Sustainability Matters - to green or not to green?

Roger Allen, RLA's Group CEO and Prof. Dr Willy Legrand - Professor of Hospitality Management at the IUBH International University and Ricardo Ricardo Moreira, Managing Director - XCO2 featured in a panel session titled ’Sustainability Matters - to green or not to green?  Establishing the economic value of green initiatives in hotel investments’ at the recent International Hotel Investment & Design Conference at the Andaz Hotel in Vienna, Austria.

The panel session takeaways included:

• Overwhelming data supports the need for more sustainable hotel initiatives. The industry should be more proactive rather than reactive.
• A live audience poll illustrated that whilst everybody may recycle nobody is yet making a hotel selection based upon the environmental initiatives of the hotel brand/property. However, the future reputation of the hotel brand is seriously at stake 'if' they don't have a purposeful sustainability initiative.
• There is so much opportunity for cost-saving to be achieved in hotels by being more environmentally friendly. Try doing a 4am hotel walkaround to discover unnecessary energy expenditure.
• A new hotel build that is not sustainable is likely to face unknown financial risk. -There is a need for a global certification that is recognized by the consumer.

For more information about the International Hotel Investment & Design Conference