This past year has been as unparalleled as 2020, with many hoping for better things to come in 2022...

What has been crystal clear, is that society is demanding more. More from our governments, more from businesses and more from ourselves.

2030, 2050- these 'net zero' targets and others are only around the corner and where once before, the issue of climate change was left to the policy makers around the world, people are demanding transparency and real action.

What about us? And our own impact on the environment? 

We know we have to do something about our own Carbon Footprint, but often we are not really sure how to go about it.

Customer demand for a Greener Hospitality industry is on the rise. Those that adapt, change and market their efforts well, will  see the benefits of listening to what their customers want, and become “favourites” in a landscape of competitive industry.

Working with hospitality businesses, I have heard all kinds of excuses over the years:

“I just do not h...

It is estimated that we waste about a third of all the food we produce for human consumption. A third!!! That’s a lot of food.

Producing food requires a huge environmental effort, land that has been deforested, species that have been driven to extinction, indigenous populations that have been made homeless and uprooted soil that has been degraded and a huge amount of water used – all to produce food that we then just throw away.

This is not to scare you, unfortunately this is the reality of the food waste problem we have worldwide. These are facts. It is hard for us in the western world to understand the devastating effects that food waste has on the environment, because we can’t see it with our own eyes.

Another devastating effect of food waste, is that when the majority of it ends up in our landfill bins, it decomposes without access to oxygen and creates methane, which is 23x more deadly than carbon dioxide.

Every which way you look at it food waste is a major culprit in destroy...

Hotels and Restaurants spend a good portion of their sales paying for utilities, the energy, water and waste that takes to run your business, can be the second largest cost you will incur over the year.

So when was the last time you trained your team to SAVE YOU MONEY??? Or have you ever?

Teaching your employees the right behaviour around the use of energy and water and production of waste is the KEY element to not only reduce your running costs, but also to run a greener, more efficient business, and to reduce your Carbon emissions. It is that simple!

I worked in the Hospitality industry all my life, since I was 17, I went through a Hotel Management Diploma for 4 years, NOBODY, in my 20 year career, told me I was behaving the wrong way around utilities, and I was spending more money than I should.

Nobody told me that switching off the over for an extra hour a day could save my workplace €2,000

Nobody told me knowing the water flow rate of our taps would help me make smarter decis...

Greening the Hospitality Industry in Kenya!

This week I am delighted to announce a new partnership between Fifty Shades Greener and Sustainable Travel and Tourism Agenda (STTA), based in Kenya.

Our collaboration, will see the Fifty Shades Greener Online Programmes deployed to Kenya’s Hospitality businesses and employees in 2020 and 2021.

STTA is an expert in sustainability of tourism, providing solutions for destination support in Africa. This support includes advisory services for tourism development strategy, tourism research consultancy, and sustainability training. The company has well established training programs for team learning and professional development, which makes them the perfect agent to partner with Fifty Shades Greener. Since its inception in 2013, STTA has been successfully mentoring sustainability leaders in the continent, and is thus a trusted training provider for tourism professionals. STTA commits to using its knowledge platform and networks to support touris...

If your business is running a Green programme to reduce it’s carbon footprint it seems logical to use your green journey as a marketing tool.

The travel agent central statistics released a report in 2019 were it stated that:

87% of global travellers want to travel more sustainably

78% of traveller would pay more to stay in Green certified accommodation

So a green programme is not only good for the planet, it is also what society and your customers are seeking more and more in recent years.

Running a Green Hotel can increase your customer footfall and rates, but there are a few top tips to follow, in order to market your green journey in the right way.

1. NEVER EVER say you do more than what you do. This is my number one rule, always be honest and never over exaggerate your achievement, there is nothing worse than green washing.
2. Document your team’s journey through videos, photos and social media posts. Are you having a Green Team meeting? Take a photo, disclose what you discuss a
...

Sustainability doesn’t have to be an unattainable goal, or something in the distance that we all know exists but we fail to pursue. There are so many small changes we can all implement in our lives and workplaces that will directly affect our use of resources and our production of a carbon footprint.

When I founded Fifty Shades Greener in 2017, my mission was to train the hospitality workforce in Ireland, so we could live up to our name, the Emerald Island, providing green accommodation to our overseas visitors.

Fast forward a couple of years and my goal grew legs. I now want to teach every single hospitality worker in the world the little things we can all do to change our behaviour around the use of energy and water and production of waste.

A new partnership between Fifty Shades Greener and Dalhousie University’s College of Continuing Education will help bring this dream to life as we work together to green the hospitality industry in Canada.

For more than 35 years, the College o...

Allow me to steal 3 minutes of your time today to show you how simple it is to reduce your Hotel’s carbon footprint and even achieve carbon neutrality.

Sustainability is this big word that is thrown around so often and in so many scenarios that it becomes an unachievable task in our minds. So I want to demystify it and break it into actionable steps:

1. Calculate your current Carbon Footprint

This is again easier than you might think, all you need to do is learn to understand your utility bills, waste, water and energy.

2. Set up a system and assign a person in your team to monitor your carbon footprint every month – this person is going to be your Green Manager who should report to you and the rest of the time periodically.

3. Observe your building, where and when is energy used, where and when is water used and where and what waste is produced.

4. Provide staff training for waste, water and energy reductions

5. Generate savings in year 1 and 2 from your utility
...

In 2017, I set out on a mission to help Green the Hospitality Industry, there has been many up and downs since then, but one thing remains - my belief that this is the best way to go for the industry.

We keep hearing in the news about Climate Change, how many years we have left, what will happen in 2050 if we don’t change…Some people believe it, some people don’t.

Regardless of your personal opinion on Climate Change, the reality is that every person, and every Hotel in the world, can do something to reduce their Carbon Footprint.

Sustainability In Hospitality

Hotels waste thousands of Euros every year, by having poor processes and behaviours around energy, water and waste. This has, not only a negative effect in the environment, but also to the business bottom line. We spend time, money and resources on promoting our business, bettering our customer service, providing unique visitor experiences… And then we throw a lot of our hard earned sales literally in the bin or down the drai...

The pandemic that has isolated the world, is the fastest growing illness in modern history. Within 2 months, it has reached all corners of the world, and it threatens to devastate countries without the right tools to fight the virus, like Africa and South America.

There are no comforts or lessons to be learnt when you see people that cant even be buried or mourned by their loved ones. I do not want to fall into the trap to highlight positive aspects from a society been confined all around the world. Only to remember that there are millions of children that can not attend school, and the methods teachers, authorities and parents are using to fill the time they have at home, by teaching Online.

Online Education is a fast growing industry

Is evident, that the pandemic has accelerated the need for all countries to up their game through online training. But once again there are clear differences between countries, educational models and what is even more worrying, the clear difference be...

In the past few weeks the world has been flipped upside down and economies are been brought to their knees due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

These are worrying times for many, health and economical wise, as we enter unchartered territories.

The travel and tourism industry in particular, has already started feeling the severe effects of a downturn, with many cancellations for the coming season, and the crude reality of job loses raising its ugly head in most countries.

Panic is starting to set in amongst business owners, and we should take this time to reflect and prepare for the future. 

So can what we do from a business perspective?

I too am worried, I provide training and coaching programmes for the Hospitality industry, so their business prosperity is a key factor for my own business goals.

We know that we are facing a quiet season, we also know that we expect a huge drop in our sales budgets, and that 2020 will not be a very profitable year for many.

I met a new client last w...