It goes without saying that the travel industry contributes to a significant amount of waste and pollution. While many travellers do care about the environment, few are willing to curtail their holidays completely, because the proposed experience is too compelling or the alternatives are too difficult and/or expensive. Yet, even the most cynical of luxury travellers are aware of the need to go green. And for many, a personal lack of action only increases their desire for premium travel to be environmentally considerate – because while travellers might not feel they can go green themselves, they most certainly expect big airlines and hotel conglomerates to lead the way.

In recent years sustainability in the travel industry has progressed from a truly niche consideration to an industry-wide priority (helped, of course, by airlines, airports and hotels finding that adopting eco-friendly initiatives also saved them money). What is now clear to accommodation providers is that holidaymakers expect the companies they book with to be as responsible, ethical and sustainable as possible – allowing hotel guests to reuse their bed linen isn’t enough. Over the coming years expect travel brands to integrate sustainability into their offerings in exciting and inventive ways.

Destination: Uninterrupted 
Hotels that have minimal visual and structural impact on their environment 
Some eco-conscious travellers no longer appreciate their luxurious hotels or dwellings being the focus of their holiday. Rather, these travellers are increasingly looking to the location itself to provide total aesthetic gratification, which they can experience in the rawest, purest and most unadulterated form possible. Because of this, we can expect to see a greater number of accommodation types designed to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Opened in January 2013, Sleeping Around is a temporary hotel that is continually placed in different locations around Antwerp. Basic shipping containers have been transformed into a hotel space, with rooms furnished using sustainably sourced materials. Guests find out where they’re overnighting only after confirming their booking, at which point the directions are released via GPS. 

The Eco-Resort Pedras Salgadas is a collection of cabins built to blend into the woodland environment they inhabit in a northern Portugal park and spa. The cabins were erected according to the various sizes of the gaps between the trees and the placement of windows and doors reflect this too. According to the designers Luis Rebelo de Andrade and Diogo Aguiar, the cabins were purposely built to have a ‘minimal effect on the local nature’, thus emphasising interaction between guests and the park.

Flower Power 
‘Living Hotels’ take being green to a whole new extreme 
For the travellers that have long adopted a sustainable mindset, holidaying sustainably is imperative. Many of these consumers derive their status from their own concern for the environment and are seeking opportunities when travelling to flaunt their eco-credentials unabashedly. Nowadays, LEED certifications, green housekeeping operations and sustainability programmes are simply not enough. These guests yearn for bolder and even more iconic displays of what it means to be green. In order to truly stand out from the ‘sustainable hotel’ crowd, luxury brands are pushing the boundaries once more and embodying nature by becoming a beautiful, living, breathing extension of it.

US-based architecture firm Emergent unveiled designs for the 1,500-room National Hotel near Beijing’s airport. The building will feature a 107,000-foot indoor rainforest, with windows and skylights providing natural light and energy-efficient solar thermal pipes included to provide heating.

The B3 Hotel Virrey in Bogota has an eight-storey living wall decorating the building’s exterior. Composed of more than 25,000 plants (over 40 per cent of which are indigenous Colombian species), the vertical garden is self-pollinating and also helps to insulate the hotel and reduce pollution.

Eco-experiences 
Outsourcing eco-initiatives to guests and embedding sustainability into holiday experiences
It’s safe to say that we are in an age where ‘convenient’ sustainability appeals to the majority. Yet as premium hotels up the ante with their eco-related offerings, truly eco-conscious travellers also expect these organisations to enable them to take a step further in their own sustainability-related commitments. Savvy brands in the hotel sector understand that for these consumers, responsible consumption is a two-way affair. And the coming years will see more hotels facilitating increasingly novel, engaging and memorable guest participatory eco-experiences.

In 2012, Cottage Lodge bed and breakfast in Hampshire unveiled the Standing Hat room, where guests who want to watch television are required to do so via pedal-power. Other eco facilities include bamboo flooring and a wood-burning stove. The holiday accommodation was built with sustainability in mind, and the solar-powered Standing Hat room was constructed from locally sourced Douglas Fir trees.

Chile’s Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa launched an initiative in 2012 to give each of its guests a trackable virtual tree seed for planting in fire-ravaged areas of the Chilean Patagonia, through a partnership with non-profit Reforestemos Patagonia. Every guest is given a virtual tree code when they reserve accommodation at the hotel and can then choose where they would like their tree to be planted, receiving an email certificate verifying planting along with the exact, trackable coordinates through a geo-referenced Google Maps link. 

Demand for sustainable solutions in the luxury-travel sector will continue to rise, which of course provides a win-win situation for all. Even the most eco-conscious consumers will still travel a great deal but they are looking for ways to offset their guilt and will pay a premium for the opportunity – for luxury-travel brands that’s yet another incentive to champion environmental responsibility.
by Lola Pedro

Os primeiros hóspedes devem chegar no início do verão, quando a fase 1 do projeto de turismo do Ameal estiver pronta. Entre os 800 metros de frente do rio Lima, as vinhas onde nasce um dos mais premiados vinhos da região e uma mata de oito hectares, ficarão pouco mais do que uma mão cheia de casas, espalhadas por vários edifícios.

Pedro Araújo tem montado a marca Ameal garrafa a garrafa e agora está a somar-lhe o turismo, que promoverá como "eco-resort and vineyard", de olhos voltados para o estrangeiro, onde aliás vai parar 60% da sua produção. Tal como no vinho, está a reconstruir os vários edifícios com o pormenor de quem almeja o mercado mais alto possível. "O nosso luxo será o espaço", diz.

