How hotels can achieve sustainability through community engagement

Photo by GLP Films

One of the most important aspects of moving towards a sustainable tourism business is community engagement. The hospitality industry has great opportunities for this, as they have close contact with people from all over the world for extended periods of time.  International visitors give hotels a unique opportunity to engage locals in a variety of culture, language, ideas, perspectives, and economical benefits. At this point, if hotels aren’t engaging with their community of locals and travelers with sustainability programs, they’re falling behind in the bid to gain travelers’ and the community’s trust in having a positive impact on the environment. 

Connecting travelers with the local community creates an opportunity to build relationships, which can be one of the more powerful ways to leave lasting impressions and positive memories. If a hotel has sustainability initiatives in place, engaging the community and travelers in their efforts provides educational value and positive sustainability experiences to those individuals and the surrounding communities.

What community engagement looks like

Community engagement for sustainability can look different to different hotels. A luxury resort may connect the local community and travelers by selling locally crafted luxury goods in their hotel, where they are made and sold by the artisan themselves. An adventure lodge may offer tours provided by local travel guides who grew up in the region, and add their own family history to the tour. Another sustainable hotel may offer educational programs about their own greenhouse or gardens where they provide food for the hotel’s restaurants, or programs about the sea turtles that nest on their beach and the importance of conservation. 

Many modern regenerative hospitality companies now offer the option for travelers to bring requested items to donate to the local community, such as school supplies, or offer opportunities to donate to local causes that benefit the community. The goal of community engagement should be to connect the traveler with the surrounding community to build awareness and appreciation of the experience—and benefit the community through such interactions. For a sustainable hotel, this means doing things in a positive way to enhance the sustainability efforts of the company while aligning with community values. 

Photo by GLP Films

Anticipating challenges when hotels engage community 

While there are thousands of great examples out there of community engagement strategies, initiatives, and programs created by sustainable hotel and lodging companies, most come with challenges. A community must desire  to engage with travelers, and if the hotel itself isn’t working towards a positive impact for the community, it likely won’t have positive community relationships or engagement. 

It is crucial to first build a meaningful foundation connecting your hotel with the local community. This has been seen to be especially tricky for large, globally owned chain hotels. When in a large city, it can be easy to not think of or worry about the local community. Many large brands bring in employees from their origin country, furthering the divide between the local community and travelers. However, engaging with the local community is one of the most important aspects of sustainability. From hiring locally to including local outfitters as your recommended excursions or activities, to communicating how your green initiatives like solar panels or banning single use plastics benefits the community, you can’t be a truly sustainable hotel without relationships with the community. 

Accommodations have a unique opportunity to form a bridge between travelers and residents.  Hotels can help guests connect to the amazing authentic local culture, food, and experience through community connections, creating a mutually beneficial experience for all parties.

In addition to the examples above, connecting your hotel to the local community can be done in a variety of different, and creative ways! Here are just a few:

• Collaborate with the local schools, perhaps by offering a tour of your sustainability efforts or a gardening class in your greenhouse

• Help local schools by collecting books or supplies to donate 

• Source local artisans for soap and decor for the hotel rooms— pay them fairly and give credit to promote their businesses

• Help fund or build water reclamation systems or renewable energy for community buildings

• Partnering with conservation efforts for local ecosystems also forms meaningful connections, and can include donating time and resources towards a local wildlife rescue or forest restoration project, or be as simple as planting only native and diverse plant species on your grounds; even creating tours with these organizations, as these can be memorable experiences

• Support local farms and fishermen to source your food, and create learning partnerships to educate staff

First, see how the organization can help the community, and move forward from there to connect the travelers with that organization. Keeping the main focus as a positive impact for the community and the environment will guide you towards great relationships and experiences for all involved.

Another challenge seen frequently by the hospitality industry that affects community engagement is the turnover of seasonal staff. It takes training and expertise to conduct these community engagement outreach strategies, and it can be challenging to continuously have to train new staff on the importance and how-to of operations. In speaking to many hotel leaders in this space, surrounding your staff with the core values of the company and focusing all training around those values helps make training easier for everyone and gives the new employees a greater sense of purpose and place. Employees that feel like they are making a positive impact are more productive, happier, and can handle greater responsibility.

Photo by GLP Films

Case Study: Inn By the Sea

Some hotels are just beginning their community engagement and sustainability journey, while others have had it ingrained into their values since their inception. A luxury hotel in Maine, USA has been integrated with the community for over 20 years, and the impacts are staggering. Inn By the Sea has a vast array of educational programs, local community-supporting initiatives, partnerships with local farms and fishermen, and connections with area schools. These relationships have fostered incredible impact for the community and travelers, and exemplify the community aspect of sustainability.

Inn By the Sea has been holding educational programs for guests since it began, focusing on a large variety of environmental topics. Beach walks teaching the ecology of Maine’s coast, garden tours showcasing the several different landscapes of the hotel, and gardening programs at their very own garden are some experiences with the environmental community that travelers can partake in. They provide tremendous support for local schools, teaching a field trip series on the three “P’s” of sustainability—people, planet, profit—and connecting travelers with students through a Giving Tree. During the holidays, guests can take a student-made ornament from this Giving Tree in exchange for leaving items such as scarves, gloves, and lip balm, that are donated to food banks in need of winter supplies. An incredible example of positive impact through travelers is their Books for a Booking program, where with every reservation in December, the Inn purchases a book from a librarian's wish list. The Inn also supports local fishermen in conserving the marine ecosystem outside their door. A partnership with Gulf of Maine Research Institute as a Culinary Partner offers education to staff on the lesser known edible species in abundant supply in the Gulf of Maine, which helps protect the biodiversity and health of the ecosystem while providing greater opportunities for fishermen.

One of their newest and most unique ways of connecting the community with travelers is their partnership with the local animal shelter to foster dogs at the Inn! One dog at a time, on duty staff care for the dog until they find their perfect match with a guest who falls in love. 

Sustainability is caring for and having a positive impact on the people, environment, and systems of the community, and this initiative is an amazing addition to their sustainability vision. It is also a great example of the continuation of growth a truly sustainable company sets themselves up for. The significant impacts of their community engagement efforts are equally matched by a desire to continue to grow and have an even greater impact on their community, travelers, and the environment.

Photo by GLP Films

Community engagement is an important aspect of a hotel’s sustainability values, and enriches the experiences of the community, traveler, and the hotel. As travelers’ interests in meaningful experiences with different cultures, landscapes, and ecosystems grow, strong community engagement is an effective tool for hotels to provide them with lasting memories and lessons, as well as positive impacts for the local residents. Different challenges will be met depending on the size, ownership, and initial values of the hotel or its brand, but aligning core values with that of positive community engagement will steer hotels in the right direction, and allow for continued growth. 

For more in-depth help addressing those challenges, reach out to us.