Hospitality Design - September 2023 - 39

The former St. Regis Princeville is now the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay, a
redesign aimed at integrating the building into its lush surroundings
The lobby at the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay
recalls a verdant rainforest
A rendering of an F&B space in the mass timber
hospitality prototype from DLR Group, developed
thanks in part to a grant from the U.S. Forest Service
There is a sustainability playbook
starting to emerge in the hospitality
industry. Marriott International, one of
the first large hotel companies to take aim
at its resource use, reported this year that
since 2016 it has reduced its properties'
average energy needs by almost 13 percent
and average water use per occupied room
by more than 6 percent. Along the way, it
has helped to accelerate the transformation
taking place across the industry.
" A lot of people, from an energy
perspective, identified the low-hanging fruit.
Changing out from what were incandescent
light bulbs to either CFLs or LEDs had a
major energy reduction for them, " says
Denise Naguib, Marriott's vice president of
global sustainability and supplier diversity.
She points to the installation of low-flow
appliances and providing smaller plates
at buffets as strategies that can put a dent
in water use and food waste, while saving
hoteliers money in the long run.
Not every hotel has checked all those
boxes yet. But a growing number of
guests-across a range of price points-are
expressing concern about their ecological
footprints and seeking out more sustainable
options. These sorts of modest improvements
are fast becoming the industry standard.
Plenty of opportunities remain for
hotels to become more sustainable, but
embracing them requires more work, time,
and money compared with their easy-toreach
counterparts. Companies are learning,
however, that the benefits still outweigh the
costs. They are experimenting with ways
to embed sustainability into every part of
their operations and create incentives for
franchisees to go above and beyond-and are
seeing remarkable results.
Reducing the footprint
At its most basic level, sustainability means that
resources are not being consumed faster than
they can be replenished. Every hotel interprets
that meaning-and views its own road to
sustainability-differently.
Most major hotel groups have rolled out
their own sustainability programs. Hyatt's World
of Care is requiring all full-service managed
properties in the Americas to achieve some form
of environmental certification by the end of this
year. Wyndham Green is one of several to include
tiered certification levels for franchisees that then
can be displayed on hotel websites and searched
by eco-conscious guests.
Choice Hotels' recently revamped Room to
be Green takes a similar approach, beginning
with " a fairly robust set of requirements " and
expanding upward from there, says Megan
Brumagim, vice president of environmental,
social, and governance (ESG) for Choice Hotels.
hospitalitydesign.com September 2023
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Hospitality Design - September 2023

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