Are planners scrutinising your environmental and sustainability credentials before booking your hotel or venue’s meetings and event space?
Companies are under increasing pressure to cut CO2 emissions in half by 2030 (compared to 2017 levels), to reach a state of net zero by 2050.
Business events will need to play their part. You can help by improving your hospitality offer and working more closely with planners to achieve their carbon-conscious goals.
Let’s look at how hotels and hospitality professionals can help improve carbon neutrality.
What is a sustainable event?
Green or sustainable events are planned to minimise their environmental impact.
By partnering with environmentally conscious suppliers and improving the way you host and help to measure meetings and events, you can deliberately reduce carbon emissions and positively contribute to your customer’s net-zero ambitions.
Sustainable events are also socially responsible and often result in higher attendance rates, positive brand recognition and reduced costs (resulting from greater efficiencies and less waste).
They create a positive impact and a lasting legacy.
Hotel best practice
For 2024, Meliã Hotels International has developed a ‘Road to Net Zero Events’ programme. Some 41 properties worldwide now measure the environmental impact of groups at two key points - at the time of the event request (an estimated total as per services requested) and at the end of the event (final calculation as per services consumed).
The measurement is calculated using Creast technology. It calculates carbon emissions derived from accommodation, meeting rooms, catering consumption and other consumables used during an event.
Once the event ends, Meliã Hotels International offsets the calculated carbon footprint through its ‘The Planet We Love’ scheme, using credits certified by the United Nations.
Clients can also offset through their own programmes to feel a greater sense of ownership and involvement in achieving combined environmental goals.
How your hotel or venue can make a difference
1) Conduct a sustainability audit
Carry out a sustainability audit of your hospitality and events offer.
Do your competitors do anything you don’t do? Can you identify any ‘quick wins’ such as removing all single-use plastics, adding water bottle filling stations in the meetings space, or sourcing F&B ingredients from suppliers nearer to your hotel or venue?
Are your meeting rooms stocked with reusable coffee mugs and glasses rather than plasticware, paper, or styrofoam? Make sure bathrooms provide natural and organic free-trade soaps and shampoos from certified green manufacturers in biodegradable packaging.
2) Use available industry resources
Organisations such as Isla are helping to accelerate the events and hospitality industry’s transition to a sustainable future by providing plenty of knowledge and tools.
When RFPs ask what you’re doing to support a more sustainable meetings industry, make sure you can say that you’re signed up for the UNFCCC Race to Zero or that your hotel has taken the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge.
These commitment-based, UN-backed initiatives mean you’ll have to report and share your pathway for reaching a 50% cut in emissions by 2030. However, it also means you’re part of a more sustainable supply chain and you can highlight these credentials in venue sourcing searches.
3) Deliver virtual site tours
Offer photo-realistic, 3D virtual site tours and interactive floorplans to reduce physical site inspections while providing all the information planners need to book your space.
Hand-rendered by a team of artists, 3D venue solutions can highlight every detail and drive more RFPs to your business.
4) Offer alternative transport
Transport is a key area that can impact the sustainability of an event. Does your hotel or venue have electric vehicle charging points or could you partner with an eBike or cycle hire scheme? How far would delegates need to walk to reach you from public transport drop-off points?
If your location prohibits cycling or walking, work with planners to provide shuttle services, preferably using electric coaches or hybrid mini-buses to reduce the number of low-occupancy car trips to and from your hotel.
5) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- Ensure your waste management programme follows the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ principle. Strategically place recycling bins around your property that are correctly marked or colour-coded for dry and wet waste, paper, aluminium cans, and so on.
- Put a service team in place to collect, empty and sort the waste that tends to pile up quickly.
- Limit the amount of paper by removing stationery from meeting rooms and providing flip charts and whiteboards. Encourage planners to use technology such as a mobile event app to engage with attendees and enable them to take notes, submit questions, complete surveys and participate in polls.
- When delegates arrive, instead of having all the paper badges already printed, encourage planners to use a contactless, self-serve check-in and on-demand badging experience so that you don’t need to print name badges unnecessarily.
6) Cater for individuals, not a crowd
To play your part in reducing the amount of food sent to landfills each year, follow these simple rules:
- Plan F&B menus according to the number of attendees registered to attend.
- Engage local food suppliers known for sustainable practices.
- Use smart buffet service styles. They will increase attendee satisfaction while limiting food wastage.
- Partner with a local food bank or consider alternatives such as livestock feeding, food waste for industrial energy and compost creation.
7) Offer reusable or biodegradable cutlery
Replace plastic knives and forks with stainless-steel cutlery and glasses. Just ask attendees to return them to a certain place so that they can be collected and cleaned.
If reusable utensils aren’t possible, go for biodegradable alternatives. There are numerous options available in compostable tableware that have a lower carbon impact. They range from rustic palm-leaf serving trays and bowls to plant-based, wheat or bamboo straws.
8) Automate water and energy conservation
Use aerators on bathroom sinks to reduce water usage, and replace standard toilets with low-flow or dual-flush versions.
Swap out traditional lights with energy-saving lighting with sensors to automatically turn them on or off, or brighten and dim.
9) Recommend measurement tools
Planners will thank you for going the extra mile and recommending carbon calculators and tracking tools to help them benchmark and measure their carbon output. Most carbon calculators measure the carbon impact of accommodation, food, travel, energy usage and other factors.
Isla’s TRACE platform calculates carbon and waste footprints and provides in-app reduction tips and guidance. The data is compliant with carbon emissions (Scope 1), energy consumption (Scope 2) and supply chain management (Scope 3) reporting. Plus, planners can download detailed but easy-to-understand graphs and charts to embed into your event reports and debriefing documents.
10) Bring everyone along on your sustainability journey
Communicating and educating your stakeholders about the importance of sustainability is central to effecting change.
Sustainability should form part of decisions made by both marketing and operations so make sure everyone is engaged and briefed regularly on goals, objectives and ideas to reduce carbon emissions.
Create ‘green teams’, run by employees from different departments who can suggest carbon-conscious improvements and ideas. It will give these employees a sense of ownership of green strategies, and more commitment to long-term adoption.
Then, share your achievements and impacts to inspire others to follow your example. Use your venue's website, social media, and guest surveys to communicate and gain feedback on improvements made to your sustainability measures.
Take steps towards a greener future
For the earth’s atmosphere to stay within a 1.5-degree centigrade global warming limit, we all need to play our part.
The important thing is to review what you're already doing and make improvements where you're able. Meetings and event planners expect their hotel and venue partners to be driving the necessary change. So what's good for the planet is also good for the long-term success of your hospitality business.
