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Zero Waste Amenity Programs—It’s Time

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Ray Burger

Sometimes it’s great to feel like a zero. OK, maybe only when it concerns your hotel’s amenity waste program. Pursuing zero waste is a smart strategy for a hotel staff’s ability to significantly reduce the property’s carbon footprint, while reducing both waste and cost.

Plus, guests are finding these programs make them happier and increase satisfaction during their property visit. Today’s consumer has a deep desire for an emotional connection with brands, and environmental transparency builds on the travel experience, increasing brand affinity. It all adds up to higher guest satisfaction scores, a more loyal customer base and less resistance to rising rates.

Even more encouraging is that putting together a customer pleasing zero waste amenity program is easier than ever, taking minimal effort and time from property team members. Here’s how you can do it in a few simple steps.

Eliminating Waste

Today, people demand that the brands they do business with be ethical. That’s giving hoteliers seeking to be good corporate citizens a business reason to use products reflecting their customer’s personal value system. In the bathroom, it’s easy to accomplish by switching bath and shower amenities from wasteful tiny plastic bottles to an amenity dispenser system.

Dispenser designs are more attractive than ever, and eliminating those tiny half-filled bottles reduces costs too. Even better, top brands are adding products designed for amenity dispensers, including Tommy Bahama, Nest, CO Bigelow, Malin and Goetz, Elemis, Bliss, Beekman 1802, and PAYA.

Also eliminated, but not typically considered, is less labeling and packaging. By switching to fully recyclable gallon containers there’s another benefit too; less product being shipped, which leads to lower expenses and less fuel being used to transport product.

Paper Bottles

For hoteliers looking for something more personalized, a zero waste paper bottle program is a wonderful way to connect with guests through customized product. Paper bottles are not only aesthetically pleasing and show customers a focused effort on environmental responsibility, but the product contained within the bottles can also be derived from higher quality raw materials.

Many brands, including luxury hotels, are discovering that personalized high end bathroom amenities that happen to be made at an affordable price-point are positively affecting guest experience. Typically, these products are crafted using the highest quality ingredients containing only organic botanicals. They’re paraben and sulfate free, and contain no petroleum derived ingredients.

This gives hoteliers the chance to create an artisanal product customized to the locality that espouses brand ethics. Today’s customer is more often seeking what is called anonymous luxury—the chance to heighten their travel experience by enjoying brands they cannot find anywhere else.

Hotels can also use an amenity program featuring custom made products as a marketing program centerpiece. It’s a major point of differentiation that resonates with potential guests in a wholly new way because it plays into the notion of luxury as a state of authenticity.

Soap Solution

There’s also great news for hoteliers not yet wanting to vanquish cleansing bars utilized by the sink to the history books. These days, soap too, can be 100 percent recycled. Not for reuse in your hotel, but by people in developing countries. Organizations such as Clean the World are doing an amazing job partnering with hotels to reclaim partially used bars of soap. Those bars are collected at the hotel in a container, then sanitized and shipped to developing countries.

Since its founding in 2009, Clean the World has distributed more than 30 million bars of soap to children and families in 100 countries worldwide. They’ve also removed 4,300 tons of hotel waste that would have been sent to North American landfills. Find out more at www.cleantheworld.org.

Overall, launching a zero waste amenity program is a seriously simple solution that increases both guest and staff satisfaction while doing right by the environment. It’s the modern benchmark for luxury that ensures going zero makes you a true hero.

Ray Burger is the Founder and President of Pineapple Hospitality Inc. and has more than 40 years of experience in hospitality. Burger has provided and promoted sustainability solutions for the hospitality industry since 1994. Pineapple Hospitality approaches sustainable products, programs and services based on five criteria: Does it have an environmental benefit, economic benefit, enhance guest satisfaction, enhance staff satisfaction and is it responsibly provided? He is a frequent speaker and writer regarding sustainability topics pertaining to hospitality. He can be reached at Ray@PineappleHospitality.net or by phone at (636) 922-2285.

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