Sustainable development: where do the hotel and restaurant industries stand?
What’s the latest on environmental developments in the hotel and restaurant industry? CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is a hot topic in all sectors of activity. And the hotel and restaurant trade, and tourism in general, are no exception.
The famous Michelin Guide unveiled its winners on Monday 6 March and, in addition to the now well-known 3 stars, the Green Star has made its mark. First awarded in 2020, it will only be awarded for the 4th time in 2023.
The approach is simple: to focus on sustainable gastronomy and encourage initiatives that move in this direction. Sustainable catering, short distribution channels, fresh, seasonal produce, plant-based cuisine – all these criteria are aimed at providing good food. Good for the taste buds, good for the body, good for the planet – that’s what the Green Star is all about. More and more restaurants are taking their impact into account, a far cry from the rustic, traditional cuisine of a short time ago. Now, everything is reused and transformed. And the Michelin guide has made no mistake in rewarding establishments that set up a virtuous circle that benefits everyone. To be rewarded, you don’t necessarily have to meet all the conditions, just one or more of those mentioned by the guide. For example, you need to be concerned about the origin of your produce, respect seasonal patterns, and manage waste and restaurant resources effectively. The guide states that it wants to reward “the creativity shown by restaurateurs when they devise new courses of action on a daily basis”.
By 2022, only 350 of the 15,000 establishments in the guide had been awarded the Green Star. A real landmark for future customers of these restaurants. You’ll be eating good, healthy, responsible food. On Monday 6 March 2023, 8 new establishments were rewarded for their efforts in terms of sustainable development and awarded the Green Star.
The hotel and hospitality industry is no slouch when it comes to CSR. The Relais & Châteaux association has long included sustainable development in its specifications. Its leitmotiv is the quest for a better world through food and hospitality. A better world means a cleaner, healthier, greener world that respects nature. The group is taking numerous initiatives, both at its head office and at each of its member properties.
Relais & Château’s environmental approach is based on three main principles: protection of the environment, sustainable cuisine and the association’s social and societal responsibilities. These can take different forms in the field, such as giving priority to local, organic and seasonal products in its restaurants, reducing the use of cut flowers in favour of potted plants, offering responsible and organic products in its spas or promoting gender equality within its teams. In short, when guests choose a Relais & Châteaux establishment, they are assured of a stay in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly environment that focuses as much on its guests as on the impact its establishment can have. A choice stay where the refinement and comfort on offer have the least possible impact on the environment.
Eliophot fervently supports this type of initiative. We work alongside several Relais & Châteaux establishments and support them on a daily basis in promoting these initiatives. Château de Berne, Hôtel La Signoria, La Bastide Saint-Antoine and Les Étangs de Corot all rely on Eliophot to promote their brand and, by extension, highlight their eco-responsible actions.
Fairmoove, a recently launched online booking platform, is a new kind of travel agency. It’s the kind of agency that combines tourism and ethics, promoting virtuous tourism as a new way of consuming tourism. For Fairmoove, the aim is not to prevent or limit tourism, but to change it, to make it evolve and to change mentalities along with it. Fairmoove works on the principle that responsible tourism leads to responsible tourists.
To achieve this, Fairmoove strictly selects its partner hotels according to specific criteria, with ecology and ethics playing an important role among the hotels on the platform. The choice of transport, water and waste treatment, respect for biodiversity and eco-built infrastructures are all key points for this new-style online travel agency. Fairmoove is all about sustainable, respectful and comfortable travel, because ecology and top-of-the-range can go perfectly together.
