It is one thing to practise sustainability in your daily life, and another to commit to it even as you travel. But given the integral part that travel plays in our world today, it is vital that we make the effort. After all, flying halfway across the world can never be truly environmentally friendly, so it’s all the more important that we try to reduce our harm in other ways.
This was the focus of the latest edition of Vogue Salon, held in partnership with Millennium Hotels and Resorts at Grand Copthorne Waterfront. Newly unveiled after its 30-million-dollar revamp—including an overarching redesign to include eco-friendly features—the property now has in-room water filtration systems in all its rooms to minimise the use of disposable water bottles, and smart room control thermostats that lead to energy savings of up to 17%.
Moderated by Vogue Singapore’s associate lifestyle editor Chandreyee Ray, the panel featured sustainability advocates Stephanie Dickson of Green is the New Black and Qiyun Woo of The Weird and Wild. Also joining in on the conversation to share her expertise on sustainability from a hospitality perspective was Carolyn Wishnowski, Director for Global Branding, Marketing and Loyalty at Millennium Hotels and Resorts.
Reflecting on where we are in regards to sustainability in travel and where we can move towards, the panellists delved into the intricacies of what conscious travel can realistically look like—and how to best integrate these practices into our lives. Below, see all the biggest takeaways from the event.
On defining sustainable travel
For many, travel is unavoidable in the world we live in today. “Most of us love to travel, and many of us also have family and friends living overseas. But every time we get on a flight, we’re obviously increasing our carbon footprint tenfold. Yet, we also care about the impact we’re making on the planet, which is why sustainable travel is a difficult conversation to have,” shares Dickson. “I myself am Australian-Scottish, with a German husband, which means that I’m always going to be on a plane travelling to see family every year. Sustainable travel, to me, is the question of how I can ensure that all the green practices I have on a daily basis in my normal life don’t get thrown out the window when I’m travelling. That could mean doing research on where the sustainable stores are in the countries we are visiting, or walking and taking as much public transport as possible.”
Woo echoes this, pointing out the irony in the term itself. “Travelling, fundamentally, is unsustainable. Still, that doesn’t mean that we can’t do our best to cause less harm. Are we supporting activities with fair practices? For example, activities like whale shark watching have a bunch of controversies regarding feeding. Or, do the restaurants you’re choosing to eat at have sustainable practices? At the same time, it’s also about finding a way to come to terms with the fact that a lot of what makes travel more sustainable is not even within my control—and I need to advocate for those things in order to make my travel sustainable.”
On what the hospitality industry is moving towards
“Having been in hospitality for the last 18 years, I have never, before this, come across the eco-traveller. Now, they are the most important travellers that we see,” explains Wishnowski. “We are doing everything we can to fit their profile. It’s about your sustainable memo pads and plantable pens. It’s the water filtration system that we’ve installed to replace the use of plastic water bottles—and Grand Copthorne Waterfront is actually the first hotel to have the water filtration system in the bedroom as opposed to the bathroom, so this makes it more hygienic. It’s bulk amenities when you step into our bathrooms, instead of little plastic bottles. We have to be mindful that there are a lot of mindsets we have to change, so we’re not saying that we’re making this big switch, but we’re starting with the little things.”
“I feel that the more subtle the message is, the more receptive people are, because then you’re not trying to hold them to a moral standard”
On overcoming challenges with communication and design
“Sometimes on travel booking sites, they indicate the more sustainable options. I think that’s great, but I don’t actually know what goes behind that label, so I don’t know whether I’m really making the right choice,” notes Woo. “There’s also the struggle of managing expectations. I once visited a resort where, honestly, I loved everything they did. Their entire menu was vegetarian, and everything was designed to be circular from the way they harvested the food to where all the waste went. And then we went to the toilet. It was a special toilet seat with two catchment areas, and it wasn’t communicated to us how it worked. It almost got to a point where we didn’t know how to use it. I found out later that it was designed this way to separate solid waste from water waste, but if you’re going to implement something like that, you need to tell your consumers what they need to do in order for you to reach your goals. I feel like if expectations are not managed, people can get turned off by certain things that they were not prepared for.”
When it comes to sustainability, communication and design become all the more important. Woo illustrates this with a different example, “I was in Japan recently for a family holiday, and the accommodation we stayed at gave us a booklet. It said something along the lines of ‘you’re in the middle of the forest, please be kind to our indigenous communities, which includes spiders’, and it had illustrations. They didn’t have to overtly say ‘we are sustainable, we care about our animals’, but rather, just give a gentle reminder to be mindful. I don’t think we always have to be in-your-face about sustainability. I feel that the more subtle the message is, the more receptive people are, because then you’re not trying to hold them to a moral standard.”
On what hotels can do to encourage travellers to make more sustainable choices
“I think the best thing hotels can do is to make sustainability the default choice, and make it a seamless experience, kind of like what Grand Copthorne Waterfront is doing,” notes Dickson. “You put the water spouts in the room instead of disposable plastic bottles. You make it more difficult for them to get their unsustainable version of it. Because there are lots of people that care about these topics, but there are also a lot of people that really don’t, and that just want convenience.”
But beyond this, Wishnowski explains how Millennium Hotels and Resorts has taken their sustainability efforts one step further. “We try to encourage the sustainable option from a loyalty standpoint. Something we’re piloting right now is the option for guests to opt out of housekeeping, which will give our My Millennium members 500 MyPoints a day. We explain to them that this is part of our green initiative, and we’re seeing the change. People are actually opting out.”
On sustainability myths and misconceptions
“The first one that comes to mind is that sustainability is inconvenient. I think we’re well beyond that point,” shares Dickson. “Even just listening to all the incredible stuff that’s happening in this hotel, I think it’s clear that it’s not an inconvenience anymore. And I think once people experience the sustainable choice, a lot of the time, they will also realise that it feels like the more elevated choice.”
Wishnowski emphasises that sustainability is not a race—and that baby steps are the way to go to avoid common pitfalls and misconceptions. “Greenwashing is such a big concern for us, so we are mindful to practise what we preach. It’s not just about sending out press releases. At the end of the day, it’s about putting these steps into practice, and communicating what we’re doing with our guests.”
Find out more about Millennium Hotels and Resorts and Grand Copthorne Waterfront.
