Our industry has a lot of all stars who come up with great ideas. I spoke with one of them this past week. His name is Floris Licht, and he is the full-time General Manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station. He has an impressive side gig: He is Chief Planting Officer for Hotels for Trees, a nonprofit that has planted more than 105,000 trees since the program launched in July 2021. That is quite a patch of trees.
What Hotels for Trees offers is an alternative for those hotels that incentivize guests to opt out of housekeeping for a night or multiple nights. The concept is simple: One new tree is planted each time a guest chooses to skip daily room cleaning. The impact of that one choice can be seen on the Hotels for Trees website the next day. Guests only need to hang the unique door hanger on the outside of their door during their multiple day stay to participate. Thanks to a partnership with PMS provider Mews, which has integrated Hotels for Trees into its software, guests can also opt into the Hotels for Trees program at check-in. A Mews app shows the housekeeping team which rooms have requested to skip cleaning, and if a room has a skip cleaning hanger on the door handle, this can be updated in the app with a few taps.
There are now 142 hotels participating in more than 20 countries. The program is open to any hotel in the world. The program is not free, but hotels can benefit financially by participating. Hotels can expect to save 5 to 6 Euros per room not cleaned. Hotels pay the Hotels for Trees Foundation 5 Euros (a little more than $5) each time. Out of this amount 4 Euros is used by re-forestation partner Trees for All to plant a certified tree. The remaining Euro is used to run and further grow Hotels for Trees. Hotels for Trees invoices the hotels each month and ensures that the corresponding number of trees is planted. The only costs are those of the placards—.10 euros per placard.
Good for the Environment
Along with housekeeping savings, there are environmental benefits: a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, less heating and less water and chemicals used. Equipment life is also extended. It is a win-win for hotel owners and the planet.
“Planting a tree tends to cost less than paying for cleaning,” Licht says. “The guests very much like it. It helps build the hotel’s sustainability image. It can help drive conversions and attract groups.”
Licht hatched the idea for Hotels for Trees in college while taking a course in sustainability management. When things got slow during Covid-19 and occupancy dropped dramatically, Licht began working on his business plan. “I have always been passionate about sustainability,” he says.
If you are interested in increasing participation in your housekeeping opt-out program, this is a great way to do it. Interestingly, Licht has worked with other housekeeping opt-out incentive programs that only had a 12 to 13 percent participation rate. Hotels partnering with Hotels for Trees, however, are experiencing about 30 percent participation. Licht, who has worked in the hotel industry since 2003, attributes the higher participation rate to the good cause connection but also to the increasing number of millennials and Generation Z travelers who tend to care more about sustainability. Corporate travelers who are not footing their own bill are also participating.
Capture the Interest of Potential Employees
For hotels struggling to fully staff housekeeping, and that have even had to close off a percentage of their rooms, Hotels for Trees provides a definite upside. It can help attract potential employees who are looking for an employer who genuinely cares about sustainability.
I suspect there are few housekeepers these days who are worried about losing their jobs but if it is a concern, Silvia Danila Moggia, owner of Oasi Hotel said participating in Hotels for Trees has actually given her housekeeping team more time to clean other rooms and common areas. By the way, her small boutique hotel planted 622 trees in the first seven months of the program.
Some hotels have gone beyond what is expected as a Hotels for Trees partner and incorporated the program into more of the guest experience—front desk signage, for example. Some hotels are up to eight trees planted per room per month. “Some hotels are really motivated to run their hotel in a sustainable way,” Licht says.
Tree planting is one very important way to capture and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide around us. An average adult tree captures about 20 kg of CO2 per year.
Trees purchased thanks to Hotels for Trees are being planted all over the world—in Vietnam, Ghana, Madagascar, and many other countries.
Licht says Hotels for Trees’ goal is to plant at least 1 million trees per year as of 2025, together with its partners. I encourage you to support Licht’s effort. To me, it is a no brainer.
Green Lodging News Adds Axxess Industries to Product & Service Directory
Green Lodging News has added Axxess Industries to its Green Product & Service Directory in the following two categories: “Energy Management/Guestroom” and “Lighting & Controls.” Hotel owners and operators are looking for a variety of ways to reduce the cost of running their hotels and attract more guests. Axxess Industries manufactures a comprehensive assortment of practical, tech-savvy products for the smart automation and control of hotels. The company’s guestroom control systems combine to save energy and staff costs while impressing guests with comfort and convenience. The electronic Do Not Disturb systems guarantee guest privacy while making staff more efficient. All systems and room number signs are highly customizable and made in Canada. Call Roeland Van De Crommenacker at (866) 680-2457, or e-mail roelandv@axxind.com.
Who is Your Sustainability Champion?
Green Lodging News is always looking to profile sustainability champions in our Personnel Profile section. If you would like to nominate someone for this section of Green Lodging News, contact me at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
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Every two weeks Green Lodging News posts a new guest column on its website. (Click here for examples.) The guest column also appears in the weekly e-newsletter. Green Lodging News is currently in need of industry experts to contribute occasional guest columns. Experts may include consultants, architects, designers, suppliers, and those who own or operate green lodging establishments. Columns may be articles that take a stance on a particular subject or be strictly educational in nature. Columnists benefit by having their photo included along with a one paragraph description of their company. Interested in writing a column? Contact Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
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Green Lodging News, lodging’s leading environmental news source, publishes Green Suppliers Spotlight, an e-blast to 19,612 subscribers that features the lodging industry’s leading green products and services. The e-blast features multiple vendors—unlike the current Green Supplier Spotlight that allows one supplier to “own” the Green Lodging News subscriber list for one e-blast. (Click here for a Green Suppliers Spotlight sample.)
Green Suppliers Spotlight is published weekly on Thursdays to general managers, owners, management companies, directors of sustainability, directors of engineering, facilities managers and many others who are either in purchasing positions or who influence purchasing decisions. Suppliers of green products and services throughout North America and beyond are invited to participate in the e-blast. (Minimum two suppliers per e-blast.) Green Suppliers Spotlight was created to give vendors an opportunity to reach a high number of industry purchasers at a very low cost—as low as $200 per e-mail. (Click here for rate sheet.)
Those advertising in Green Suppliers Spotlight can include up to 100 words, one image, contact information and multiple links to their website in their ad. At the end of each week, a report will be sent to each supplier with information on delivered e-mails, opens and click-throughs.
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