We talk a lot about the measures you can take to improve your sustainability and the performance of your accommodation but for that sustainability to be at its most effective, you need to drive behaviour change in your guests. That may be relatively straightforward for the growing percentage of people, identified in research such as Booking.com’s 2024 sustainability survey, who want to behave more sustainably when they travel. They will readily engage with your messaging and information about your sustainability strategy on your website may have prompted their booking with you. However, there is still a large cohort of people who see holidays as a luxurious time when they can throw caution to the wind and not bother with such mundane activities as recycling.
Motivating every type of customer to behave sustainably requires real thoughtfulness and subtle modes of communication. Inspiring messaging about outcomes will work for some while for others it may be more effective to make sustainable options, such as not changing towels or not sending housekeeping in every day, the default positions that guests can opt out of, if they choose.
In this blog, we will look at some of the ways you can nudge, coax and inspire your guests to actively support your sustainability initiatives.
1 Positive communication is critical
In the current tourism and hospitality climate, setting out your sustainability stall is a critical part of your marketing. For guests checking these out on your website, spelling out how visitors can get actively involved in making your business more sustainable and supportive of the local community and environment will be a positive factor in the decision-making process. It will also prime them about what virtuous behaviours they can enjoy once they have checked in, so they know in advance, what to expect
Getting the tone of your messaging right is vital. Pitching it so that it not preaching and just makes sense, will stand a better chance of buy-in with more cynical and resistant guests. Asking guests to use towels more than once is fairly ubiquitous these days but one hotel made it feel perfectly rational by describing it as “just like you would at home”.
2 First impressions count
Check-in is your first chance to make a great impression and is the ideal point to set the scene for your green agenda. Having plants in the area can create a subliminally natural feel but you can get the point across more rationally with signage carrying some gentle messaging about your destination’s green policies and approach. You could also communicate the positive sustainability outcomes guests have contributed to during their stay. This helps normalise positive behaviours and may go some way to winning over more sceptical visitors.
Having paperless check-in is a very tangible way of communicating your sustainability. Taking digital copies of documents will also reduce your paper use and deploying smarter key systems (such as using QR codes) can eliminate the need for cards to accompany keys. Your reception is also a good place to promote local, low carbon activities and attractions available to guests in the form of leaflets and brochures.
If you are promoting the use of refillable water containers to reduce single use plastics, where better to have a dispenser with branded reusable bottles than in reception? Start as you mean to go on.
Your staff will also play a vital role at this point, talking guests through the different ways in which they can contribute and make a difference. So, training your reception team about the benefits of guests’ contributions will create enthusiastic advocates for your various green initiatives.
3 Refreshing recycling information
For most people these days, recycling is just what you do, and not recycling has come to be seen as a “secular sin”. Moreover, in most parts of the UK and Europe, businesses now have a legal requirement to recycle. The key issue to communicate, is precisely what kind of recycling you require from your guests. Coming from all over the world, and even from different local authorities in the UK, they will all have different experiences of what to recycle and where, so it is important that signage in your accommodation and public spaces makes your system and requirements as clear and simple to use as possible.
While having a bank of recycling bins is generally acceptable in kitchens, public areas and dining facilities, they are less desirable in bedrooms and suites. Some accommodation providers have systems where they ask for certain sorts of waste in the bathroom bin (typically non-recyclables) and recyclable waste in the bedroom bin. A bag can be provided for food waste such as peel or tea bags to be collected the next day. By making this clear in signage by the bins you stand a better chance of people using the facilities but also reassure environmentally aware guests that you are doing the right thing.
There is evidence that children drive, and sometimes even shame, their parents into better recycling behaviours. So, producing child-friendly comms around recycling can potentially drive uptake. This can be especially impactful in self-catering accommodation, where higher waste levels of waste can be expected. Positioning all the bins in the same place is also proven to help drive higher recycling rates. Basically, the easier you make it, the higher your chances of success.
4 Deeper connections – lighter footprints
Supporting local food suppliers strengthens the local economy, reduces carbon miles and enhances guests sense of the place they are visiting. “Locally sourced and foraged ingredients are now a staple element on the menus of sustainable restaurants and have proved highly popular with travellers seeking an authentic experience. But how can you promote that to self-catering visitors?
One way is to provide a welcome hamper containing the very best local produce on offer and information on where to buy more. This would also act as a marketing tool for local food and drink suppliers who might supply their produce at a discount in exchange for this kind of exposure. This will encourage visitors to shop locally and even take a visit to a local distillery or winery. To reduce the risk of them resorting to single use plastics on their shopping trips, you could supply a cotton or jute tote bag for them to use and take home as a reminder of their visit.
5 Making active travel the easiest option
Publicising the full suite of public transport to your destination should be a key part of your strategy to steer guests to the most sustainable means of getting to you. But you can go much further. Operating shared transfers and offering your own sustainable transportation options will enable them to use public transport more confidently.
Giving customers comprehensive advice on walking and safe cycling routes and providing bicycles or E-bikes will add to their ability to explore and shop locally without resorting to taxis. Again, the benefits of active travel go far beyond the carbon miles avoided. The obvious health benefits, and the deeper connection with the place you are staying, are both things you can communicate to get your customers to adopt more sustainable behaviours.
6 Advertise the prize
Clear signage in rooms is a great way to influence behaviour but rather than telling people what they should do, why not advertise the effect of their actions. So, if you want to talk about individual room thermostats, perhaps you could talk about the impact – if everyone staying here turned their thermostats down by 1°c, our energy use would reduce by X – equivalent to taking Y cars off the road or planting Y trees. Or, talking about water use if everyone turned off the tap while brushing their teeth, we could reduce our water consumptions by X litres – enough to fill Y swimming pools. It’s just a fun way to contextualise the small behaviour changes that add up to a significant difference.
7 Involving guests outside your doors
It doesn’t all have to be about your premises. You can create thoughtful and personalised opportunities for guests to get involved and experience sustainability in action by directing them to sustainable activities in your area. Perhaps you could direct them to local businesses offering guided tours or activities in nearby natural areas. Voluntourism is increasingly popular particularly in scenic areas doing things like path building and stone-walling. Or they might like to join your chef, foraging for wild foods or harvesting produce from the hotel’s vegetable garden to be used at dinner. These examples go beyond simply engaging guests about sustainability, leading them towards active participation that could lead to behaviour changes that last long after their original stay with you.
8 Carrots always go down well
With tourism businesses working hard to improve their sustainability, it is vital that guests are fully engaged with their efforts to maximise the impact of your initiatives. Behaviour change can be driven by either carrots or sticks but, given that we are working in hospitality, the carrot has proven to be the preferred route. Many hotels and accommodation providers are now experimenting with incentivised participation strategies. Perks such as loyalty points, discounts and exclusive experiences, can motivate guests to embrace sustainable practices during their stay. One major international hotel chain rewards customers with loyalty points for every night they opt out of housekeeping services. Others reward EV driving customers with complimentary parking and free or discounted charging. There may be other small personalised gifts you can reward customers with for sustainable choices they have made during their stay with you.
9 Do your guests know more than you do?
If your sustainability messages across your business’s website and social media are working well, you will be attracting people who understand and appreciate sustainability. That makes them a great source of information and they may well bring insights from other countries and cultures. Why not tap into that expertise by creating a feedback loop, encouraging guests to let you know what you are doing well and suggest what you might be doing better. Once again, it will reassure guests that you are keen to achieve sustainable best practice as well as showing that you care what they think.
