CSR and Sustainability

💸 The Belfry Hotel and Resort, Sutton Coldfield, plans to exceed its 2025 charity fundraising of £120,000 in 2026. 📅 It partners with St Giles Hospice in Lichfield, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, and Hospitality Action. Funds will be raised through events like car washes and marathons. St Giles Hospice provided care to over 2,600 people in 2024-25, mostly at home, relying on partnerships for funding, with less than 25% from government sources.

📅 Whitbread aims to employ over 500 care-experienced young people annually by 2027 through a partnership with Barnardo’s. Operating in Glasgow, Birmingham, and Edinburgh, with plans for Swansea and Newcastle, the program offers an eight-week training on employability skills. Already, 18 participants secured jobs, from an initial 35. Roles include housekeeping and management in Premier Inn hotels. The initiative aligns with the Care Leaver Covenant, enhancing job opportunities for care-experienced youth across the UK.

🌱 Corby of Windsor is transforming sustainability in the hospitality sector by prioritizing eco-friendly product design and manufacturing. From August 2023 to September 2024, 82,000 toxic chrome-plated items were replaced with polished stainless steel. Their battery-free bathroom scales and Skye hair dryer use 58% less energy. Launching early 2026, the Buxton BUSA™ bamboo range offers sustainable guestroom accessories. Corby aims for net zero status and is recognized by EcoVadis and Alcumus SafeSupplier for sustainability and safety.

📍 OUTRIGGER Fiji Beach Resort and Castaway Island, Fiji, earned Green Key Certification in December, becoming the first in the South Pacific to do so. Managed by the Foundation for Environmental Education, this certification highlights their sustainability efforts, including hiring locals and coral conservation. OUTRIGGER Fiji Beach Resort was the first in OUTRIGGER’s global portfolio to gain this certification. OUTRIGGER aims to achieve Green Key Certification for all its 31 properties worldwide, enhancing their commitment to environmental responsibility.

💸 Marcus & Millichap announced the sale of Sonesta ES Suites Charlotte Arrowood, located at 7925 Forest Pine Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina. The hotel will be transformed into affordable housing for veterans and families by a nonprofit organization. This property is on a 3.39-acre site, near Interstate 77 and Carowinds amusement park. The hotel includes suite-style accommodations, a fitness center, a business center, a convenience store, and offers complimentary breakfast.

📋 Hotels are partnering with sustainable suppliers for property design, focusing on responsible flooring choices. GREENGUARD Gold Certified and FSC-certified products are emphasized. Signature Flooring products meet low-VOC and other standards, contributing to healthful indoor environments. Sustainable flooring offers better durability and lower lifecycle costs, narrowing price gaps with traditional options. Woodura technology, using 1/10th the lumber, increases durability and ease of maintenance. Future trends include circular economy principles, lower embodied carbon, and multifunctional performance.

🏃‍♂️ Leaders in hospitality launch "Hospitality Beats Cancer" with Cancer Research UK to fund life-saving research. The campaign aims to raise £10 million through global events such as a cricket match in Papua New Guinea and a charity walk along Hadrian’s Wall. The launch at Mishcon de Reya, London, saw over 150 senior figures. Current partners feature Castlebridge Hospitality and STR, among others. Cancer Research UK supports over 4,000 scientists.

🌱 Green Project Technologies and HowGood partnered in New York to enhance carbon footprinting and supplier engagement. HowGood will focus on food and beverage suppliers using Carbon Trust-certified methods, while Green Project will address packaging, logistics, and services. The collaboration aims to improve Scope 3 emissions data and support industries in reducing their carbon footprint. CEOs Sam Stark and Alexander Gillet emphasize the importance of precise data for effective emissions reduction strategies, especially in complex food ingredient measurements.

🚨 Today, in Phoenix, AZ, the Arizona House of Representatives issued a proclamation recognizing the hotel industry's prevention efforts against human trafficking. The American Hotel & Lodging Association's "No Room for Trafficking" initiative, launched in 2020, has provided free training in over 34 languages, completed over 2.6 million times. Arizona State Representative Justin Wilmeth introduced the proclamation, emphasizing the industry's commitment to safety and dignity through strategic partnerships and employee education programs.

🌊 In the Westfjords of Iceland, on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Saltverk produces flaky sea salt using geothermal energy. This method requires 90% of the seawater to be evaporated. The company prides itself on using pure, uncontaminated Arctic seawater, avoiding additives and anti-caking agents. The process is labor-intensive, with salt hand-harvested, contributing to its premium status. Saltverk claims to be Iceland's sole producer of this premium grade salt, certified climate neutral.