Back in 2012, while working as the Sales & Marketing Manager of Hotel Doolin in West Clare, my General Manager told me to form a "green team" and apply for Green Hospitality Ireland certification. 

Excuse me but...what?!

To say I was apprehensive at the start would be an absolute understatement! 

I had no idea where to even begin.

I attended workshops, seminars, and completed an endless number of courses as well as reading blogs about Green businesses. 

Within 2 years and with little to no investment, we managed to reduce our Energy by 30%, our Waste by 40% and our Water by 25%. 

My first thought was “WHY ISN’T EVERYONE DOING THIS?"

To me, greening your hotel or restaurant became not just “the nice thing” to do, it is instead “the smart” thing to do from a business perspective. 

My Light-bulb moment 

At this point of my career, everything shifted and changed for me forever.

The "Why isn’t everyone doing this?" began forming an idea in my head. 

What if I could teach other...

At Fifty Shades Greener sustainability is a priority in everything which we do.

In this spirit it was decided that as a team we would each test out different homemade DIY environmentally friendly cleaning recipes and share our experiences in a blog.

Giving our readers insight as to what solutions are just that and what one’s are best missed!

Why is it your interest to bother to make your own eco friendly cleaning products?

Better Air quality

Commercial cleaning products contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are dangerous to our health causing eye, nose, and throat irritation as well as headaches, dizziness and memory loss!

Save your Money 

Making your own eco cleaning products is actually more affordable than using commercial brands. Many green products simply use ingredients such as white vinegar, baking soda, water and citrus.

Better for our planet

Toxic chemicals from cleaning products are flushed down the drain and enter our waterways. Using chemical free ...

What can be more tempting than a sustainable solution that benefits your business in three ways - socially, economically and environmentally? 

You can triple win in your business by doing the following: 

1. Reducing your use of resources and CO2 footprint.
2. Reducing operating costs and empowering members of the team to take personal responsibility in the fight to reduce emissions. 
3. Use the approach ‘trust is built’, create a culture of transparency in communication, with customers and the community in which the business operates.

To triple win in your business it can be achieved through education of the team that this has the greatest impact: socially (training, upskilling, career progression, investing in your team and improved communication), economically (reductions and efficiency means cost savings) and environmentally (reduction in usage means less CO2 emissions): the triple win. 

This blog article will help your business embed a triple win strategy.

How to Triple Win Econo...

I am beyond privileged that my weekly work allows me to meet Hotel teams from all over the world.

There is nothing more satisfying than one of your students surpassing your expectations!

This was exactly the case when I met the team at the Kingsley Hotel in Cork, Ireland. They have recently availed of our current Irish offering, where in collaboration with the Kildare & Wicklow Education & Training Board, our Green Business programme is fully funded for all Irish Hospitality & Tourism businesses.

I led a training session which was aimed at motivating and guiding their Green Team where to my surprise, it was their efforts and actions already implemented around sustainability, that motivated me!

I could not pass this opportunity to write about just one of the areas the Kingsley Hotel, and in particular their Housekeeping Manager Jared Warner MIASI, has worked on for several years now: The Green Bedroom.

I had the pleasure to interview Jay about his own sustainability journey and whi...

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...

Customer demand for Climate Change and for all industries to play their part is at an all-time high.

Society is changing, their values are changing, and those that align their business to their customer values ahead of the rest, stand to become more successful.

So what are you doing, at your hotel or restaurant, to commit and run a greener business?

The benefits of running a Greener Business

• Align your business to your customer values

• Green Marketing & PR

• Goodwill, improve your reputation

• Reduction of your business Carbon Footprint

• Better controls of your utilities, resulting in a reduction of your Energy, water and waste bills.

The future of the travel industry 

Right now, tourism & travel account for 10% of the global carbon emissions globally. AT the rate tourism is growing as an industry, would it be possible that we will become the most polluting industry worldwide in a couple of decades?

And how would that affect our future busines...

When was the last time you took time out of your day to review the energy your Hotel or Restaurant uses?

After staff wages, your Energy consumption, could possibly be one of the largest costs to your business, yet, every week, I meet hospitality managers, that don’t have control over their energy consumption.

I always found it funny, I spent 4 and a half year in Hotel Management. They told me how to budget, how to forecast, how to control staff wages. However, nobody ever told me that, when I finally became a Hotel Manager, I would also be in charge of a building.

A building that comes associated with high costs to run on Energy, Water and Waste.

In my early hotel management years I was often assigned the Early duty manager shift. Walking into work at 6.30am, your best buddy becomes the breakfast chef, they are the only ones up earlier than you!

For years, I saw breakfast chefs arrive on duty and turn all the lights on, all the ovens on, extractor fans, grills, fryers. It’s lik...