E não só. Nos planos está uma piscina, com decks desnivelados, um aproveitamento do rio com kayak e uma pequena praia fluvial no extremo da propriedade, uma mercearia com produtos portugueses e um restaurante, mais casas espalhadas pela mata.

O espaço quer, também, ser autossuficiente do ponto de vista energético. Para isso, e para as disfarçar, vai cobrir o telhado de duas vacarias com painéis fotovoltaicos e transformar em reservatórios de água o que resta dos antigos silos de grão: durante o dia, a eletricidade gerada bombeia água para os reservatórios; à noite, a água escorre para o rio através de turbinas que mantêm as luzes acesas, explicou o empresário.

"Tudo tem que falar a mesma língua", diz: a mini-hídrica tem que dizer com a agricultura biológica, a qualidade do alojamento ser compatível com o nível alcançado pelos vinhos, que têm sido reconhecidos como estando entre os melhores da região.

O Minho "tem tudo para ser a melhor região produtora de brancos em Portugal", garante. Da Quinta saem cerca de 50 mil garrafas por ano, armazenadas em cuba. Parte do vinho é envelhecido em barricas de carvalho francês. A maioria ruma além fronteiras, acabando em garrafeiras como a do Petrus, restaurante do famoso "chef" Gordon Ramsay.Por Alexandra Figueira

When we think of going on vacation, or maybe traveling just for the fun of it,  what brand comes to mind? When we mention let’s go to “Anaheim” does Disney come to mind before anything else? Mickey Mouse? “Orlando” - what comes to mind? The power of the magic brand of Harry Potter. When in New York it’s the Plaza, right? How many times has that hotel appeared on TV? I don’t suppose that the Candle Stick Inn located in Nantucket comes to mind? No branding there. How is it that these branded icons have such staying power? Is it pure genius or just luck? Perhaps a bit of both. Nobody in the hotel business request a box of tissue for the rooms, they will (99%) say “room 234 needs a box of Kleenex” regardless of the brand of tissue being delivered to room 234. That is powerful branding. When thinking of a hotel chain the same comes to mind, Hilton, Westin, Marriott, and so on. They are recognized branded names of the industry. Perhaps the most recognizable one (Holiday Inn) so when we are assigned to a new property, let’s say a major hotel yet to determined flag. How do we go about choosing the right one? What measure do we use? Do we want a flag? Why do we choose one over the other?

Every businessman, every hotelier every restaurateur, every person that ever wanted to establish a business has wrestled with “What do I name it” The idea is that the brand should say it all, so when the brand name is mentioned a visual image should come to mind. Ferrari, gorgeous car, Macdonald’s fast food. In the hotel business that means appearance, ambiance, attention to detail.  As you pay attention to the detail outside, you should also pay attention to what you offer inside.

What brand would give the investors the best return on their investment? Will a Hilton do better than a Sheraton?  It does put your mind to work, putting that aside we also have to decide on brands that will entice the customer to visit our property as well. What flag would appeal most to the traveling guest? Customers like to stay at hotels that offer products that they are used to. Those products usually cost more that the generic brand that some properties use. Room amenities there are dozens of products on the market to choose from. Let’s talk about one of the basic ones, “Coffee” in room coffee, I will tell you right now that most branded hotels have a terrible in room coffee. I am a coffee drinker by nature and unless I am familiar with the coffee I very seldom drink in room coffee. What tissue is to Kleenex, Starbucks is to Coffee?

I have heard guest ask the breakfast attended if they serve Starbucks, not do you have coffee? Starbucks has replaced the coffee icon, just like Kleenex has replaced tissue. I as a guest will look for a Starbucks coffee house near the hotel. Now ask yourself as a GM of the property I as guest just left your hotel, because you did not provide a recognized brand of coffee. Before all of you out there in hotel land get upset, there are a lot of hotels that do offer branded coffee in their lobby. Better late than never I say… I will also pass on this information to all of you out there, branded coffee is only as good as the person making it. Don’t make the mistake that so many managers make of assigning a non-coffee drinker to making your morning coffee. I have the habit of asking the breakfast server if they drink coffee. I get a lot of “No I don’t” First; they won’t be able to tell if it is made right or if it even taste good. The best coffee is made by those that appreciate a good cup of coffee in the morning. Let me tell you there is nothing like the Italian barista who make coffee in the early morning they elevate coffee making to an art.

That is why branding plays a big part in guest choosing your property over your competitor down the street. People it’s in the details remember that? Do you enjoy walking up or down 2 floors to find ice? Finding the soda machine out of stock? It has happened more times than not. Would you use a product that you do not recognize in a hotel? Probably not. There are countless examples of brands out there that catch the eye of the potential guest, client or even vendor, it’s not exclusive to the hotel industry. Speaking of Starbucks aside that their coffee is good (my humble opinion) they also have excellent customer service skills. Something to emulate in the hotel industry. Could you imagine a Coca-Cola hotel next to a Pepsi Cola hotel?

Talk about a comp set battle, the question I will ask is would you as the manager of the Coca Cola hotel offer your guest Pepsi Cola?  What’s a manager to do?  There are a lot of new hotel properties being built around the globe, small boutique and some super large ones due to open here shortly. They will offer an array of products that will entice the customer to enter the labyrinth of pleasure to see what it offers. During my career I have worked for some mega properties they tax your knowledge and keep you running, but personally I prefer smaller properties. Smaller properties are able to offer much better customer service.  So when you sit down with your owners to decide what you will offer think how the right brand and product selection can help bring customers to your door. Coffee would be nice, thank you.
By Alan Campbell