Roundtable: Hotels need single sustainability certification

SAN DIEGO—From a small group of concerned hoteliers came a big sustainability idea.

Mindclick Sustainable Growth Management, together with the HotelWorld Network, recently brought together C-level hotel owners, operators and suppliers at a roundtable coinciding with the Americas Lodging Investment Summit to discuss green standards in the hospitality industry.

From the meeting came an overwhelming sentiment that the environmental standards throughout the industry are muddled and that a single sustainability model is desperately needed to get everyone on the same green page.

“The real opportunity here is to come together as an industry, get rid of all these fragments and put it all together under one umbrella, whatever that umbrella is, and get some lobbying power in Congress, get some economic incentives that help us do things,” said Gary Mendell, CEO of HEI Hotels & Resorts.

Mendell commended the U.S. Green Building Council, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design programs and Energy Star for their contributions to a sustainable industry, but said compliance to each of these programs is cumbersome, and a single certification would simplify the process and go a long way toward reducing the industry’s environmental footprint.

Members of the group agreed to dedicate their time to create a committee focused on a single certification process, and Mindclick SGM has offered its product, marketing and research experience to accompany the efforts.

“We have developed what you’re talking about for the consumer product industry,” said JoAnna Abrams, managing partner at Mindclick SGM. “We looked at it from a 360-degree perspective, looking at everything from operations to the brand perspective to employee engagement to corporate responsibility as well as the complete life cycle of the product.

“Obviously the hospitality industry is a more complex model, but our model is there as an agent to continue the dialogue.”

Mindclick recently completed a green audit for Valley Forge Fabrics, a supplier of sustainable textiles for hotels. Valley Forge turned to MindClick for a comprehensive assessment including product sustainability, corporate social responsibility and core business performance.

The group’s next steps will be to identify industry leaders to join the team and coordinate ongoing discussions. The team will be comprised of executives from various roles in the industry, including investors, developers, brands, product manufacturers, architects, designers and purchasing agents.

The next roundtable will occur at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference in June.

The group will start by educating themselves on the current programs available to the industry and begin creating a more holistic, well-rounded model, with energy, water and recycling efforts as the basis. Beyond these focal points, the group intends to research corporate community involvement and environmental standards for hospitality product suppliers.

“Time is of the essence,” said Mary Dogan, director of brand delivery for Hotel Indigo. “We need to gather all of the information that’s already out there—what we have seen measured. We’ll ultimately be creating a best-of-the-best.”

Participants lent their expertise and experience in green to outline goals for a single standardization:

Heather Gadonniex, managing partner, Mindclick SGM:
"In the consumer product industry, we’re seeing something completely different. Wal-Mart has mandated that every supplier that supplies to Wal-Mart comply with something called the sustainability index. It will have more of an impact on what products are actually put on the shelves in the stores and what products are procured by Wal-Mart.”

Jim Amorosia, president and COO, Motel 6/Studio 6
“Whatever it is that the industry is going to do in regards to sustainability, it’s not something you’re going to be able to pass on to the consumer. Wal-Mart is making a dedicated effort to become a green company, and they’re actually forcing their vision on all of their suppliers. I think we’re going to have to look at this that same way. We’re going to have to challenge all of the suppliers who feed the hotel industry and say ‘what are you going to do to become more sustainable?’

We just opened up a new Motel 6 prototype that we’re keeping our fingers crossed that in the next two months will be the first LEED-certified economy hotel in the industry. We expect to get it. And interestingly enough, it only cost a little bit over $1,000 per room. It was not this unbelievable investment.”

Mary Dogan, director, brand delivery, Hotel Indigo:
“Because there are so many disparate things out there, so many different kinds of certification, the first thing we have to do as an industry is say ‘this is it’ and just focus on one thing. And then we get us behind it, we get the manufacturers behind it and the suppliers behind it, and then we have a strong value proposition for the customer. Because LEED is not a consumer-facing brand.

Right now it’s just ‘are you doing something?’ Yes. But it’s not holding anyone accountable to ‘Are you doing the thing that matters the most?’”

Marty Collins, CEO, Gatehouse Capital:
“The consumer wants to stay in a green building and be part of that and ride in a hybrid and all the rest of it, but we’re seeing time and time again they don’t want to pay for it.”

Diana Dobin, SVP, Valley Forge:
“We’ve spent money; we’ve looked at things in a very holistic view; and we’ve tried to make the right decisions. We have all these certifications that other people don’t, and our customers, most of them can’t read that information. They don’t understand it. It’s too complicated. They want more transparency.

We’re not the only supplier that’s really grabbed on to sustainability. There are many, many, many of us in many different categories. We have all the stamps of approval and yet we are constantly asked for verification. How can we get past that point?”

Gary Mendell, CEO, HEI Hotels & Resorts:
“Let’s just say we locked ourselves in a room for two days, and we came out we said, for the industry, this is the one rating—you’ve heard LEED, you’ve heard green, Green Star this, everyone’s got their own criteria. There’s one thing called “XYZ” rating system. Then every time someone is filling out [requests for proposals], there’s that one criteria system. Wouldn’t that make life so much easier?

I go back to one standard system. You get it out to the clients. If they’re only going to stay at hotels that have this rating, then you can forget everything else because we’re going to figure out how to do it. It’s that simple. Step No. 1 is we have to have one standard system.”