With more boutique and independent hoteliers interested in sustainability and its effects on the environment and their bottom lines than ever before, Zurich-based MAp Boutique Consultancy and its hotel sustainability platform, The Sustainable Hotel, can guide them to initiating
eco-friendly best practices at their hotels.
The platform offers these hoteliers free tools and resources, including handbooks, checklists and guides, to help them implement sustainable practices on-property.
“From our experience with our clients, hoteliers want to make their hotels more sustainable but find sustainability to be daunting,” said Kelsi Kennedy, consultant/strategist, MAp Boutique Consultancy. “While there is a lot of information on the topic, they struggle to distill it down to what it means for their hotel and their hotel operations. We created The Sustainable Hotel to provide helpful and practical sustainability resources and services especially crafted for boutique and independent hotels to help them get started on the road to sustainability in a step-by-step way.”
Kelsi Kennedy MAp Boutique Consultancy
The consultancy believes there are three main reasons for the rise of hotelier interest in sustainable practices. First, Kennedy noted, is “the pressure growing from the outside, whether its from guests asking questions, external regulations on the rise or competitors moving forward on sustainability.
Second is the hotelier’s own motivation. “More and more hoteliers see the moral imperative in making their hotels more sustainable,” she said. “They know that, through their hotels, they have the power to create real impact and leave their destination better off for future generations.”
The third reason, obviously, is that it is good business for the hotelier. “Hotels benefit from sustainability in a number of ways, from gaining customer appeal and generating customer loyalty saving costs and realizing efficiencies, as well as attracting investment.”
The company has also created the Sustainability Assessment tool to measure a hotel’s sustainability practices according to its sustainability framework, the 4 Ps of Sustainability: Purpose, People, Planet and Profit.
“The assessment guides hoteliers in a playful way through all four areas,” said Kennedy. “The first objective is to make them aware of what holistic sustainability means for their hotel. We’ve learned that when taking the assessment, many hoteliers realize where they need to improve.”
She added, “Technically speaking, the assessment consists of a number of yes or no questions and assigns points for questions answered with a yes. At the end, the points are added up and the user is given a score between 0-100. They end up in one of four categories – Ambitious Rookie (0–25), Avid Adventurer (26–50), Expert Explorer (51–75) and Peak Performer (76–100). As a result, they see where they stand and know what they need to do to reach the next level.”
The online assessment is part of “The Sustainable Hotel Handbook” collection, which helps hoteliers assess their status quo at the start of their sustainability journeys and measure their progress as they go.
“It is aligned with the 20 scorecards we developed as part of the handbook series and with international hotel certifications,” Kennedy noted. “The handbook collection helps hoteliers in a practical way to make their hotels more sustainable and get them certified.”
The company also offers several free sustainability templates on its website, including “Write your hotel sustainability story in 3 simple steps,” which helps hotels build unique and authentic sustainability stories that act as the basis for their sustainability communication.
Kennedy noted, “This template guides hoteliers in getting to the heart of their sustainability story by asking critical questions; piecing their sustainability statement together; adding more details and color around their story; and ensuring it aligns with MAp’s 10 Principles of Sustainable Communication (transparency, inclusiveness, cultural sensitivity, clarity, responsibility, authenticity, progress, relevance, inspirational and ethical).”
