As I write this, I am in the midst of opening my third London hotel. A new-build from the ground up — with construction oversight and planning filling my days. While there are no doubt complexities to opening a new hotel — my last opening was in 2020 — it is truly a labor of love.
Each day offers a new opportunity to make an impact through the choices we make. As hoteliers, we are in the privileged position of being able to influence the guest experience and the interests of our team. Our main objective is to flourish together through fostering positive working environments, building relationships with local communities and making investments that benefit the planet.
After the sizable challenges of the past few years, hospitality businesses have needed to pivot the way they operate. Making mindful choices is no longer simply the right thing to do, it’s instrumental in developing a sustainable environment for business growth. Thankfully technological advancements and hospitality industry guidelines have made a conscious approach more accessible than ever. This purpose-driven perspective encompasses a range of focuses with equal importance including: developing a positive team culture, fostering connections with the local community and implementing sustainable best practices.
Each day offers a new opportunity to make an impact through the choices we make. As hoteliers, we are in the privileged position of being able to influence the guest experience and the interests of our team. Our main objective is to flourish together through fostering positive working environments, building relationships with local communities and making investments that benefit the planet.
After the sizable challenges of the past few years, hospitality businesses have needed to pivot the way they operate. Making mindful choices is no longer simply the right thing to do, it’s instrumental in developing a sustainable environment for business growth. Thankfully technological advancements and hospitality industry guidelines have made a conscious approach more accessible than ever. This purpose-driven perspective encompasses a range of focuses with equal importance including: developing a positive team culture, fostering connections with the local community and implementing sustainable best practices.
Creating a Positive Culture
A decade ago, opening day for a hotel meant job applicants would queue around the block for the opportunity to interview, but today there’s a well-documented shortage of candidates looking to join the hospitality sector. Our prospective employees’ preferences have changed, and therefore so must we.
We recognize that millennials prefer job flexibility and work/life balance, while Gen Zers are looking for stability, competitive salary and long-term careers. As employers, we must adapt to attract the right talent and retain our team members. Developing a welcoming working environment and culture is key; employees should feel valued with multiple opportunities to progress and learn.
Technological advancements enable us to provide some of these opportunities. For example, learning and development is now typically held online for most new employees. Team training is still a valuable part of learning and helps to foster a positive company culture. Digital communication platforms can assist with this while also supplementing in-person, one-on-one meetings.
Employees continue to want a sense of community, to have fun at work and celebrate team achievements, so the balance is important. Online rostering platforms provide flexibility and allow the team to swap shifts and make requests online, reducing the time required to do so and giving increased team autonomy.
A decade ago, opening day for a hotel meant job applicants would queue around the block for the opportunity to interview, but today there’s a well-documented shortage of candidates looking to join the hospitality sector. Our prospective employees’ preferences have changed, and therefore so must we.
We recognize that millennials prefer job flexibility and work/life balance, while Gen Zers are looking for stability, competitive salary and long-term careers. As employers, we must adapt to attract the right talent and retain our team members. Developing a welcoming working environment and culture is key; employees should feel valued with multiple opportunities to progress and learn.
Technological advancements enable us to provide some of these opportunities. For example, learning and development is now typically held online for most new employees. Team training is still a valuable part of learning and helps to foster a positive company culture. Digital communication platforms can assist with this while also supplementing in-person, one-on-one meetings.
Employees continue to want a sense of community, to have fun at work and celebrate team achievements, so the balance is important. Online rostering platforms provide flexibility and allow the team to swap shifts and make requests online, reducing the time required to do so and giving increased team autonomy.
Connecting With the Local Community
Collaborating with neighboring communities helps to provide a sense of purpose. Offering paid-time off to volunteer with local organizations has been an enormous success, giving our team members a sense of pride in their individual and group achievements and helping to build a stronger company culture as a result.
