Executive housekeepers share their environmental concerns with Hotelier Middle East at this month’s roundtable debate

Protecting the environment has become something of a hot topic within the hotel industry, and the housekeeping sector is able to play a significant role in this.

Speaking exclusively to Hotelier Middle East at a housekeepers’ roundtable, hosted by chemical company Diversey at The Palace — The Old Town, executive housekeepers from some of Dubai’s major hotel chains shared their thoughts and tips on how to minimise a hotel’s impact on the environment. From using different cleaning products to avoiding over-use of laundering services, it is clear that ‘every little counts’ and that even small changes can make a big difference.

And the value that eco-friendly products can bring to a hotel is not just seen in the reduction of energy or water used — a hefty financial incentive coupled with the power of a good reputation is making many hotels sit up and take notice of environmentally friendly solutions for their properties.

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However, despite this positive shift, the housekeepers said that there needs to be a more unified approach to this subject. They suggested that hotels, suppliers, and municipalities could maximise the impact of these changes by working more closely to find solutions which could be universally implemented and regularly monitored, in order to ensure that every department in a hotel is being as eco-friendly as possible.

How important are partnerships with suppliers in providing environmentally friendly solutions for hotels?

Dorothee Stein: I think that suppliers must inform people about the things they are doing as a company, because we only get to know the product itself, but we also need to know who we are dealing with — this is essential.

Tatjana Ahmed: There are certain things which corporate offices advise us on — for example the packaging of amenities— but when it comes to cleaning we have more freedom, so it is important for us to discuss things with our suppliers because we need to know which products are on the market for us to make an informed choice.

Nadine O’Connor: We want to talk to suppliers so we can find out what their environmental output is. We want to know what is coming out of suppliers’ sewage lines, what chemicals they are putting out, where it is going and how it is affecting where it is landing. And if we didn’t talk to the supplier we wouldn’t know any of this.

Marc Robitzkat: If you really want to see the benefit of being green, it requires a full mindset change in terms of training and application. As a supplier, we can provide our partners with great green products but unless they make changes internally, the products will not make as much difference.

Has there been increased guest demand for hotels to be more eco-friendly?

Laetitia Lasry: Particularly in residences, I have experienced guests saying they will not sign a contract with you unless they know you are an environmentally friendly hotel.

Jeanette Clift: Guests want us to participate in doing our bit for the environment, either in replacing towels and linen only when needed or with the amenities — they often ask what we are doing with the bottle afterwards and it is a very good question. But then guest demand keeps changing. If you are in a five-star hotel, it’s all about expectations and people who are paying a lot of money often want the linen to be changed every day because they expect that from five-star service.

DS: Some of our guests are looking at environmental issues and they appreciate initiatives like our energy saving light bulbs. Initially you think the room is going to be less bright, but it is working and the guests like it.

Should there be a unified approach to environmental issues in hotels?

Somer Gundogdu: That is the fundamental question — at the moment there is a huge confusion in the marketplace. Everyone is talking about being more ‘green’ but there is no clear definition of what being green means. The way I see it, we just don’t have a common understanding of what green is and we really need to reach one.

JC: Let’s agree on the basics for different brands or different styles of property so that at least we are doing something together, rather than everybody doing their own thing. The problem with that is that there is no way to measure it because everyone is doing something completely different. We have the DTCM classifying hotels so perhaps we should start including environmental issues in to this.

We are all doing something, but is it enough? Somebody needs to take the lead and implement a system. I think it’s great that everybody wants to do something, and they really want to do something good, which is the beauty of it. But somebody needs to take the lead.