GLOBAL UPDATE
SUSTAINABILITY REDEFINED
For more than 20 years Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has stood at the forefront of the sustainability movement , but now the Torontobased company has refined and expanded its approach in this area with the new Fairmont Sustainability Partnership . “ We needed a new platform that would more strongly engage our colleagues and our stakeholders that defined sustainability as clearly as we could ,” explains Sarah Dayboll , Fairmont ’ s environmental affairs director .
The new initiative focuses on four pillars — responsible business , ecosystem , environmental and engagement — with each including its own sustainability goals . A priority this year under the responsible business pillar , for example , has been the creation and implementation of a data management system that allows hotels to have real-time access to information such as
As part of its Sustainability
Partnership Program , Fairmont has 21 honeybee programs at its hotels globally .
their energy usage , so they can better manage their progress . Dayboll says Fairmont also recently developed a best practices space within the system where hotels can share success stories . “ We ’ ve kind of made it like Facebook , where properties can vote for an idea so it creates cross-collaboration among properties worldwide , and we ’ re going to recognize the top initiatives annually ,” she adds .
Fairmont is not disclosing the amount invested in the Sustainability Partnership , but Dayboll notes it is a top priority for the company , with sub-goals under each pillar being redefined every five years . “ This is the new vision for us , and we ’ re going to make sure it ’ s successful ,” she says . “ Our colleagues are really getting behind this , and they want to do the right thing . It ’ s inspiring to have them want to make this work .”
RAISING THE BAR ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Citing the high usage of social media by Internet users in the Middle East , The Ritz- Carlton Hotel Co . introduced a Tweet Bar at its stand at the Arabian Travel Market in May in Dubai . The Tweet Bar was equipped with smartphone and laptop charging stations and a designated area where the event ’ s social media concierge hosted the brand ’ s Twitter account with a large LCD screen displaying the latest updates from @ RitzCarlton and other conference attendees .
Ritz-Carlton used the event ’ s existing hashtags to update followers and engage with conference attendees , tweeting from the Tweet Bar , press conferences and panel discussions . The company had senior-level executives in attendance as well as Pandemic Labs agency representative Ed Gazarian tweet .
Gazarian says the outreach generated 3 million impressions and interactions , including 1,000 mentions , 1,000 link clickthroughs within select tweets and about 1,000 new followers and that the focus was on engagement , not driving business .
“ While the numbers were encouraging , the most valuable responses generated were our fellow conference attendees that visited the booth , tweeted us during the show and engaged with our content from other corners of the globe ,” Gazarian says . “ The goal was to share the best-of content from the show with our more than 60,000 followers and engage with fellow attendees . We absolutely understand that engaging guests on social channels can drive bookings , but we don ’ t actively pursue this . Engagement , not transaction , is the primary objective .”
RITZ-CARLTON ’ S TWEET BAR
AT ATM GENERATED 3 MILLION IMPRESSIONS AND INTERACTIONS INCLUDING 1,000 MENTIONS , 1,000 LINK CLICKTHROUGHS WITHIN SELECT TWEETS AND 1,000 NEW FOLLOWERS .
12 HOTELS July / August 2013 www . hotelsmag . com