Additionally, we make a practice of personally introducing ourselves to the local businesses surrounding the hotel. At my last property, I would regularly stop by to say hello to the neighborhood florist — this relationship has now led to them supplying the hotel with flowers. We also worked with a local eco-friendly dry cleaner, which cut down on delivery costs and carbon emissions.
Ultimately, your neighbors create the fabric of the community, and building these authentic relationships is not only personally satisfying, it is also good for vital local businesses.
Caring for the Planet
From the first Earth Day in 1970 — 53 years ago — investment has remained a central factor in how quickly hoteliers can adopt environmentally conscious choices.
With a new-build hotel, we are fortunate that sustainability can be front and center of any decisions, especially as we work within established green building guidelines. Suppliers across the globe have had to become more transparent, and therefore the ability to choose FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment), and operating supplies and equipment based on sustainable and renewable practices has vastly improved since I last did the same exercise four years ago.
For example, suppliers now regularly use ocean bound plastic as an alternative to single-use plastic, and manufacture bedding and bathrobes from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles and other polymers, which are blended with Tencel — a natural cellulose fiber derived from wood — with genuinely luxurious results. Sustainable woods and recycled yarns for soft furnishings and uniforms are becoming much more accessible now, allowing every business to actively use their purchasing power to change and affect the supply-chain focus.
Additional conscious choices include ensuring that our lighting is now 100% LED, pumps are low carbon eco-friendly, and that we have a 100% renewable electricity supply on-site. Adding low-flow showers and taps reduces the heat and water requirements, while using waste heat recovery throughout a building is now possible, improving efficiency and reducing energy costs.
Having a purpose is at the heart of everything that we do as a hospitality business, and I’m delighted that this has subsequently led to our wider team also encouraging themselves to work in this way; ensuring we build a stronger and increasingly motivated culture along the way. It is surprising how these seemingly small steps can result in a marathon when taken every day!
Collaborating with neighboring communities helps to provide a sense of purpose. Offering paid-time off to volunteer with local organizations has been an enormous success, giving our team members a sense of pride in their individual and group achievements and helping to build a stronger company culture as a result.
Additionally, we make a practice of personally introducing ourselves to the local businesses surrounding the hotel. At my last property, I would regularly stop by to say hello to the neighborhood florist — this relationship has now led to them supplying the hotel with flowers. We also worked with a local eco-friendly dry cleaner, which cut down on delivery costs and carbon emissions.
Ultimately, your neighbors create the fabric of the community, and building these authentic relationships is not only personally satisfying, it is also good for vital local businesses.
Caring for the Planet
From the first Earth Day in 1970 — 53 years ago — investment has remained a central factor in how quickly hoteliers can adopt environmentally conscious choices.
With a new-build hotel, we are fortunate that sustainability can be front and center of any decisions, especially as we work within established green building guidelines. Suppliers across the globe have had to become more transparent, and therefore the ability to choose FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment), and operating supplies and equipment based on sustainable and renewable practices has vastly improved since I last did the same exercise four years ago.
For example, suppliers now regularly use ocean bound plastic as an alternative to single-use plastic, and manufacture bedding and bathrobes from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles and other polymers, which are blended with Tencel — a natural cellulose fiber derived from wood — with genuinely luxurious results. Sustainable woods and recycled yarns for soft furnishings and uniforms are becoming much more accessible now, allowing every business to actively use their purchasing power to change and affect the supply-chain focus.
Additional conscious choices include ensuring that our lighting is now 100% LED, pumps are low carbon eco-friendly, and that we have a 100% renewable electricity supply on-site. Adding low-flow showers and taps reduces the heat and water requirements, while using waste heat recovery throughout a building is now possible, improving efficiency and reducing energy costs.
Having a purpose is at the heart of everything that we do as a hospitality business, and I’m delighted that this has subsequently led to our wider team also encouraging themselves to work in this way; ensuring we build a stronger and increasingly motivated culture along the way. It is surprising how these seemingly small steps can result in a marathon when taken every day!