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...

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...

Fifty Shades Greener, and the Educational Training Boards of Ireland, headed by KWETB, have partnered to deliver Environmental Training to the hospitality industry workforce in Ireland.

This project is funded by SOLAS and there will be no cost at all for businesses.

It has never been more important than now, that we provide opportunities for the workforce to upskill and learn something new in times of uncertainty within the industry.

The Fifty Shades Greener training programmes are practical, action based courses teaching employees and managers how to measure, monitor, control and reduce their business utilities.

“For me a Green business is one that reduces it’s impact on the environment, and we can achieve this by reducing our use of energy & water and production of waste. Reducing our utilities will not only reduce our Carbon emissions but it will also save us money. It is all about been resource efficient” explains Raquel Noboa, founder of Fifty Shades Greener.

As the Hospitali...

It does not feel like award season this year, does it?

The fancy dinners in black ties are long gone from our diary’s as we try to stay away from social contact and everything we now as “normal”.

But it stills remains, more important than ever, to recognize those businesses that achieve a level of excellence. Those businesses that despite the current pandemic, are putting the environment at the forefront of their operations.

I know a few of them….Do you know any?

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

We want to hear what you have done on your sustainability journey, and we want to recognize your efforts.

Fifty Shades Greener has launched the International Green Business award recognition. This is NOT A COMPETITION against your peers, but it recognizes and achieved standard, for any business in any industry.

In order to apply you will need to:

• Summarise the last 12 months of your green programme
• Provide environmental training to your employees
• Demonstrate you have established your busine
...

Waste is one of the most colossal challenges of our times. Waste production continues to increase and Ireland is now facing a potential waste mountain with no place to go. For some facts and stats continue reading to the end of this blog.

The first step to reducing waste at your hospitality business – CHECK YOUR BINS!

I am aware this is less than glamorous but unfortunately it is the only way you can learn what waste you are producing. I myself had to carry this out over a period of months when I was green manager at Hotel Doolin. It is a less than savoury task BUT one thing is for sure, I learned A LOT from it and I reduced our waste by 30% in one year by applying very simple actions - the  first one being WATCHING YOUR BINS!

Checking your bins allows you to understand what waste is being produced at your business, enabling you to take the necessary steps to either reduce or abolish certain waste completely.

Check your bins at different times of the day and different days of the w...

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

Following 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 years in hotel management training. 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 inevitably comes with high costs due to running energy, water and waste.

In my early hotel management years I was often assigned the early duty manager shift, where I would walk into work at 6.30am and meet the only person up earlier than me! My best buddy -  the breakfast chef!

For years I witnessed breakfast chefs arrive on duty and turn all the lights on, all the ovens on, extractor fans, gr...

As adults, and in particular as professionals in our industry, it is hard to admit that there might be a better way to do things.

We have to be open to change.

We have to be whiling to admit the errors of our ways, and learn a new skill that will allow us to run more efficient businesses.

We have to be whiling to change the way we have always done things.

What if I was to tell you there are things you can do right now, today, without the need of capital investment to reduce your Hotel’s carbon footprint and SAVE YOU MONEY every day?

Would it be worth to dedicate some time this week to learn how?

The secret is that it all starts with behavioural change, with a willingness to learn something knew and apply it to your daily routine.

Changing yours and your team’s behaviour might seem an impossible task, but it is no different than training a brand new employee. If someone joins your team, you will be telling them about your company’s mission, your customer service promise, how you ...

If you have not implemented an Environmental Management system at your hospitality business you are spending a lot more than you should in your utilities.

Who is the person responsible right now to decide when your equipment should be turned on or off?

Who is responsible to measure your food waste production?

Who decides when taps should be left running?

If you can not answer those 3 questions then you really need to invest some time on a green programme.

Environmental sustainability to us, at the Fifty Shades Greener office, is all about been efficient with your resources, the energy & water your business uses and the waste it produces. The key here is that reducing those resources, will not only make you a Greener business with less impact on the environment, but it is also going to SAVE YOU MONEY.

I have worked with properties were we have reduced energy use by 30% in the first 4 months, do you know how much savings that would mean to your business? If you want to find out, ge...

Last week during a Radio interview the presenter said: I love your company name, why did you chose Fifty Shades Greener?

The question brought me back to 2017, when I was an enthusiastic entrepreneur at the very start of my journey. The film Fifty Shades Darker had just been released and while it receive criticism it was a big hit in the box office.

I am not a fun of the movie and I have not read the book, but there was something about the name Fifty Shades Darker that stock with me.

The connotation that dark or green or any colour can have many different shades, resonated with the training programme I had already started drawing on my mind, one that would bring a business through different shades of Green.

I checked in with my husband as I normally do with important decisions and his reaction was: “Ugh. No, you are going to be dealing with businesses and business people, they will not like that name”

I normally listen to his advice, otherwise I would not ask, so I thought about it...

This week, I thought Id give you a break from telling you my opinion on something or other and instead, I wanted to highlight a business that is walking the walk and talking the talk when it comes to their Green Programme.

Dating back to the 18^th century, Whatley Manor is a beautifully restored manor house and spa nestles in 12 acres of gardens. Apart from their impressive award winning restaurant, what most attracts me to this property is their sustainability programme, which kick started in 2019.

Last week I had the pleasure to find out more about how they began their journey from Sue Williams, General Manager.

“The owners of Whatley Manor and I were discussing the subject of our operations impact on the environment and it was evident that we all had strongly held views that we wanted to focus hard on becoming more ethical operators both on property and in the community. We very quickly got underway as all parties were aligned.”

Having the owners and top management invested on a ...