Inge Huijbrechts, Global SVP Sustainability, Security, Communications at Radisson Hotels highlighted 30-year Radisson's Sustainability journey and leading role in setting up industry-wide Hotel Sustainability Basic Standards, supported by over 70 industry partners and 50,000 hotels. Jelena Kezika, Senior Director Strategy at Global Hotel Alliance discussed recent launch of GHA Discovery Green Collection and Live Local campaign.
GLOGlobal Loyalty Organisation panel “Is Sustainability the Future of Loyalty Programmes?” took place on Day 2 of Arabian Travel Market 2023 with expert speakers Inge Huijbrechts, MBA, Radisson Hotel Group and Jelena Kezika, Senior Director Strategy at Global Hotel Alliance discovering how loyalty programs are included into hospitality players’ operational sustainability efforts.
“Hospitality industry is no longer ‘in the midst of a sustainability awakening’, as was suggested by some experts in 2012 but is actively pursuing CSR targets set in last 5 years by COP21, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and other standards-setting organisations”, was highlighted by Anastasia Levashova, co-founder of Global Loyalty Organisation. “In the last 10 years hospitality industry made gigantic progress in meeting sustainability challenges. According to the CBRE Sustainability and ESG adoption in hospitality industry index, over 60% of the largest hotel groups have set clear near-term targets for reducing greenhouse emissions set by the Paris Climate Agreement and over 35% of hotels have committed to Net-Zero”.
Inge Huijbrechts, Global SVP Sustainability, Security, and Communications at Radisson Hotels highlighted that Radisson’s sustainability journey started over 30 years ago in 1989. Radisson was one of the leaders and frontrunners in setting up Hotel Sustainability Basics – e.g. Hotels Sustainability Standards, supported by over 70 industry partners and 50,000 hotels. Bringing the industry together and formulating encompassing but at the same time widely accepted basic principles of sustainable operations was a gigantic step forward and took several years in making. The Hotel Sustainability Basics were developed in conjunction and taking into account UN Sustainable Development Goals and World Travel and Tourism Council guidelines on Sustainable operations.
Radisson Hotel Group is one of the industry leaders in CSR and has set a clear 2030 target for reducing greenhouse emissions (as set by Paris Climate Agreement) and has committed to Net-Zero by 2050 as well as approved SBTi targets.
Jelena Kezika, Senior Director of Strategy at Global Hotel Alliance, commented that at Global Hotel Alliance the continuous efforts on Sustainability and responsible hospitality have led to several initiatives and programs:
GHA Discovery Green Collection celebrates hotels, resorts and palaces in the GHA DISCOVERY portfolio, demonstrating a commitment to practices and initiatives with a positive environmental and social impact. With more travellers seeking sustainable hotel options, Green Collection helps them make informed booking decisions, identifying accommodation options based on their values, beliefs and priorities.
Living Local campaign, which started during COVID as an answer to staycation, has acquired a new meaning with lower carbon emission travelling
new priorities: staycations, short bursts of relaxation and discovery within driving distance. Live Local is geared towards this new vision of travel, with GHA offering incredible moments and memories that just got a lot closer to home.
Dilek Glenister, co-founder of Global Loyalty Organisation, said that within customer loyalty sustainability became one of the key demands by customers, and programs have tailored their offering through the ability to donate points to social or environmental causes as well as provided the ability to create unique experiences with a low carbon footprint.
Source: GLO, Radisson, GHA
