Hoteliers wanting to go green should prioritize reducing CO2 emissions as opposed to introducing various green washing initiatives, a hotel owner has claimed.
Bruce Redman Becker, who owns and renovated Hotel Marcel in New Haven, Conn., said reducing emissions not only meets sustainability targets but also saves money while increasing guest satisfaction.
And he is urging hoteliers keen to burnish their green credentials to focus on these measurable outcomes as opposed to programmes that might make guests feel good, but have little impact on the fight against climate change.
Becker said: “Whether you’re a hotel brand an operator or an owner, it’s going to be important to look at the substance of what’s happening.
“Are you actually reducing your CO2 emissions or just saying you are sustainable because you’re sending people out to collect trash on the beach?”
Instead, Becker uses the example of the Hotel Marcel which he opened in 2022, having bought the building in 2020 and undertaken an extensive redevelopment of the property.
The building was originally designed by the modernist architect Marcel Breuer in 1970 when it became home to tyre manufacturer the Armstrong Rubber Company.
Having changed ownership twice, the building was unoccupied and unloved when Becker bought it with the vision of converting it into a 165-room, full-service hotel complete with onsite kitchen and laundry and 9,000 square feet of meeting space.
Banning Fossil Fuels
He added one of the key ways they reduced the building’s carbon footprint was to use renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels to power it.
And the hotel generates large amounts of electricity thanks to its network of 1,000 solar panels which are connected to a battery system offering one and a half megawatt hours of storage.
Many of the panels are mounted on solar canopies in the car park which have proved popular with guests, not just because of the savings they generate.
Becker said: “I’ve never been to another hotel with a solar canopy and yet it’s a much cheaper way to provide electricity for your hotel and it’s appreciated by our guests as it gives them a place to park out of the rain.”
The abundant energy source means the kitchen, which Becker described as “the gateway drug to fossil fuel use” in many properties, is fully electrified with chefs using induction ranges.
All the laundry is done on site where Marcel’s heat pump dryers reduce overall energy use while a separate heat pump system for hot water delivers 172-degree water to the guests.
This philosophy has been extended to the guests with 24 EV chargers on site, half of which offer quicker charges than standard, while the hotel uses an electric shuttle bus when required.
Read more on Hotel Management's sister site Hospitality Investor.