Hotels go green
New Zealand hotel owners are having a change of heart when it comes to being sustainable. By Mandy Te.
The days of mini shampoo bottles and wrapped soap are dwindling as the demand for sustainable practices has encouraged hotels to re-think what they offer customers.
Pillows made from plastic bottles, harvesting water from the roof and re-purposing old products to decorate rooms are just some of the steps New Zealand hotels are making.
What was once a 1980s office building on Wellington’s Lambton Quay, Park Hotel has a four-star rating, which means there are some things it still has to give guests such as toothbrushes and slippers.
It does not claim to be 100 per cent eco-friendly, but front office manager Devvrat Kaushal said sustainability was key, such as giving guests free access to bicycles and electric car charging and using enough pillows to divert 20,862 plastic bottles from going to landfill.
‘‘It’s not just about business, but also about what you contribute to the environment... it’s about making a difference in the long term,’’ Kaushal said.
With hotels in Auckland, Rotorua and Christchurch Sudima
Hotel is the only New Zealand hotel chain to be CarboNZero certified. The hotel’s environment and social advocate, Vedika Jhunjhnuwala, said the company had pushed suppliers to know its environmental practices were a deal-breaker. ‘‘This is something if you don’t have, we’ll actually walk away and we’re not afraid to make that change.’’
Each of its hotels has a group of volunteers who meet monthly to discuss what can be done to make the business more ecofriendly. For example, the
Sudima Auckland Airport Hotel harvests water from the roof to water gardens and flush toilets . Last year, the chain banned plastic straws in all its hotels and planned to become single-use and plastic free by 2020.
Associate Professor Shelagh
Mooney from the Auckland University of Technologyhospitality department said there was a growing body of research showing sustainability initiatives and philosophies gave companies and organisations a marketing advantage.
‘‘The Ma¯ ori ideas of stewardship, of being at one with the environment, of a holistic overview of community values and a collective of looking after each other and looking after the environment – that’s massively powerful.
‘‘I would love to see the more widespread adoption of Ma¯ori principles of partnership, stewardship and manaakitanga imposed ... we know the Western model is flawed and is based on economic gains – we have a unique opportunity in this country to really build on those strong indigenous foundations of knowledge.’’
Sommer Kapitan, a senior lecturer on marketing and retailing at the Auckland University of Technology, said there had been a deep systematic change in how business now approached their suppliers looking for eco-friendly solutions rather than waiting for their customers to ask.
Being environmentally conscious was a growing part of the market and people were no longer tolerant of businesses who did not practice what they preached, she said.
‘‘Businesses know they can’t fake it because consumers have more power now and that’s partially due to the rise in social media.
‘‘It’s about getting the attention of customers by offering something different – it shows you’re different and stand out and makes me feel better about a purchase because it aligns with my values.’’