My husband and I bought a modern 2-bed apartment in Aviemore in 2011- initially as a second home, later the property was rented out on a long-term basis, and for the last 5 years, as a short- term holiday let. Our sustainability journey started off very gradually on a basic personal level e.g. recycling our own household waste and picking up occasional bits of litter. I have always believed that even one person doing something- no matter how small – makes a difference.
Our journey was accelerated at the start of 2024 by 2 factors. The first was financial – the short-term holiday let sector has been badly hit by a number of successive negative events including COVID, a cost-of-living crisis, loss of tax benefits and complex legislation so we were keen to up our game and increase occupancy levels. Having developed our property to a 4 star Visit Scotland Quality Assurance level, the potential for further physical improvements were limited but I was aware of the importance and attraction of sustainability to some guests.
The second factor was the imminent arrival of our second granddaughter – and we were becoming increasingly conscious that this is the generation which will have to deal with the lack of sustainability if we don’t take appropriate action within an appropriate time frame.
Before applying for a Green Tourism award, we did a lot of research and initially one of the biggest obstacles we faced was the extremely intimidating list of existing Green Tourism Award holders!! Many holders were large national organisations with a lot of staff and resources or extremely energy efficient business with renewable energy sources. There didn’t appear to be many single small business modern holiday let apartments with no staff members and a less-than-ideal primary energy supply which was out with our control.
The Green Tourism team were very encouraging and supportive throughout and we decided early on that, even if we didn’t qualify for an industry recognition award, we had taken many steps to improve our business and home sustainability since becoming involved with Green Tourism.
The second challenge was the number of factors that were out with our control – guests (quite rightly) behave differently when they’re on holiday and we cannot control what they do in terms of heating, lighting, recycling, travel, supporting local businesses etc. This challenge was overcome by simply thinking “outside of the box” so although we cannot directly control guests’ behaviour, we can make sustainability physically much easier for them by for example having clearly label recycling bins and a high efficiency boiler with a very easy to control heating system. We realised we could also promote local businesses, travel links and activities and reminded guests of their responsibilities with a Responsible Visitors Charter.
Our “Eureka” moment occurred by accident and was not initially directly motivated by sustainability. Prior to applying for a Green Tourism award, our primary goal was to take actions which increased the quality of our guests’ experience but at a reasonable cost. I personally love luxury toiletries (hand wash and shower/bath gel) and we chose a contemporary Scottish high quality expensive brand. However, on further investigation we discovered we could bulk buy 5 litre containers and refill the 300ml guest containers. This fulfilled both our requirements but also, and without fully realising it, we took a step towards sustainability.
One of the most surprising changes which has occurred since the start of our green journey are the changes to our own lives resulting from an increased awareness. We were very reluctant to introduce any sustainable products to our guests without first trying them ourselves and although this started as a “one off trial” measure, we decided to continue to use sustainable cleaning and laundry products in our own home and now would not go back to using anything else. We have also become more aware of the sustainability associated issues such as product sourcing, packaging, company ethics etc and have become more involved in local community projects.
We are absolutely delighted to obtain a Silver Green Tourism Award and feel very proud that we, as a small business with only one property, and limited resources, can make sufficient changes to achieve this certification. One of the things I personally am most proud of is the frame the award is now displayed in. This is a frame I bought from a charity shop and upcycled, and we feel this is a very small but significant reflection of our own sustainability journey.
Our bookings are taken through a national booking platform which recognises Green Tourism and we hope this will appeal to likeminded potential guests and increase our occupancy level. Moving forward we are just about to set up our own website and will use this to promote both our own Green Tourism Award and also local business, activities, events, public transport etc.
Our sustainably goals don’t have to be, and never will be, perfect but they have been successful, are ongoing and even the smallest “wins” make a difference.
