Communication
Good communication is essential to the success of your 'green' drive. Make sure you let staff know what it's all about and train them properly to ensure they implement effectively. Retrain regularly and think about using awards or other incentives to motivate!
Let customers know what you are doing and what they can do to help. It's a positive message and a way for you to show your leadership in this area. Include messages in welcome packs, websites, notice boards etc - and print off the customer tips below to hand to guests when they arrive. It's great PR and a way for you to differentiate your business.
Click here for customer tips
Click here for our Insider Guide - Making the most of the 'Green' Opportunity (Warning: Windows executable only)
Click here to view in PDF format
Communicate with staff and guests
Employees directly control most of the water, energy, chemicals, materials and other resources that are used in a hotel and thus largely determine the efficiency with which it operates. As such, they must be fully aware, involved and committed to the hotel's green drive.
An effective staff communications and training effort should strive to achieve the following objectives.
- Explain the rationale for the hotel's conservation program. Employees must understand that by adopting sound conservation measures the hotel can
- contribute its share towards reducing carbon emission, mitigating climate change, and preserving a cleaner and healthier environment for present and future generations;
- help maintain the desirability of the destination and the long-term sustainability of tourism as a source of jobs and income for the local community; and
- reduce the hotel's operating costs and, thereby, enhance its competitiveness and viability as a business and employer.
- Train employees on what they can do to help improve the hotel's environmental performance. Employees must be aware of the impact of their actions on efficiency and waste generation, and should be trained on how to conserve water, energy, materials, chemicals and other resources in their daily activities.
- Solicit input from staff on measures the hotel could adopt to minimize waste and conserve resources. Since employees are intimately familiar with the workings of the hotel, they are the ones who can generally identify the best opportunities for improving performance.
- Provide feedback on the progress made by the green drive so that employees can see the results of their efforts. Providing this feedback can be done, for example, by posting on the staff bulletin board graphs that track on a monthly basis the key performance indicators measured by the hotel - such as the amount of water and energy consumed per guest-night, the amount of materials recycled per guest-night, and the amount of waste discarded per guest-night.
Hotels that take action to improve their environmental performance should let their customers know what they are doing to minimise the impact of their operations on the environment and the results they have achieved. In addition, they should invite their guests to contribute to the hotel’s green drive and tell them how they can do this - for example, by participating in the towel and bed linens reuse programme, and using the hotel’s recycling centres to discard the recyclable wastes they generate.
Partners
and Sponsors
The Ski Club of Great Britain's website dedicated to snowsports and the environment. Including the Green Resort Guide, Best Practices guides, links to related research projects, green news, facts and resources.
The Ski Club of Great Britain
The Federation of Tour Operators