By Danielle Schalk
The events of recent years have broadened the public understanding and expectations around environmental sustainability, social issues and corporate governance. As Hilton’s report, The 2022 Traveler: Emerging Trends and the Redefined Traveler highlights, “A new sense of caring has emerged and is expected to strengthen…travellers are expected to care more about sustainability and community efforts, and they’re looking to remain loyal to brands, companies and organizations that align with their values.”
“More and more, our customers are expecting that we toe the line, if you will, and continue to champion sustainability and appropriate practices,” says Edwin Frizzell, regional vice-president, Central Canada and general manager of the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.
“Canada has a great reputation internationally, as a country and as a destination, that really does put sustainability at the forefront, which I think gives us an advantage,” he adds, noting he has seen the important role sustainability plays in the broader industry’s success through his role as a board member of Greater Toronto Hotel Association and Destination Toronto.
Placing concerted focus on pursuing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets, “is something most of our guests are looking for and very appreciative of,” shares Sabrina Offers, director of Private Residences and Owner Relations at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler, as well as the leader of the property’s Green Team. “Sometimes [these initiatives] come with a little bit of challenge, like when you change certain things that people have been used to over the years,” she notes. But, the effort is ultimately worthwhile.
And, while environmental sustainability initiatives have often been the most visible aspects of the industry’s ESG efforts, approaches have continued to diversify and evolve with the culture and consumer expectations.
“[The industry has] evolved in regard to including some newer resources and strategies that don’t only look at the environmental concerns, [but focus more on] social equity and economic viability,” Offers explains. This, she notes, reflects “a broader understanding of sustainability, which includes responsible sourcing and energy efficiency, but also community engagement.”
Striking a balance between multiple facets requires a more holistic view of decision making and sustainability. It also often includes initiatives that reach beyond the bounds of the hotel and its operations. For example, Four Seasons Whistler takes part in a local biodiversity support program designed to protect toads during the Western-toad migration that takes place around nearby Lost Lake.
Offers also points to programs such as donating used linens, furniture and equipment that’s in good condition to benefit the needy; supporting local artists and artisans by featuring them throughout the property; and building relationships with local resources such as the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, which helps guests connect to the local community and Indigenous culture.
For those seeking to balance out ESG focuses to better address all aspects of responsible and sustainable operations, Marie Pier Germain, vice-president, Sales and Marketing for Quebec-based Germain Hotels, notes, “There’s a lot of things you can do in terms of social improvements — for diversity, equity and inclusion — [such as] donations and sponsorship programs. When you start looking at different opportunities, there’s a lot that can be done.”
But, Germain also notes that part of the reason environmental commitments tend to be front and centre in the industry is due to tourism being such a resource-heavy sector. “Tourism is an industry that consumes a lot, and that has a larger impact on the environment,” she explains.
Because of this, Germain Hotels’ approach has been increasingly shaped to ease the process of making more sustainable travel decisions for its guests. As Germain explains, the team’s approach is: “Let’s try to make the right decisions for our guests so that they don’t have to carry the weight to make the decision.”
The growing push toward net-zero operations is also creating continued emphasis on environmental responsibility, with many nations and companies working toward net zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement.
But, in order for this to be effective, there needs to be clear communication of the efforts being taken, including measurement and reporting of progress toward goals.
As CBRE’s Pacific head of ESG, Su-Fern Tan, explained in a recent report titled Technology’s Role in Achieving ESG Targets: “Energy efficiency is essentially the old sustainability game that’s becoming more mature. We’re now starting to talk about water efficiency, waste, embodied carbon and nature repair. It’s all interconnected, interdependent and getting pretty complicated, and underneath all of this lies the data.”
In line with Accor’s commitments on this front, the Fairmont Royal York has undertaken a number of initiatives in recent years, including the elimination of guest-facing single-use plastics. As part of a transformation unveiled in November 2023, the historic hotel also underwent the largest heritage-hotel retrofit in North America in order to become certified as a Zero-Carbon Building – Performance Standard by the Canada Green Building Council (CGBC).
The Fairmont team is continuing to tackle ambitious targets. “For 2024, at the Royal York particularly, we’re undertaking a pretty significant focus on food-waste reduction,” shares Frizzell. “We have a 25-per-cent food-waste-reduction ambition for this year, which is the largest goal in the company.”
In its pursuit of this goal, the team at the Royal York is leveraging AI technology to help focus its efforts and better understand the food-waste it produces. Using the Orbisk food-waste monitoring system, food waste can be scanned, identified and measured at 12 locations throughout the property. The system also weighs waste and generates reports and recommendations for the team automatically. And this, Frizzell notes, is proving very valuable.
“It really is quite incredible technology and the amount of data and analytics that we’re able to pull from that, [as well as] the recommendations that the system itself makes for us, makes our ambitious 25-per-cent reduction goal seem much more within reach,” he shares.
Frizzell is quick to stress the significant amount of dedication and resources required to properly execute projects of this magnitude, requiring substantial investment and buy-in at all levels within the hotel.
“When we want to implement something we need to have the buy in of the people [involved],” agrees Germain. “So training is really important, making sure staff understand why we do certain things.”
When developing this training, Germain also notes that Germain Hotels paid particular attention to the vocabulary used to communicate. “It has an impact on how people understand what you’re talking about,” she shares, pointing out that this kind of clarity also helps combat greenwashing. “I’m excited about what lies ahead for us and where we can have a positive impact.
As ESG practices within the industry continue to grow and evolve, tools, targets and understandings around these topics will continue to shift too.
To illustrate, Frizzell points to increasingly sustainable F&B offerings that eliminate some of the more resource-intensive products as an area to observe and consider.
“I can envision a restaurant menu here at the Royal York that would be 100-per-cent plant based in the not-too-distant future, which would give our guests a great culinary experience that also contributes to our overall sustainability goals,” he notes.
“There’s a lot of evolution happening in a number of different spaces in our sector,” Frizzell adds. “And I think we’re are just starting to scratch the surface.”
