Never in our minds we would have thought our beloved Hospitality industry would lie dormant for 3 months. But that is the reality of 2020, as the world re-opens slowly, and people start to travel, it is time to take a good luck at our current standards of procedure, and ensure we are running efficient businesses.

It has never been more important than now to ensure we reduce our business running costs, by having efficient systems in place. If you have never implemented an Environmental Management System at your business, chances are you are paying for more Energy, Waste and Water than you really need to.

• Who turns on your kitchen main over every day and at what time?
• What is your most disposed of item of landfill waste?
• What is the water flow rate of you bathroom taps?

If you know the answers to those 3 questions, you are already on a winning path! But if you are not sure on the answers, or need to “check” with someone else, this means you are not in control of your business ut...

I studied Hotel Management back in the late 90’s and early 2000. It was 4 years of my life when I had the most fun, and met what would become my best friends for life. During my time in college they taught us how to do a business budget, how to forecast, how to control staff wages and dealing with a team of people. But the funny thing is, nobody told us, that when we became Hotel Managers, we would also have to manage a building.

A building, that comes with really high running costs on energy, water and waste. These utility bills, can amount to be, after staff wages, the second largest cost to your business. Yet, learning how to control, monitor and reduce them, never came into play during my years as a trainee manager.

I have worked in the hospitality industry for 20 years, but the first time I learned about an Environmental management system, was in 2012. And today, having worked as a Green consultant for nearly 3 years, I still meet hotel and restaurant managers every week that ha...

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...

Do you own or run a Hospitality Business? And do you know how much money are you putting in the bin?

There is a staggering statistic that 70% of the Food Waste produced by Hotels and Restaurants is actually avoidable. While we are putting food in the bin there are millions of people starving in other countries but for this blog I am going to move away from the human side of this problem, and talk about what most motivates business owners: COST SAVINGS.

Stop putting your money in the bin

Putting food in the bin is literally the equivalent of putting your hard earned cash in the bin. More so even, than any other waste type. You have to factor in the following elements:

1. You bought the raw produce at a cost
2. You stored it in your fridges and freezers using energy that also cost you money
3. Then you cooked it, using energy and staff wages to add to that cost.
4. And then when the food comes back from your food service areas, or when it is spoiled in your fridges, you pay money for your w
...

As some of you might know, 3 years ago I set out on a mission to help Green the Hospitality industry. I love tourism, I have worked in the industry all my life and it has helped shape me into the person I am today.

But I am also painfully aware of how polluting the Hospitality industry is, and while we hear more and more stories about hotels trying to reduce single use plastic use, or control their energy use, we are still miles behind from what we could achieve if we put our minds and time to Greening our businesses.

So this week, I wanted to highlight and write about a business, and a man, that has put sustainability at the forefront of it’s business model.

Rasika Perera is the Chairman and founder of Ravana Garden, a sustainable, luxury, boutique Hotel in Sri Lanka. I got in touch with Rasika to find out why we had set out on the mission to build a Sustainable Hotel:

"Tourism is one of the most polluting industries, majority of the industry experts are least bothered as long as ...

With the reality of Brexit looming upon us, it is not surprise that all industries are worried about what it means for them.

In Tourism, the figures are quite alarming, it is estimated 10,000 job losses and a drop on National Tourism revenue of €390 million.

Nobody really knows for sure what is going to happen exactly, will it be as bad as they expect? will it be worse? Or will it actually be better? Who knows! Not even those in charge are too sure about any of it, so instead of panicking striking, let’s start looking at other things you, in your business, can do, to contra-rest the expected loss of revenue should the worst case scenario happens.

Green Tourism, a growing market

The answer is quite simple, if we are going to lose a large amount of tourist coming into Ireland from the UK, we simply need to look at other emerging markets. And, conveniently for me you might think, Green Tourism, is one of the fastest growing markets.

According to Travel Agent Central Statistics, 87% o...

All of us living in the Western world, have never known any different but an unlimited amount of water coming out of our taps and showers. You could argue therefore, that it is not our fault, to think this natural resources is unlimited and can be used as we please.

I’ve sometimes walked into a public bathroom and a tap is open at full force while nobody is using it. I myself, used to brush my teeth in the past while leaving the tap open, or washed dirty dishes without using a stopper in the sink.

This is not a guilt trip for anyone, we only know what we have been given all our lives, we think that water will never stop coming, and therefore, conserving it is not necessary.

Changes are coming

In Ireland, households do not have to pay for water. This is very different in all other European countries. In fact, Ireland and Northern Ireland are the only jurisdictions in the EU without domestic water charges. (https://www.thejournal.ie/what-countries-in-europe-have-water-charges-facts-3...

Recently, I spent some time in my beloved Spain, in the city of Bilbao in particular. During my stay I was delighted to see the hotel I had booked did not offer single use toiletries, Yipee! I was thrilled.

I know for most people this might be a silly thing to get excited about, but when you work in the world of Environmentalism, and you see the figures I see in a weekly basis, regarding discarded mini toiletries, this is a big thing.

Single use plastics in hotels are a much bigger issue than most people think. To a customer, opening a mini bottle of shampoo, or an individually wrapped ketchup sachet, or a mini jam at their breakfast seems like a very small thing. It is just one item, isn’t it? What harm can it do?

An issue much bigger than we think

According to STR Global (American based company that tracks global data), there are nearly 200,000 hotels in the world. This number does not include guest houses, B&B’s or hostels so the real number is much larger. Let’s say every hot...