PANAMA CITY — Hoteliers must prioritize efforts in sustainability with a particular eye on helping to mitigate the effects of climate change, and those efforts must start right away, according to experts.
Speaking at the SAHIC Latin America & The Caribbean conference, Hilen Meirovich, who leads IDB Invest's climate change advisory services team, said time is quickly running out to avoid the worst outcomes from climate change, with a three-degree-Celsius temperature increase endangering coastlines around the world and therefore many hotel assets.
Hoteliers' piece of this fight crosses disciplines in the industry, speakers said during the "2022 — The Year Sustainability Moves to the Top of the Agenda" session.
Ana Ramirez, senior lead designer for OBM International, said there has been a "shift in consciousness" among consumers that must be matched by hoteliers.
"This crisis has raised the demand on sustainable strategies and design," she said. "In the Caribbean, we're not just seeing clients that request sustainability and green strategies but fully integrated, sustainable communities that have wellness at the core of the business."
She said that sustainability is a "strategic pillar" of many of the operators her company works with.
Hotel owners are lagging on sustainability efforts overall, Ramirez said, noting they have been more focused on "staying afloat" during the pandemic than making big changes and investments into their businesses.
"But we've seen many savvy owners getting ready and taking this as an opportunity to do better whenever the economy recovers," Ramirez said.
Emilio Perez, vice president of global design for the Caribbean and Latin American region at Marriott International, said companies such as his should be leading the charge for sustainability in the industry.
"This is a moment in which those big powerhouses like the Marriotts, like the Hiltons, like the Hyatts, can come together and create this very important movement," he said.
Perez said if the industry has learned anything from coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the need to be adaptable, and this is a time to use that new skill set.
Ricardo Moreira, managing director for XCO2 Energy, said there are very practical business reasons to take climate change seriously across the industry, beyond the "potential costs saving" and "reputational brand awareness aspects."
"We're seeing a lot of interest in extending the life of assets, trying to understand how you can push forward this moment where an asset's [reduction in] emissions actually exceed the Paris [Accord] targets," he said.
Jesús Parrilla, CEO of Into Hospitality, said it's gotten to the point where consumers won't allow hoteliers to ignore the environmental impact of their hotels.
"It has to be part of the core of whatever you design and how you operate," he said.
Sustainability has also become a factor in recruiting and retaining talent, he said.
"If you have ingrained sustainability into your business model, the potential economic impact long term is tremendous," Parrilla said.
He compared not taking sustainability and the potential damage of climate change seriously to "lighting a match and burning down" a hotel.
"We want to preserve the asset, and I think that's what's happening in our world," he said. "We have to take care of our world. For both short-term and long-term strategies, we need to take care of our environment."
Panelists said that positive environmental changes can't just be made on new hotels, which take years to open, but need to be ingrained into operational practices from top to bottom.
Properties where sustainability efforts are widespread regularly show better financial performance, Perez said.
"There is adaptability that has to happen," Perez said. "We have to educate and continue educating our investors, our owners and so forth."
It's gotten to the point where hotels built and operated with sustainability in mind get "more favorable financing" and are looked at more favorable by investors from a risk perspective, Moreira said.
"They want to know what the [environmental] risks are associated with the property before they actually move to make an investment," he said.
Parrilla agreed that environmental impact is an integral part of looking at a project as a lender or an investor.
"There is a big shift now where investors are saying 'OK, fine, show me your IRR, but I want to see the other elements in terms of social and environmental impact," he said. "That's important."