WITH PRESSURE on the environment increasing constantly, luxury hotels are looking for methods where they can provide luxury without waste and by promoting green standards. Hoteliers from around the country gathered at the BW Businessworld Responsible Hoteliering Conclave 2016 held at The Park New Delhi on Monday, December 5, 2016, to discuss what needs to be done in the sector to attain sustainability and maintain luxury.
Zubin Songadawala, GM of the ITC Maurya, said, "How to train your staff is one of the most important things we can do. If we are able to ensure that we source product from vendors who practise sustainability, then we can talk about sustainability and can create an environment for it."
He added that 60 per cent of ITC hotels run on renewable energy and they have invested hundreds of crores in alternate energy sources. However, the company faces governance problem in achieving 100 per cent power from renewable sources, he said.
Sudhir Mishra, Founder and Managing Partner, Trust Legal, India's Leading Environment, Health & Infrastructure Law Firm, said that there are two major issues right now. One, what is happening in the country and second, how to conserve everything. He said, "You are talking about Incredible India being destination for foreigners but condition on the ground is very severe. Why would foreigners like to come India?"
Hotelier Puneet Singh, said: "Education at all levels is more important than any other thing. It is important to put pressure on government to come with environment-friendly laws and execute them."
Rohit Arora, Area GM of The Park New Delhi, said, "To become more sustainable, it is important that educate consumers to waste less so they will think twice before misusing."
Mishra, who gave the idea of the "odd-even" car number scheme to the Delhi government to control traffic pollution in the capital, said that he had filed a petition that the Tourism Ministry should also be party to the air pollution debate.
The Conclave began with an address by Anurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of BW Businessworld Group. Batra noted that the environment wasn't something to be taken casually any longer and that hoteliers had a duty to make sure that they had a minimal impact on it.
Batra's speech was followed by a video presentation where Leonardo Di Caprio's UN General Assembly speech was shown, setting the tone of concern for the rest of the Conclave which saw active and enthusiastic participation by the audience as well as various panelists.
In his keynote address to the audience, Sanjay Sharma, Area General Manager (India), Marriott International spoke on the ways in which the hospitality industry can reduce our planet's toxic overload, elucidating how his company, the largest hospitality concern in the world,
"Disposing solid waste and water management is the big question in our department and it is us who will have to answer," he said in his address.
"There is more work happening and but how to measure it is the big question. Other factor comes first and sustainability becomes only a PR exercise. We can become more profitable if we sustain environment around us," he rued.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
