GLOBAL UPDATE
CONSERVE AND CONNECT
In 2011 , when Langham Hospitality Group launched sustainability program Connect , the Hong Kongbased company was in need of a cultural change . Corporate Sustainability Manager Carmen Ng used her vast corporate CSR-related experience to provide that change .
“ When I first joined the company , I would see very simple things like people not separating their waste or
Langham encourages not turning off their computer , each of its properties but now they do it automatically ,” Ng says . to support their local communities by working with organizations Today , Ng is working to ensure ranging from homeless all Langham ’ s hotels — which shelters to children ’ s include The Langham , Langham hospitals .
Place and Eaton brands — participate in EarthCheck , and last year the company also debuted Connect Conferences , which allows meeting planners to select sustainable options for events such as locally grown ingredients for banquet menus and filtered instead of bottled water .
In addition to green initiatives , Connect encompasses health and wellness , employee safety , business accountability and community service . Ng notes when she joined Langham , the company had approximately 3,000 staffers performing 2,000-something community-service hours annually ; today , that number has grown to 7,000 staff volunteering more than 8,500 community-service hours .
Overall , Ng believes Langham has the chance to be a sustainability leader , and she thinks the industry as a whole can make a big difference in small ways . “ There ’ s a simple message : simple actions can create something good , and a hotel will have a lot of different types of opportunities to do these things ,” Ng says .
WARMING UP TO LINKEDIN
While hotel sales managers use LinkedIn to prospect , network and qualify leads , and human resources managers use it to post positions and find candidates , hotel companies have done little outreach to guests on the business-oriented social network .
However , The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co ., Chevy Chase , Maryland , in June committed to writing 100- word posts on LinkedIn from its top executives .
“ People simply do not go to LinkedIn to research trips and share travel experiences ,” says Daniel Craig , founder of hotel online marketing consultancy Reknown , Vancouver , Canada . “ Clearly Ritz- Carlton understands this , as this initiative focuses on thought leadership and brand positioning within
“ WITHIN THE FIRST
6 DAYS OF THIS SERIES GOING LIVE , OUR INTERACTION WAS UP BY A MULTIPLE OF SIX .”
– ED FRENCH , THE RITZ- CARLTON HOTEL CO . the luxury travel and business communities rather than on finding vacation-seekers .”
Ritz-Carlton says the project is tailored to communicate the company ’ s thinking , best practices and successes , while the posts profile operational , marketing , sales , human resources , CSR , social media , legal and financial topics . Ritz-Carlton currently has more than 110,000 followers of its LinkedIn page .
“ We are not aiming to tie ‘ likes ’ and comments directly to revenue in our hotels ,” says Ed French , Ritz-Carlton ’ s chief sales and marketing officer . “ Instead , we seek to foster deep engagement with consumers on an individual level . Impressions and interaction are our core key performance indicators on LinkedIn , and where applicable we will look at website click-throughs . Within the first six days of this series going live , our interaction was up by nearly six times .”
12 HOTELS September 2014 www . hotelsmag . com