In keeping with consumer trends surrounding sustainability, Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) of the World has launched a group of 26-member properties under its new Considerate Collection brand as well as sustainability initiatives as part of a new overall strategy.
To generated a transparent framework for Considerate Hotels, SLH is working with the likes of Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) – the international, independent, not-for-profit body established by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO); and Greenview, whose platform is the only GSTC-recognized sustainable tourism management tool.
Criteria for the Considerate Collection align with three key pillars: ensuring all the hotels are community minded, cultural custodians and environmentally conscious. Each hotel either has been certified by a GSTC Accredited Certification Body or certified to a GSTC Recognized Standard, or has passed an assessment by the SLH Sustainability Advisory Panel with review by the GSTC.
Member hotels are featured on a specific space of the SLH website, slh.com/considerate, stamped with a sage leaf and include content outlining their notable sustainability initiatives. For example, Keemala in Thailand outlines its biodiversity program and Gangtey Lodge in Bhutan promotes its culture preservation.
Over the last two years, SLH has also worked with sustainability consultancy, The Considerate Group, to develop toolkits to support its member hotels. Ongoing, H2 Sustainability Consulting, headed by former hotelier Hervé Houdré, is among the consultancies SLH is collaborating with to support hotel members.
HOTELS talked to Daniel Luddington, vice president of development for SLH, to learn more about this initiative.
HOTELS: Can you go deeper on why SLH created Considerate Collection?
Daniel Luddington: Small Luxury Hotels of the World has always been steeped in sustainability, and our portfolio of hotels is particularly strong in two sustainable pillars – community and cultural preservation. We’ve been the ‘champions of small’ and ultimately sustainable hotels for over 30 years but without ever using the ‘sustainability’ label. Our research shows that today’s guests and travel agents want such hotels signposted, so in essence, we’re making it easier for them to choose more sustainable travel options. We also recognize that some of our hotels need more support, especially when it comes to the third pillar – Environment – hence our collaboration with the best sustainable players in the industry since this collection is as much about guiding our hotels as it is about promoting them.
H: What do other members need to do to qualify for the listing and are existing SLH members making moves to fit the criteria?
DL: Our hotels already do so much, and our main priority is to convert our community’s sustainability passion into more action. Working with our Considerate Collaborators, we have devised a very clear pathway for those hotels that want to take a more committed sustainability journey. We have built a network of world class influential experts in this area to cover four core elements. This starts with educating them on the GSTC Criteria, the universal sustainability criteria for travel and tourism; use of our sustainability management system to collect sustainability data, track performance, progress, and report activities transparently; consultation to implement and develop their sustainability strategies and finally workshops to create a clear sustainability communications strategy. Alongside this, we’re also providing complimentary toolkits and a series of complimentary webinars with our Considerate Collaborators to activate our hotels. A guidance library of toolkits and best practices will help hotels in key areas:
- Energy efficiency, encouraging renewable energy
- Water conservation, waste and organic waste management
- Elimination of plastic and single use products
- Community support
- Local procurement, food and other products
- Healthy, seasonal and sustainable produce
H: How big will this “brand” get, or what are the goals?
DL: Our goals are aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, hence the framework and tools. We have at least an additional 15 hotels within our current portfolio, that are incredibly close to meeting the criteria for Considerate Collection by the end of 2022. There are so many more who are on the right pathway in addition to a host of new hotels outside of the SLH membership, that we’re in discussions with.
H: What is the investment by SLH in this program?
DL: We have a significant six figure sum invested into the program’s launch. Investing in sustainability practices to help hotels is a core SLH mission and we will be investing on a continual basis, to onboard both existing SLH members and new hotels to this exciting and vital initiative.
H: What is the expected ROI and how will it be measured?
DL: It’s not about ROI. It’s about doing the right thing and providing a platform for the brilliant work that our hotels do in this area and nudging a few more to follow the sustainability path. We hope to have at least 15% of our portfolio engaged in our Considerate Collection pathway by the end of 2022 and hopefully achieve at least 50 hotels in total within the Collection by then also. We have a measurement system portal to help hotels measure back of house activity, but we are also measuring front of house, guest visible efforts by implementing a 50-point checklist for our annual mystery hotel inspections.
H: What else is part of the renewed strategic vision for the group, and what is the timing?
DL: Historically, SLH has existed to connect independently minded guests with the most individual hotels but as the hotel and travel landscape evolves, so has the SLH offering. Like most companies, we have been reengaging with the SLH network and community after the last 18 months – engaging with guests, hotels and travel agents. To complement our Considerate Collection, we will be adding more collections in the coming year and additional services for our hotels.
H: What went into the collaboration with sustainability organizations and how will you partner with them ongoing?
DL: We initially started with GSTC training for some of our team members and meetings with many sustainability players. It became apparent that GSTC is the universal criteria for which many sustainability establishments create their framework, so we knew we wanted to be fully aligned with them. We have been liaising weekly with our collaborators for months in establishing our criteria and assessing our hotels for the collection. The exciting part is what is to come… activating our hotels to do more. We’ve established a strong relationship with them all and look forward to what is to come. This is what SLH is all about – providing access for our hotels to world class services that perhaps they couldn’t access on their own.
H: What are SLH’s plans to market Considerate and do members have fees associated with it?
DL: Currently, there are no additional fees outside of the standard SLH membership fees, We will be marketing it through PR, content creation across our channels, PPC, paid social and advertising.