HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL
Tajara Hospitality and Greenview once again hosted PhilHost 2024, at the Ascott Bonifacio Global City. PhilHost stands for Philippine Hospitality on Sustainable Tourism, and it’s a timely reminder that while Sustainability can be a rallying cry that so many industries will pledge allegiance to and express support for, the reality of how it’s turned into concrete, measurable, and data-driven standards are still open to discussion and debate.
Some industries, like real estate development, have a more solid historical perspective, with objective accreditation from LEED, BERDE, EDGE of IFC, and WELL, helping standardize the green and sustainable efforts of the developers. So it was interesting to hear from Eric Ricuarte, CEO of Greenview, one of the companies out to help hotels and the hospitality industry, address these standardization and benchmarking issues.
Founded in 2008, Greenview is a boutique firm specializing in the metrics, measurement, and reporting of carbon emissions in the hospitality and tourism sector. Headquartered in Singapore, Greenview “support companies to design, implement, and monitor their corporate responsibility and Sustainability platforms to drive profitability, streamline data, keep ahead of trends, and provide effective communication for stakeholders.”
What was interesting to note here is how Greenview doesn’t shy from the “drive profitability” aspect. We often talk of the Planet, People and Profit mantra; but downplay the profitability, when it’s crucial for continuity and the business surviving. So it was nice to have Greenview expounding on how Sustainability and profitability should go hand in hand in the hospitality sector.
Eric spoke of the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmark, and how it’s become a standard for appreciating hotel energy usage, carbon usage, and water usage; and how country figures can be arrived at, and compared with other ASEAN countries.
Encouraging was how a ceremonial pledge to affirm to Hotel Sustainability Basics saw representatives from the Radisson, Filinvest/Chroma, Megaworld, SM Hotels, El Nido Resorts, Henry hotels, the Savoy and Belmont, all troop to the stage to join hands. It was scale and community in Sustainability, come to life!
Tajara took the opportunity to announce the winners of its ENVision case competition, which was open to high school students, asking them to formulate innovative solutions for sustainability issues in the hospitality sector. The three areas of focus this year were Coastal Management, Circular Economy, and Renewable Energy. I love this annual initiative of Tajara and how it’s so inclusive, acknowledging that even high school students should have a say about Sustainability initiatives – recognizing that after all, it’s their future that we’re talking about.
Thank you, Cyndy Tan Jarabata and Tajara, for the invitation! More power to you!
The upcoming HSMA summit
June 27 is the red letter date for the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association’s (HSMA) second Sales and Marketing Summit. To be held at the Marriott, this year’s get together comes on the heels of the resounding success of last year, and how so many in the hospitality industry appreciated how the Summit gave them something of a game plan for the near future. Held during the last quarter of 2023, there was the request to hold the 2024 edition earlier in the year, so that learnings could be applied and be of more practical use. And of course, the HSMA listened to the clamor from their membership.
So industry leaders, tourism experts, and resource speakers from the public sector, will all convene on June 27, and talk about where Philippine tourism and the hotel industry is going, how to get there, and what still needs to be done to improve on the situation. If it’s anything like last year, which I did attend, I appreciated how speakers spoke with refreshing candor and honesty. It’s counterproductive to heap praise and claim we’re doing such a stellar job, if the truth says otherwise.
If we’re talking post-pandemic recovery, and look at the 2024 track record of our ASEAN neighbors, we can see that for a number of these nations, it’s their “A” game time, and some have already overshot their pre-pandemic figures. We’ve taken a more conservative approach, with targets that merely come close to our 2019 numbers. And while some can be cynical and say that’s so late in the year, we can claim we’re doing well or have overshot targets; the year-to-date number of inbound visitors show just how much has to be done.
Best practices from other countries, lessons learned from other hotel groups, they’re all on the agenda of the Summit, as it aims to provide a possible road map for the sector. And let’s face it, we all can do much better; so who are we to turn a deaf ear to sound advice.
So that’s two events I attended last week that had bearing on where our hospitality industry is heading to – and how the industry can further improve, and develop stronger sustainability initiatives.