ITHACA, N.Y.—A new tool from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration gives hotel operators specific strategies for explaining their sustainability efforts to customers, employees, investors, and other stakeholders. The hospitality industry has taken great strides toward sustainability, but in many cases those initiatives go unnoticed, or (worse) unheeded. The new tool offers a framework for creating a communications strategy to publicize and promote a hotel’s green operations. The tool, “Telling Your Hotel’s ‘Green’ Story: Developing an Effective Communication Strategy to Convey Environmental Values,” co-written by Daphne Jameson and Judi Brownell, contains a step-by-step approach designed to help practitioners at all levels advocate for their sustainability programs.
“We developed this communication strategy based on a study of communication efforts by 90 hospitality organizations,” said Jameson, a professor of management communication at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. “These firms had solid sustainability programs, but could not get the word out as effectively as they wished. In our analysis, we found that developing a coherent ‘story line’ would be an effective approach.”
The story lines explain the purpose and importance of a particular green initiative. Three possibilities that Jameson and Brownell outline are an environmental story, a financial story, or a service story.
Framing a Story in ‘Focus Patterns’
“Once you’ve chosen the narrative or story line, the next step is to create a focus for the communication relationship,” added Brownell, a professor of management and organizational behavior at the School of Hotel Administration. “You can create a relationship with your audience by framing your story in what we call ‘focus patterns.’ They are teacher-student, coach-player, friend-friend, salesperson-customer, cheerleader-fan, host-guest, and statesman-citizen. Each one is particularly suited to a given communication effort.”
Finally, the tool discusses four principles to help managers choose the best media, channels, and timing for their communication strategies: to combine multiple media, minimize audience effort, encourage audience participation, and retell the story.
“By using this tool, hospitality managers and executives will be able to develop the best strategy for communicating their green programs,” concluded Jameson. “In particular, we are interested in helping hotels gain support and cooperation for their initiatives from guests, employees, and other stakeholders.”
