Scandic Hotel's Natural Step to Creating Green Hotels

I was reviewing notes from several presentations of GMIC so I could share some of the gems I gleaned.
One presentation about sustainability was particularly interesting to me. The focus was on food and beverage, but the message applies to all aspects of hospitality in my mind. One of the speakers expressed the opinion that sustainability isn't a trend, it's a long-term path. Beautiful!

If you want your restaurant to provide a quality experience to your guests, quality food ingredients are paramount. And mileage is an important issue in that quality; food that has traveled a shorter distance has higher quality than food which has traveled long distances. Sustainability is a mind set of a successful business.

It was during this presentation The Natural Step was introduced to me. It's a business framework that helps you decide what's a sustainable action, or not. There was just a passing comment about it, so I researched it for this article. Not only are food establishments using The Natural Step concepts to be more successful, but flooring manufacturers (Interface, a commercial flooring company, has taken the stand to "never take another drop of oil from the ground", and they have a solar-energy powered factory; very cool!), hoteliers, government agencies, architects, furniture and appliance manufacturers, and various service groups are too.

Being this is a hospitality oriented website, seeing that the Scandic hotel chain, now owned by Hilton, took an environmental approach to their hotels in 1994, I sat up and took note. Exploring their website and investigating the hotels showed me how effective green hotels can be at minimizing their impact on the environment and improving business. Scandic Hotels has made their environmental commitment their differentiating point, their path of success.

This hotel, even more than ten years later is going green and going strong. Their plan was about a 10-year plan, and it was to get all hotel rooms in line with the commitment. Here is a list of some of the actions they have incorporated:
* wood and laminate (Pergo flooring was developed and refined in Sweden) floors
* a towel/sheet reuse program
* environmentally safe cleaning products
* energy efficient appliances in the laundry, kitchen, HVAC, offices, and guestrooms
* recycling in the guestrooms and in the back-of-house
* bulk bathroom amenities
* organic food
* keycard-controlled guestroom electricity
* recyclable guestrooms

The first thing they did was to replace their bathroom amenities with bulk dispensers and products. They installed 16,000 bulk dispensers in two weeks, throughout their entire hotel chain. They measured that 15% of their bar soaps, shampoos and conditioners were used and the balance was thrown away. By replacing their traditional amenities with bulk items, their waste volume was reduced by 40% and packaging waste was reduced by 11 tons -- annually.

By placing three-bin cans in guestrooms, not only did they reduce their waste by 45%, but they also educated their guests about recycling and their environmental program. They learned that having an environmental dialogue with staff and guests has made the program more effective, has lifted employee moral and spirits, and has excited their guests.

Cleaning was another area that has successfully gone green. For housekeeping they worked with Henckel Ecolab to create a cleaning system of benign ingredients that can be combined for different cleaning jobs. So rather than stock 13 different cleaners that housekeepers carried, they now stock about five products that work together for a more efficient cash flow and housekeeping effort. They have reduced inventory, carrying costs and disposal costs -- another aspect of green.

The dish washing department experienced a similar story. In the laundry department, big changes were made too. Chlorine bleach was replaced with an oxygen bleach, saving employee health and stretching the life of sheets, towels and table linens, as well as reducing the impact on the environment. Machines with fewer wash cycles were installed, saving water and energy (17% energy savings).

Speaking of energy efficiency; guestroom heat is controlled by the front desk staff so that rooms are turned "on" and "off" as they are occupied. The hotels have experienced a tremendous savings with this approach.

The recyclable guestroom may have been the biggest step made in the quest to be green and set the hotel apart from the competition. About ten percent of the guestrooms are renovated annually, putting the chain on a ten year plan to have all rooms converted to the new concept. A design was created that would allow the new rooms to use renewable and recyclable materials; 97 percent of its materials are reused and recirculated. Wood replaced plastic and metal where possible. Parquet or laminate floors replaced carpet. Natural fibers replaced nylons and acrylics. Paints and finishes are water-based. The results are that metal use was reduced by 15 tons, plastic by 90 tons, and mercury by 22 pounds. Estimates are that the initial investment was 15-17% higher than the old approach, but that cost was offset by the durability and longevity of the materials, reducing the total life-time cost by 30%. For example, wood floors can be refinished 7 times before they need to be replaced. Try tha
t with carpet! Guest feedback showed a preference for the new rooms over the old rooms. And in looking at the rooms' pictures, I decided they are beautiful than traditionally decorated guestrooms. There's an elegance and simplicity to a wood floor I don't find in carpeted floors. Add a throw rug and you have a desirable looking room.

Some of the lessons Scandic Hotels learned are:
* allow standards to emerge so they'd be more accurate and long lasting; this is a process with learning as you go -- standards started emerging in about 6 months.
* create a program that fits your business and integrate the new attitude and language at all levels
* involve suppliers early on, get them involved in training them to your needs, give specific goals and timetables for their actions; create a partnership for mutual success
* make visible headquarter decisions that lead and anchor the local initiatives: the bulk amenity program being one great example (16,000 soap dispensers and supplies were installed in 2 weeks); focus on and vigorously promote product initiatives that show the company's intentions
* show a visible and active commitment from senior management early on -- walk your talk
* start and maintain an environmental dialogue because it gets buy-in and creates loyalty with guests and employees alike
* think globally, act locally: centralize your communications and localize the actions; train to empower people to create change; and make resources available locally and publicize results

Historically, Scandic Hotels created its competitive edge with tangible amenities like room decor, ironing boards, and color TVs. Yet business was dropping. That business slump was a huge motivator in getting the hotel to consider The Natural Step program. Market research showed that consumers (48% by 1994) were rejecting products that didn't have environmental aspects. The decision was made to change their business practices to be good for the company and society. Management realized building guest loyalty needed to be done through shared values. The Natural Step gave them the format and guidelines to create the necessary changes.

The changes have been successful. On the top line, employee moral and commitment rose. Better employee attitudes improved the guest experience. Furthermore, the expanded guest education about the change of business approach and the environmental commitment made a wonderful difference. The guest education helped raise awareness of the initiatives and actions, the result was raised guest loyalty, and new business increased by 15 percent.

The bottom line results were that sales increased 25 percent and operating margins increased from 3.5-5.2 percent. An environmental approach to business is clearly profitable.

Create your own environmental dialogue with your staff and your guests. Make a difference to your top and bottom lines. If a thorough environmental program worked to turn Scandic Hotels' business around, think what it can do for you too. What was true in 1994 about consumer preferences is even more true today. Whether you adopt The Natural Step or just forge your own path, act now.