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Social Media Outlets for Sustainable Hoteliers and Travelers
How do hoteliers interact -- communicate and share ideas -- on a regular basis with others? Especially around the topic of sustainability. Is there a place hoteliers can go to discuss the daily sustainability issues that arise? I sure couldn't find any, so I created two of them: one for hoteliers, and one for consumers who want to talk about the topic.
While the "green movement" is spreading and moving faster, there still isn't a place that's easy for people to go to talk about sustainable tourism from either the hotelier's perspective or the traveler's point of view. With that in mind I created a Facebook Group called Sustainable Hoteliers for Travelers and a LinkedIn Group called Sustainable Hoteliers. There's a Twitter option too.
There is an increasing number of conferences and meetings that address the subject. There you hear different perspectives on how others go about being sustainable, or how they think you should go about it. But when you attend such meetings and conferences you don't have enough time to talk about your specific issues and concerns, not to mention travel is expensive and uses a lot of resources! And you don't often enough have the opportunity to talk to others about their hotels' challenges in sustainability. Besides that, you have a hotel to run so can't attend all of them anyway.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a "quiet corner" where you can talk to others about your successes and challenges in making your hotel sustainable? A place to talk to other like-minded people who understand the challenges of running a hotel and who are on the path of making their hotel a sustainable one go to go to talk. Such a "quiet corner" exists online. Find out how others have addressed issues, challenges and mistakes that have come from their pursuit of sustainable operations. Share your experiences, thoughts and attitudes with others.
Sustainability is a path, not a destination. It's a goal of operating a hotel with the most efficiency. It's a goal that is a moving target as the world around us changes. That efficiency is reflected in the triple bottom line's 3Ps -- profit, people and planet. If you have waste you have lost efficiency. Your waste stream is your barometer for how efficiently you operate your hotel. It's time for a paradigm shift, a shift from thinking about your bottom line to your triple bottom line. That shift will let your sustainability path lead be a smoother one.
Each hotel has a different set of challenges and solutions. There's no point in recreating the wheel, at least not totally from scratch. Take bits and pieces from what others have done so you create and apply the best solutions for your hotel's situation. Sustainable Hoteliers is the place to do that sharing and growing.
Choose your favorite social media site -- Facebook or LinkedIn -- to find Sustainable Hoteliers. Sustainable Hoteliers is open to aspiring and active hoteliers, and hotel-related consultants and professionals. Join the Facebook Group, or the LinkedIn Group. Meet others who are on the sustainable path and make it a more productive and rewarding process for yourself and others.
You also have Twitter options if you don't have as much to say -- EcoLady and Green Hotels.
Posted by Kit
