Getting the Right Certification

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While taking steps to “go Green” can have many benefits for hoteliers on its own, getting recognized for such measures is also critical for these properties. For that reason, finding the right green certification is essential for properties and can help tip the scales in their favor when it comes to consumers making decisions.

But there are a many different organizations and places to get this certification, and not all carry the same weight in the world of sustainability. LODGING Back of House discussed certification and some of the benefits with Mike Shutts, VP, engineering, security and sustainability, CoralTree Hospitality, and Trina White, general manager, Parkside Hotels & Resorts.

1. Validating Claims

Shutts emphasized the value of certification is to make sure hotels “actually do” what they say they are doing.

“I think that one of the things that happened through time is people were trying to claim that they were doing a lot of really great things that were related to sustainability and a green effort. However, when you would go and inspect the property, you would find that wasn’t true,” he said.

White, meanwhile, noted that the resort has long been committed to waste diversion, but beginning in 2016, it started to have a third party come in and measure its progress and conduct an audit.

“They go straight to our recycling company and waste company. They don’t ask for invoices; they go straight to the source and do audits that way. They physically come onsite and check our waste for a couple of weeks and do spot checks to make sure the invoices align,” she said.

According to its latest Greenhouse Gas report, the hotel reached 94 percent waste diversion, which is its highest level ever, said White. Previously, the highest mark was a little over 80 percent prior to COVID, she noted.

2. Develop Your Own Checklist

Regardless of certification by third-party companies, Shutts emphasized the importance of properties developing their own internal checklist.

“We have to make sure that the employees are educated so that when the guests ask them what we do, they have accurate information. So we have a checklist that we use in terms of making sure that that education and accountability happens, and then we also make sure that we partner with the right companies related to certification,” he said.

3. Identify The Right Organization

Shutts noted that CoralTree Hospitality, as an example, endorses Green Key Global—a sustainable certification program for hotels in North America, which is also supported by the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

Green Key Global partners with a third-party accredited audit facilitator, Control Union, to assess hotels across four pillars: sustainable management, environmental impacts, cultural impacts, and socioeconomic impacts. Participating hotels will receive tools and one-on-one guidance to manage their environmental impact. This includes opportunities to reduce utility consumption, waste, emissions, and operating costs.

“I think that one of the things that happened through
time is people were trying to claim that they were doing a lot of really great things that were related to sustainability and a green effort. However, when you would go and
inspect the property, you would find that wasn’t true.”

Mike Shutts, | CoralTree Hospitality

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