No, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is not just for large corporations and SMEs! In the hotel and restaurant industry, it is an essential lever for responding to current challenges: preserving the planet and the well-being of its employees. CSR is even an important factor for employees: 55% of them say that a company's social or environmental commitment is a more important criterion than salary. To this end, a multitude of actions can be implemented in hotels to commit to sustainable development. Here are six tips for developing your CSR approach in the hotel industry:
1) Eliminate plastic, because it's not fantastic!
In hotels, plastic is hidden everywhere: in the bathroom with individual product packaging, in the room with water bottles, or in the restaurant at breakfast... How can we eliminate it?
Find an alternative to individually packaged products: "We have reviewed all our decisions to adopt a zero-plastic approach: shampoo, soap, cotton buds, bathrobes, shower caps... all these products are either banned or repackaged, but never in single-use plastic," explains Ava Conan, Director of the Opéra Liège in Paris. In six months, more than 55,000 cosmetic packages have been avoided! As have 24,000 plastic bottles, thanks to the installation of a water fountain CASTALIEwater fountain, which has eliminated all plastic bottles in rooms by offering reusable glass bottles. According to Solenne Devys, Product and Communications Manager at OKKO HOTELS, this solution also facilitates logistics and improves employee well-being. Additional tip: at breakfast, jams, butter, cereals... Everything can be offered in bulk!
2) Choose your suppliers wisely: long live local!
When it comes to furniture, choose suppliers who are committed to sustainability! Kipli, for example, offers eco-friendly bedding for hotels and professionals. Their mission: to promote healthy and sustainable interiors through bedding, mattresses, and furniture that respect our health and the environment. How? The Franco-Italian company favors local and responsible manufacturing and chooses natural solid wood from responsibly managed forests, natural latex, and organic cotton to make its products. As for the mattresses, their lifespan is on average twice as long as synthetic mattresses! Comfortable, hygienic, durable, and eco-friendly, Kipli has been supporting hotels in their ecological efforts since 2017. The added bonus? The company is committed to WWF, Sea Shepherd, Boomforest, and 1% for the Planet. Yes, Kipli has definitely got it right.
When it comes to products, short supply chains are on the rise, and for good reason. Florists, greengrocers, cheesemakers, soap makers... By choosing local producers, you are contributing to the local economy while promoting products from your region. "We are lucky to have fantastic local suppliers! For beer, for example, each establishment in the group has its own craft beer, and the same goes for flowers, which are always sourced locally. Twenty to twenty-five percent of our purchases are made through short supply chains, less than 100 km from our hotels,"says Solenne Devys. Each establishment offers unique products to avoid standardization. Local, fresh, and seasonal—the planet will thank you, and so will your customers!
3) Taking care of your employees
A grueling pace, complex logistics, transporting products and equipment... In the hotel industry, the well-being of staff can sometimes be put to the test. Several initiatives can be put in place to ensure that every employee feels fulfilled, productive, and committed to their work.
- Offer a training program: "We offer training courses to help our employees develop both internally and externally, ensuring that this program can bring out talent and help employees progress. Today, one of our receptionists is now an executive assistant!" says Solenne Devys.
- Set up working groups where everyone can express their views on different topics (sourcing a supplier, logistics management, redesigning a space, etc.). Encouraging communication within a team can only be beneficial!
- Offer psychological support: the moka.care platform allows employees to contact a psychologist or coach in complete confidentiality, either face-to-face or remotely. In this post-lockdown period, taking care of your professional circle has never been more important.
- Encourage your employees to get involved: by offering special leave to help an association, solidarity days, skills sponsorship, etc. The Wenabi platform makes it easier to connect associations with a company's employees. More and more employees want to get involved. In addition to employee fulfillment and stronger adherence to the values and culture of the hotel, restaurant, or company, this "benefits the company's performance, but also its ability to attract talent, since 83% of employees involved in a company initiative would recommend their employer," according to ADN.
4) Empower employees and customers: respecting the environment is a team effort!
Encouraging staff to reduce their water and energy consumption is far from insignificant. Ecology is everyone's business! Adjusting the heating, turning off lights when they are not needed, being mindful ofwater consumption when cleaning rooms, turning off the air conditioning when a window is open, suggesting to guests that they do not wash towels after every use, implementing waste sorting in rooms... Many small green gestures can have a big impact.
5) Work hand in hand with environmental or social organizations
To help you develop your CSR approach, certain associations offer specific support. The Hôtel de l'Opéra Liège in Paris has partnered with Racing for the Ocean, an association whose mission is to help hotels, restaurants, cafés, and even cities eliminate single-use plastics. "The association helped us choose suppliers to eliminate plastic. We realized that it wasn't that complicated and that it shouldn't be considered an extraordinary action—we should all be doing it!" explains Ava Conan. For her part, at OKKO HOTELS, Solenne Devys would like to integrate people with disabilities or in difficult social situations into her teams in the near future: "We're going to implement this over several years; we don't want to be too late to the party," she says.
6) Design your establishment in an environmentally friendly way, right from the start of the project!
How can we better control our energy impact on the planet? By using low-energy lighting, reducing water consumption, implementing an energy management system in rooms, etc. Build your hotel usingrenewable energy and recyclable materials. "What I find interesting about this approach is that you can always keep going: there is no end point to CSR or sustainable development policies," says Solenne Devys. Every hotel can commit to the virtuous path of CSR in its own way!
Text: Jeanne Favas Credits: Jérôme Galland and Hôtel Opéra Liège
