#44 | 18/10/2024

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Well that was a busy few days.

We've been at the Independent Hotel Show this week where I hosted a panel The Sustainability Showdown: How on earth to make sustainability work. We also visited the ESG Hub. More on both and what else we got up to below.

Do sign up to The Sustainable Hotel Exchange : Storytelling Matters webinar which is next Wednesday. Join hospitality and sustainability leaders as they discuss how hotels can better talk about their responsible initiatives, the impact of the Green Claims Directive on a hotel's storytelling, how to manage concerns around greenwashing - and greenhushing - and how to keep the trust of those looking for sustainable stays. We have some fantastic people on the panel – sign up link below!

We also bring you a Q&A with Ben Harper the CEO behind the new SeaSpace "community-first" aparthotel brand, which is opening in Cornwall this weekend, as well as a full review of the London Heathrow Marriott and all of its sustainability initiatives.

And we take a look at the first "carbon positive" hotel in the US.

Until next time,

Felicity Cousins
Editor, Sustainable Hotel News

Image: Ben Harper CEO Watergate Bay Hotel | Another Place | SeaSpace | Beach Retreats

The Independent Hotel Show London took place this week. Sustainable Hotel News was at the show and here is a roundup of what we got up to and who we chatted with, as well as a summary of the panel “Sustainability – how on earth to make it work” moderated by editor Felicity Cousins.

Sign up for the next Sustainable Hotel Exchange: Storytelling Matters and join experts from the industry as they discuss how hotels can better talk about their responsible initiatives, the impact of the Green Claims Directive on a hotel’s storytelling, how to manage concerns around greenwashing – and greenhushing – and how to keep the trust of those looking for sustainable stays.

As one of the big brands of airport hotels on the Bath Road, London Heathrow Marriott, stands out with the bonus of a swimming pool and is a leading hotel for sustainable practices, including an emphasis on food waste with its own Food Waste Lab and zero waste recipes. Sustainable Hotel News stayed at the hotel after an event on food waste and the hotel’s general manager Ron Vos was keen for us to see business-as-usual as well as behind-the-scenes, sharing his enthusiasm for the hotel’s many sustainable achievements and progress.

Populus, the United States’ first “carbon positive” hotel opened this week. The hotel has been developed by Urban Villages, a real estate developer and environmental steward and will be managed by Aparium Hotel Group. Urban Villages defines carbon positive as “a commitment to sequester more carbon in biomass and soil than the combined embodied and operational footprints of the building throughout its entire lifecycle.”

The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 24th Global Summit in Perth, Western Australia, has kicked off with an update to its environmental footprint data. WTTC’s latest Environmental & Social Research (ESR), created in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, revealed that in 2023 Travel & Tourism accounted for 6.7 per cent of all emissions globally, down from 7.8 per cent in 2019, when Travel & Tourism was at its peak.

B Corp, Lamington Group, has launched its “new and improved” loyalty programme, The Hometel Club, which offers free stays on guests’ birthdays and the chance to offset your stay.

Felicity Cousins, editor Sustainable Hotel News talked to CEO Ben Harper about the launch of SeaSpace which opens this weekend. Harper talks philosophically about the sector, about how to build community for a better purpose, what makes people tick, what they want from their time away from home, and how to breathe fresh energy into places which have not had the investment they well deserve.

🗣️ Sign up to The Sustainable Hotel Exchange: Storytelling Matters here! 🗣️

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