Scenic Hotel is committed to delivering the highest social, economic, cultural and environmental sustainability to its staff, guests, and the communities in which it operates.
“For us, being sustainable is not mutually exclusive to providing an exceptional guest experience,” said CEO Karl Luxon.
Luxon continued that Scenic Hotel’s sustainability journey has enabled it to become better stewards of the environment and people, setting an example and helping cultivate a thriving tourism industry.
Scenic Hotels is serious about being a leader for positive change and is passionate about ensuring its actions reflect its values. To help identify its sustainability priorities, Scenic Hotel committed to Agenda 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and discussed which sustainability concerns were most important to them with staff and stakeholders.
“And where they believed Scenic could have the most positive impact.”
Partnering with Toitu Envirocare has also given Scenic Hotel confidence in its work and actions.
One way Scenic Hotel sets a positive example is through its commitment to carbon reduction through projects such as eliminating coal from energy sources, eliminating single-use amenities, and developing emissions data management tools. It achieved its Coal-Free status in July 2022 and is working toward an independent verification.
These successful undertakings are prime examples of how Scenic Hotel can serve as a model for the hotel industry, as it is confident that these examples positively contribute to the broader sustainability trends of the sector.
Staff engagement and buy-in to Scenic Hotel’s vision are key.
“All team members are encouraged and enabled to play their role in sustainability.”
This is encouraged through management, corporate/support teams, frontline staff, maintenance, and food and beverage suppliers. Even dispersion and self-responsibility are significant to Scenic Hotel, and each team member should play their part rather than leave sustainability to one team member.
“Having a strong leadership foundation across the team has also set the business up for sustainable practices for years to come.”
Luxon said that Scenic Hotel can only hope that by sharing its commitments, it can influence and inspire other players in the industry to adopt similar initiatives.
To engage guests in sustainability efforts, it has shared its vision for sustainability through its educational collateral in public areas, pointing people to its website for more information, where it outlines its strategy and shares its steps along the way through updates.
“We have plans to offer our guests more comprehensive and direct ways of having a tangible impact, with announcements coming in the new year.”
Guests are also given a choice to select sustainable housekeeping options, which include reusing towels, limited room servicing, and selecting a restaurant offering sustainable local producers.
Scenic Hotel aims to deepen its integration of sustainability understanding and commitment across all parts of its business. Committed to constant improvement in carbon reduction, with a curiosity to explore new technologies that encourage sustainable operations, and gaining independent verification for transparency are just a few of the ways Scenic Hotel has brought sustainability to the heart of its business.
