HOSPA, the Hospitality Professionals Association, is to champion sustainability as it launches a toolkit to help hotels overhaul their processes – with a view to creating a more environmentally friendly and socially conscientious offering.
The toolkit provides both environmental and societal resources including simple guides, downloadable reports, practical advice and links to other useful websites – with the overarching aim of challenging the climatic and social impact of traditional hospitality processes.
Expert consultancy will help businesses reduce energy costs, as well as consumption, with HOSPA’s partner Inspired Energy providing a complete utilities solution to support companies at every stage of their net zero journey.
The service is set to launch on Friday 13th August and for a limited time will be available to anyone visiting the HOSPA website, but this will then eventually become exclusive to HOSPA members.
Jane Pendlebury, CEO of HOSPA, commented: “As we continue to recover from Covid, we must look to build a better and more resilient hospitality industry that’s fit for the future. And as part of that, it’s not just about financial recovery – it’s clear that sustainability must be at the heart of the rebuilding process. After all, that’s what sustainability is: the ability to continue in the long-term. This toolkit is our way of helping to guide our members and support them in their long-term sustainability journeys.”
With an estimated contribution of around 2% to global carbon emissions, the magnitude of hotel emissions is significant and in need of collective, informed solutions. To achieve Net Zero, the industry must reduce its carbon emissions per room by 90% by 2050 (66% by 2030)* – an ambitious yet attainable target. * Source: UK Green Council and Sustainability Hospitality Alliance.
Jane continued: “Collaborating with sustainability experts such as Sarah Duncan of Sleeping Lion, who has been instrumental in creating the toolkit, has helped us develop an approachable guide to greener hospitality practice. At HOSPA we understand the climate crisis can be a daunting prospect, but we strongly believe that with the help of our new toolkit, progress can be achieved in a pragmatic but motivating way.”
An internal survey of HOSPA members indicated that the majority of its members take sustainability seriously but recognise they have a long way to go. A comprehensive toolkit focussing on ethical and sustainable behaviour will help hotels get on the right path towards a greener future, which will naturally align with the wider environmental and societal objectives of the UK.
Designed to help simplify this highly complex area and help companies make sustainability work for them, the toolkit understands that each business is unique, therefore a holistic approach is paramount, to ensure sustainable practice is accessible to all its members.
Sleeping Lion is a consultancy run by Sarah Duncan (author of The Ethical Business Book) which provides advice and guidance on ethical and sustainable business practices. Sarah’s advice has helped shape the toolkit to ensure it meets the requirements of hospitality businesses thanks to her diverse experience in the sector.
Sarah Duncan, of Sleeping Lion, said: “Sustainability is a wide and complex area – and nobody is perfect. One of the biggest challenges is knowing where to start, and this is where the toolkit can help. It gives you a starting point to help you on the journey towards genuinely sustainable business practices.”
She added: “The toolkit though is a work in progress – and probably always will be, which means HOSPA is open to ideas and new interpretations. We want this to be a collaborative effort and are actively looking for people or organisations with specific areas of understanding, so if you think you have something to add to the toolkit then do please reach out and get in touch.”
For more information on HOSPA, please visit www.hospa.org.
For more on Sleeping Lion, please visit https://sleepingliononline.com/.
For more on Inspired Energy, please visit: https://inspiredenergy.co.uk/
