How can hotels effectively balance guest luxury with meaningful sustainability practices? In this episode of the Sustainability Stories Podcast, host Radhika Arapally explores this intriguing question with Jacqueline Kneebone, Head of Sustainability and Wellness at Lore Group. Jacqueline shares her insights into the sustainability initiatives at One Hundred Shoreditch (a Lore Group hotel) and her sustainability journey, emphasizing the intertwined nature of wellness and sustainability and how these concepts shape her work.
Jacqueline highlights the hotel’s adaptive design approach and efforts to reduce single-use plastics and incorporate renewable energy. She elaborates on the advanced phase of sustainability that the hotel has entered, focusing on mandatory ESG reporting and establishing carbon baselines.
The conversation also covers Jacqueline’s continuous learning journey, including her participation in the ESG Executive Program at King’s College, and how she upskills her team and stakeholders in sustainability practices. Jacqueline talks about the importance of making sustainability convenient and commercially sound to ensure buy-in from all stakeholders. The episode concludes with insights into the future of sustainable hospitality, the challenges faced, and the innovative partnerships and community projects that One Hundred Shoreditch is involved in, such as their collaboration with Made Blue for responsible water use and Earnt for community volunteering.
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This episode is part of the podcast series “Hotel Sustainability Stories #BeyondCOP28,” featuring sustainability stories from participating Green Collection hotels. Hosted by Radhika Arapally, this episode celebrates the first anniversary of the Green Collection hotels by Global Hotel Alliance, highlighting their journey and achievements in sustainability over the past year.
We also explore the positive impact that the Green Collection is having on the environment and local communities.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the interview:
- GHA is working with its member hotels to implement several sustainability initiatives
- The Green Collection is having a positive impact on the environment and local communities.
- GHA has seen members paying +85% more and staying +13% longer at The Green Collection hotels.
If you want to learn more about sustainable travel, listen to the full episode!
Hospitality is witnessing change because of climate change, and it is business imperative we all do our bit for the next generation. As we share these stories, we uncover the rationale, of real change makers committing resources to reducing emissions. We encourage hoteliers to share stories and not just about reducing plastics in the operations, or it’s not about reducing food waste. Don’t get me wrong. These things are important, but it’s not the whole picture. We want to hear about the holistic sustainability management practices they have implemented to benefit the people, planet, place and prosperity and share these with our listeners.
Notes:
- Earnt Community Volunteering: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7CcstBIIoo/
- Future Plus, sustainability management reporting platform: https://www.future-plus.co.uk/
- Made Blue Partnership for Responsible Water Use: https://loregroup.com/made-blue/
- Hotel Information on Sustainability: https://www.onehundredshoreditch.com/hotel-info/sustainability/
- ESG Executives program at Kings College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/business/executive-education/open-course/the-kings-eea-executive-esg-programme-for-hospitality-leaders
