Communicating the Value of Green Hotels to Guests

For over 25 years, Saunders Hotel Group (SHG) has been doggedly incorporating sustainability into hotel operations and management. In all that time, we have invested in sustainability because it has proven to be the right thing for our business, for our employees, and for our guests. While we are able to quantifiably demonstrate the first two (reduced operating costs and measurable reduction in toxins, for instance), connecting the dots to guests has been more elusive. We hear plenty of positive feedback from guests who stay with us, and there may be an element of retention and loyalty that comes from the increased value our sustainability creates for them – but will they choose us over our competitor? Do we appeal to an audience that is interested in sustainable goods and services? Can we attract more business because of our green choices? In all these years, we have been unable to crack the code, but with the launch of the TripAdvisor GreenLeaders^TM program earlier this year, we feel that TripAdvisor has done just that.

The Lenox Hotel, SHG’s luxury property in Boston’s Back Bay, does not shy away from bold statements. For example, the 113-year old property added the tagline “The Original Boutique Hotel” to express the mix of history and independence that gives the hotel its personality. But we are much more circumspect when it comes to marketing green – perhaps for fear of greenwashing or perhaps we don’t want the efforts to come across as selfish. We have a genuine desire and directive to run a sustainable business; we added waterless urinals to bring attention to water scarcity around the world, we have been investing in renewable energy since 2001 to offset the brown energy in the hotel, and most indicative, we incorporate sustainability where no guests are looking – at our employee events and in our back of house areas. When our team sees that our words and actions are one and the same, they become a powerful vehicle to communicate and demonstrate our core values.

This is not to say we don’t work hard to engage guests and inform them about our actions for the environment and the planet. We leverage technology and our own unique twist to inform and instruct guests about how to reduce their travel footprint. In a time when travelers are prone to tuning out the things they’ve seen over and over (when’s the last time you’ve listened to a pre-flight briefing by a flight attendant?) we felt he need to stand out – and allow the absence of standard messaging to help strengthen our guests’ attention to the message. Therefore, you’ll find messaging in the standard places like our website and on banquet menus showing green offerings. However we’re removing all printed materials from guest rooms and putting information online, and we are providing small jars of honey (made by our rooftop bee population) to accompany honey inspired entrees in the restaurant. But the question remains, how do we know if guests see value in this and choose hotels because of these efforts or are just pleased to learn that the property they chose to stay at is also doing these great things?

TripAdvisor, and their inspired leadership, has taken on the task of connecting travelers with information on greenhotels and destinations that they’ve never had before. Hotels have a heightened sense of competition because of TripAdvisor, and by adding a feature whereby they vet the sustainability efforts and rank properties accordingly, they have turned green into a differentiator. Will guests value The Lenox over its competitor specifically because of our sustainability efforts? We will soon know and have the data to back it up.