When a hotel executive asked me recently what I would do to communicate the hotel’s sustainability initiatives to current and future customers, I proposed that the hotel explicitly abandon trying to advertise and promote its actual green activities to focus more on the emotional goodwill of sustainability through story telling and interactive displays – allowing guests to touch and feel (with hands and heart) the ways the world could be a better place.
The hotel industry is in a bit of a marketing quagmire when it comes to demonstrating their green-ness to customers. Most of its sustainability efforts take place out of view of the customer experience, meaning the hotels are often unable to capitalize on their success in limiting resource consumption through enhanced customer experience and brand perception. While in-room services allow guests to participate in greener efforts by washing linens less frequently, a hotel that devotes staff to purchasing local produce, recycles grey water, and invests in green architecture often has trouble connecting those efforts with the “feel good” goodwill that could come with more visible green efforts.
The hotel executive surprised me with his response. Instead of critiquing the concept, he asked, “What do we do next? Assume that succeeds, what’s next?”
I told him I would want him to stop competing on green alone, because green is not the only color his company wants to preserve. From the emerald hills of Ireland, to the red tulips of Holland, to the Caribbean blues of St. Lucia, there’s a whole world of colors we want to sustain – for the world and for our children.
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