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Does your hotel program accommodate sustainability?
Can corporate travel be good for business – and your soul? Understanding a hotel’s sustainability credentials can help you and your travellers sleep well at night. So Corporate Traveller challenges you to ask - how do your accommodation partners rate?
Why just do good – when you can do better?
Reusing your bath towel? Tick. Avoiding bottled water? Tick. Turning off the air conditioning? Tick. Most travellers automatically follow ingrained sustainable behaviours and that’s great - but what’s next?
A new environmental and cultural shift is reshaping the accommodation sector, and changing faster than many businesses can keep up. So if you haven’t reassessed your hotel partnerships for a few years – your travel program could be a dinosaur. And we all know what happened to them!
Wake up to the future
Years of uncertainty and escalating change have shaped corporate and individual behaviours. Today, employees have a newfound power to influence how and where they work – and that translates into how they travel too.
A 2022 SAP Concur survey of 1,000 business travellers, found that 88% of respondents were willing to take steps to reduce their environmental impact while travelling for work, even if doing so could mean opting for a less-fancy hotel or using public transport.
While businesses which empower travellers with the choice of more sustainable travel options, have employees that report feeling more fulfilled and experience higher levels of satisfaction. Plus it also helps the business with employee retention and attracting new talent.
The good news is that the hotel industry in New Zealand is breaking new ground in sustainability. After all, when your livelihood is linked to a global reputation as one of the most pristine destinations on the planet, it pays to get on board. This trend is also helping to shape domestic and international corporate travel programs.
Moving beyond tokenistic gestures
A PwC 2022 Workforce Hopes & Fears Survey, reported on the attitudes of nearly 18,000 workers across Asia Pacific and found that employees were yearning for more action and more accountability, stating -
“In relation to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters, a significant number of employees across Asia Pacific feel their company isn’t doing enough to help them navigate these critical issues."
“Three-quarters (73%) say they lack support for minimising their company’s impact on the environment.”
Along with the environmental imperative, it’s clear that workforce dynamics cannot be ignored. Tips from Corporate Traveller on how to tailor your hotel program to meet these changing attitudes, include:
- Selecting sustainable suppliers
- Ensuring your travel policy supports sustainability goals
- Engaging with suppliers to grow your partnership
- Communicating your sustainability targets with employees
- Identifying sustainable travel champions
- Making it easy to do the right thing
- Recognising and celebrating improvement and change
Checking in on hotel credentials
With the new corporate commitment to ESG, transparency and climate targets, you don’t have to look hard to find hotel groups championing sustainability. In fact, business travellers in New Zealand are spoilt for choice.
The following hotels brands, which Corporate Traveller is proud to partner with, are just two that demonstrate the lengths properties are going to – to meet both internal and external sustainability commitments. So how well is your business partnering with suppliers that share your values?
Scenic Hotel Groups
This New Zealand owned and operated brand is committed to connecting guests with people, experiences and places – particularly in many of New Zealand’s most treasured environments and communities, where tourism along with primary industries are the key drivers to their economies. Initiatives include:
- Championing local farmers, growers and fisheries, as well as local manufacturers producing sustainable products
- Working towards zero carbon targets
- Addressing fuel efficiency, lower emission vehicles and renewable power
- Reducing waste that goes to landfill, responsible battery disposal
- Banning single use items and swapping to initiatives such as 100% biodegradable slippers
- Encouraging guests to utilise e-bikes
- Championing locally sourced, seasonal dishes, sustainable farming and animal welfare
- Harvesting honey from hotel bee hives, more plant based food options
- Guardianship and protection of the environment they inhabit
The Hotel Britomart, Auckland
This Auckland hotel is New Zealand’s only 5 Green Star hotel, certified for its design and build by the NZ Green Building Council. To achieve this exclusive world-recognised rating, it had to meet standards in regards to glass thermal performance, insulation levels, water use, plastic minimisation, interior and exterior materials and much more.
The hotel also addressed eight core facets of sustainability – Governance, Environmental Sustainability, Social Sustainability, Economic Sustainability, Sustainable Building, Operations, Measuring Building Performance, and Measuring Carbon Footprint and Reporting. From its supply chain policy, which ensures 80% of procurement is New Zealand made, to its staff engagement and cultural awareness policies, every element has been consciously considered to deliver on the company’s ambitious sustainability vision.
Check out the best ways to check in
Is your business committed to putting sustainability at the heart of your travel program? Corporate Traveller can help. From assessing the credentials of suppliers, to establishing performance benchmarks and accountability for your program targets. Our bespoke travel assessment can take a deep dive into all aspects of your corporate travel, including -
Analytics
- Hotel program diagnostics
- Evaluation of current booking trends and sustainability score
- Recommendations on how to meet sustainability targets
Sourcing
- Identify the best-fit suppliers for your needs, values and goals
- Deliver agreed KPIs including sustainability targets, savings and traveller satisfaction
Elevate
- Traveller engagement and feedback
- Travel policy review and recommendations
- Communications plan to engage travellers and effect change
- Ongoing program management and reporting
Talk to Corporate Traveller about tips on partnering with sustainable hotel partners, that both enhance your offering and share your values.
Visit www.corporatetraveller.co.nz
