rwanda or Botswana, and had this interaction. I think that is the luxury, but then you still have your your traditional luxury expectations, and how you weave that in, and how you communicate that with customers to say, we’re not going to keep the air conditioners running 24/7, just because we’re using solar. It’s how you communicate that and how you weave that into the luxury experience.
Mantis Collection is growing in the Middle East with Hawar Resort by Mantis in Bahrain, Mantis Al Baha in Saudi Arabia and Mantis Saij Mountain Lodge in the United Arab Emirates. Can you tell us more?
GV: We are expanding into the Middle East, which is exciting for us. So our first one is on the west coast of Hawar Island, which is about a three minute boat ride from Bahrain mainland. Hawar Resort by Mantis in Bahrain. We’re taking conservation into an area which is pretty much new to them and educating the staff and educating the team.
It’s interesting going into areas where sustainability and conservation has not been the top priority. They’ve got a tortoise and turtle conservation project and there’s migratory birds, sand gazelles, and coral reef protection. So there’s quite a bit that we are developing and looking at how can we support the area, and how can we really uplift the area as well.
Felicity Cousins spoke to Gareth Venner mid October, 2024.