It’s no secret that the hospitality and travel industries guzzle a significant amount of natural resources. Adopting environmentally sustainable practices can help conserve these precious resources and minimize their loss.
Our ten Principles—based on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria and the UN Sustainable Development Goals—attempt to quantify the attributes of a responsible hotel.
We use these principles to assess hotel applicants, to discern where our hotels could use assistance, consultancy, or partners, and to share their stories. They are evaluated by our Design Hotels Conscious Committee. To be part of Design Hotels, hotels must meet a minimum of 5/10 principles. Hotels that meet 7/10 are listed on our website as Conscious Hotels.
If a hotel has been awarded one or more of any major sustainable certifications, we automatically categorize them as a Sustainable Hotel.
See all our Sustainable hotels here.
Using recycled materials when possible and thoughtfully disposing of waste. Minimizing waste across all levels—including construction, housekeeping, and food and beverage— through sourcing sustainable materials and mindfully disposing of what is no longer needed.
Conserving energy through renewable sources and conservation practices. Lowering energy use through renewable sources and green solutions, such as solar panels, LED lighting, efficient appliances, and more.
Minimizing water waste and offering access to clean water. Conserving water through more efficient fixtures and features, such as water-saving taps and eco-friendly swimming pools, and offering guests and employees easy access to clean drinking water and reusable vessels.
Prioritizing local products and ingredients. Supporting the local community and reducing the carbon footprint by purchasing local food and beverage ingredients, textiles, handicrafts, and other products whenever possible.
Adding value to the cultural conversation. Respectfully engaging with the local community to learn, educate, and create spaces that act as cultural hubs for residents as well as travelers.
Promoting mindful and sustainable recreational experiences for guests. Offering sustainable and enriching activities that encourage a deeper connection with the natural environment, the surrounding community, and local partners.
Adaptable facilities so that spaces are inclusive for all guests, including differently abled. Appropriate training for staff. Encourage sustainable transportation methods & offering environmentally-friendly means of transport or partnering with relevant companies to do so.
Offering a workplace where employees can thrive. Hiring locally where possible. Build a team that prioritizes gender, religious, and racial diversity. Foster an environment where staff can excel through fair pay, access to education, career development, well-being practices, and an inclusive working environment.
Being transparent about the journey towards a more sustainable future. Communicating to guests ways to support the hotels’ environmental efforts during their stay. Aiming to measure the carbon footprint of the hotel, and set measurable targets.
Paul Salmon, Rockhouse Hotel
As part of our sustainability strategy, we’re rolling out our Conscious Commitments program—to empower our hotels, support them in making an even bigger impact, and witness them become industry leaders. Like voluntary pledges, they need to be trackable, measurable, and achievable within one year.
With support from special partner resources, we're able to help our hotels to take concrete actions and implement them. Each commitment relates to one of our ten Conscious Hotel Principles and we're starting with “Measure impact data or get green certified by 2025”.
While we work to inspire our hotels to meet new environmental and social standards, we also strive to improve ourselves internally, too. This means prioritizing a collaborative approach with our community, working with an ever-growing network of creatives and experts across a range of fields. It means regularly hosting round-table discussions, Lunch & Learns, and more—at our Berlin headquarters and wherever else we pop up in the world, to engage with people, to contemplate, and to challenge our perspective.
We are working on new goals and rewards for responsible work travel, offering more robust employee education around sustainable and diverse practices, ongoing flexible work arrangements, and giving our staff one day per year to participate in a social or environmental initiative.
Our impact report presents a detailed overview of our sustainability efforts and delves into our progress and achievements, highlighting on the outcomes of projects and initiatives undertaken throughout 2022 and 2023. We don’t always get the answers right, but we always aim to do better.
Conscious Future
The good traveler is a considerate and respectful traveler who moves with the lightest of steps possible and equips both mind and body for their journeys. Here’s a mental packing list that we intend to keep working on, as best we can, one step at a time...
Conscious Future
“Voluntourism” is considered the fastest growing trend in travel, but only 55% of nonprofits measure their overall impact. So, how can we be sure we’re enacting positive change?
Conscious Future
Conscious Future
Design
How do you balance the need for creativity with the ecological impact of production? You take humble natural materials and transform them into refined design pieces like London-based Mexican designer Fernando Laposse.
Conscious Future
“I saw and heard how countries have starkly different climates and laws for LGBTQ+ people. And that was only the West—the world beyond can be much less accepting, often for reasons to do with culture and religion.”
Conscious Future
According to research carried out by Tourism Concern, more than 75% of wildlife tourist attractions across the world have a detrimental impact on animals and their environment (cue Tiger King).
Conscious Future
A mental packing list of sorts, The Good Traveler lays out our aspirations on the path to becoming more respectful, considerate travelers. To learn how these ideas can shift and shape our journeys, we have invited ten travelers we admire to go into the world and explore each tenet throughout 2023.
Conscious Future
Welcome to the Our Conscious Journey podcast in collaboration with The Conduit. The podcast focuses on ethical and sustainable hospitality and travel, in conversation with our conscious hoteliers to explore the question: what is in store for the future of hospitality?
Member of and in collaboration with Weeva, The Conscious Travel Foundation, Normative, Leaders for Climate Action, and Sustainable Hospitality Alliance.
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