As a double immigrant who worked his way through high school and university, I’m a big believer in the lifelong benefits of working on the front line of a service business, early in life. One of my first jobs was front-line in the retail sector working at one of the biggest sports stores in Toronto. This job taught me how to work with diverse colleagues and adjust to the grueling demands of store managers trying to hit their numbers while handling dissatisfied customers wanting a better deal. After an initial test period, the store manager, a tough but fair...

Two recent initiatives announced by the White House will help spur additional energy efficiency and decarbonization upgrades in new and existing buildings. President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to expand domestic manufacturing of a number of critical clean energy technologies, including heat pumps and building insulation. The White House also recently debuted its National Initiative to Advance Building Codes, which will bring together federal agencies to help lower energy costs for families, while making homes and buildings more resilient against the effects of severe weather. Taken together, these policies are a great start toward strengthening the market for important clean energy technologies such as heat...

As the pace of commissioning commercial PV systems increases while in parallel current systems mature, the market is looking at PV systems as more than just a source of clean energy. Instead, PV systems are now being viewed as long-term investments that need to be closely managed to improve their ROI and bottom line. As with any investment, the two main ways to improve the ROI of a commercial PV system is to increase energy production (and therefore annual revenue) and decrease lifetime costs. Let’s take a deeper look at how this can be done in commercial PV installations. A...

Washington and Colorado recently took exciting steps to ensure new buildings in their states are built ready for the all-electric future. Washington State’s policy, that just passed the state’s building code council, requires all new commercial buildings to use high efficiency heating equipment that can run on 100 percent clean power. The Colorado bill that is on its way to the Governor’s desk requires that any municipality that chooses to adopt or update building codes also update to the latest international energy conservation standards. These are two states that have recently felt the devastating consequences of the climate crisis and are now taking...

Wellness, like most ambitions, has multiple layers to it. The term has been used in many ways to describe a desire to enhance one’s body, mind, and soul. But it is still only the exceptional hospitality programs that encompass the complete desire for wellness. There are simple ways that your portfolio can provide your guests with the right level of wellness to match your overall experience. Lina Batarags’ indictment of hospitality’s wellness programs as shallow acknowledgement of a lack of cleanliness (Insider, March 29, 2021) was harsher than necessary. She seemed to think that hotels were lagging the norm of...

The wellness industry is transforming into a booming trillion-dollar market with plenty of potential for new entrants in the sector, be it new products or services. EHL has compiled a list of the top 10 global spa trends for this year. The spa experience is no longer simply about pampering; spas are now required to offer an extensive menu of healing therapies for the mind, body, and soul. The COVID Impact on the Wellness Industry & Spa Trends Today, spas may answer most of the desires of an older generation expecting to be offered additional pampering services or a health and...

In the first half of 2021, we surveyed Bidroom customers about what impacts their travel decision-making process. The majority, 58 percent, said sustainability played a role in this. Fast forward to 2022, and you need only search through the news headlines to see similar surveys from travel platforms, like Booking.com and Expedia, showing how much more significant this trend has become. And it is significant because climate change is not just a passing trend. It is a pressing issue that needs urgent attention worldwide. Hoteliers and other lodging providers can no longer afford to ignore this from an operational and...

Belonging to hospitality, the most service, people-oriented industry, you tend to be impacted by everything the world is undergoing at any given time—technological zeitgeists, global economic slowdowns, unexpected weather turbulence, in addition to the human quest for knowledge, disruptions, and innovations. Regardless of the environment, less represented groups on a leadership scale change the social engineering in decision-making. For decades, boardrooms have lacked women inclusivity, but now, industries have adopted and started promoting changes as more women sit at executive boards and rank high on global progress indexes. It has now shifted from a sole focus on gender diversity...

Amid one of its most transformative periods in history, the U.S. lodging industry has an opportunity to enact real change through a renewed commitment to sustainability. As the world looks to reduce its carbon emissions, hotels play an important role as they are the most energy- and water-intensive of any commercial building type globally. Not only will a commitment to sustainability help to slow climate change, but failure to do so has the potential to result in lower asset value, increased operational costs and decreased consumer demand. Following the pandemic’s unprecedented impact on lodging demand, which was worse than that of...

In the current business context, most hospitality organizations are finding themselves wanting to strike the right balance of “building back better” without jeopardizing a speedy recovery and keeping sustainable business practices at the heart of it all. It is important to note that this is taking place at a time when there is heightened interest, as well as public scrutiny, toward an organization’s “footprint” and purpose. For example, stakeholders, as well as shareholders—who have already become more attuned to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles—expect a marked step forward as it relates to an organization’s social, environmental, and societal impact. It is...