A guest first arrives at your property. When they do, those first few moments will likely be what they remember and set the tone for their entire stay and experience. So how do you imprint the green behaviors that you want your guests to have, or convey the “green facility” features that you want to convey? If you miss that window and your guest harbors negative perceptions of your facility, you will likely spend their entire stay trying to overcome that.
The moment your guests arrive is an incredibly busy moment for them. They are likely tired from their trip. They want to get through the check-in process as quickly as possible. This is not the time for unsolicited lengthy diatribes or lectures about environmental actions or ethics. They don’t need a litany of details about the tightness of your building envelope, efficiency of your lighting, or green source of your power. They don’t need to know how the recycling rate of your facility compares to that of other facilities. You need to parcel your message into a few very-focused bits of information at key moments.
That’s somewhere I think recycling can help. Somewhere in that first “Welcome to ______” paragraph that you use to first greet and check in guests, consider adding the simple sentence along the lines of, “Did you have any soda or water bottles from your trip you need me to recycle for you?” With that one simple sentence you have done several things:
• You have conveyed to your guests that you recycle at your facility. And you have done so far more effectively than any banner, sign, or flashing neon light could.
• You have just engaged that little corner of their brain that makes them more receptive to other “green” images and messages that they see later on.
• You have opened up an opportunity for further dialog.
With that opportunity for further dialog, a couple things can happen:
• If your guest doesn’t seem to want to engage in a conversation, you can conclude this dialog with a simple statement that if they have anything else to recycle during their stay to look for the recycling bins throughout the facility or look for information about the recycling program posted in their room (depending on the nature of your facility and your program). That is huge. With two simple sentences, you have introduced them to everything they need to know about your program. No big lectures, no special eco-concierge, no special meeting that they have to attend—just two simple sentences (and some follow-up signs on your bin and/or information in their room).
• The opportunity for further dialog also gives your guests an opening to ask questions. Without that opening, your guest might never ask the question and that opportunity might be lost forever. Let’s face it, if you don’t give them an opening, your guest has to be a hardcore environmentalist, a little socially dysfunctional, or a bit of both to introduce a non-sequitur question about recycling or sustainability. But if they don’t get to ask their question, that unasked question tends to fester and lead to negative perceptions (and possibly negative behaviors) about your recycling program or “green” efforts of your facility.
Front Desk Approach
Your front desk staff person doesn’t need to be the expert or know all the answers to those questions. Their answer can always be something along the lines of: “I don’t know but I can ask ___ and get back to you” or “I’m not sure but there is a section about the green features of our facility _____ and it may have more information about that,” or “I don’t remember but I believe that is addressed [on the label on the recycling bin or in the recycling guidelines in your room].”
For those guests that do have questions or want more information, you might be amazed how many future problems you can avoid or how much you can improve the perception of your facility just by giving someone an opportunity to ask the question that’s on their mind. And even for folks who don’t have other questions, you might be amazed how much impact a subtle and appropriate introduction can have right at that first moment of contact. So how do you introduce guests to your recycling program and the “green” features of your facility?
Roger Guzowski has spent more than 20 years in the recycling field and has managed award-winning recycling programs in both Massachusetts and California. Throughout that time, Roger has been a prolific public speaker about recycling across the country, having presented in almost every region of the country and for a broad spectrum of organizations. Roger has played a leadership role in several state and national collegiate recycling councils, and has been actively involved with a variety of recycling organizations including MassRecycle, the California Resource Recovery Assn., the Northeast Resource Recovery Assn., and the National Recycling Coalition. Guzowski is also a resident expert for Prestwick Limited, which manufactures waste and recycling solutions.
