While peers are striving for regulatory compliance, Strawberry (formerly Nordic Choice Hotels), one of the largest hotel companies in the Nordics, stands head and shoulders above the rest, heeding the call for transparency. Breaking the mold of annual reports, they have embraced an audacious approach, deciding to publish their weekly sustainability rating for each hotel — measuring how well each hotel on an ongoing basis works with sustainability.
This unprecedented step allows stakeholders and environmentally conscious guests to witness their progress in real-time, as they walk the talk on reducing their environmental footprint.
“Considering that we have all the information available internally, we want to be one hundred percent transparent with our guests regarding our results and how we work on improving. This way, guests can make informed sustainable choices and also demand more, driving us to continuously better our sustainability efforts,” says Bjugstad-Holm, Director of Sustainability. Read more here.
True change starts with radical transparency. They are setting a new standard of accountability, which should inspire others to quickly follow, thus accelerating the effort to achieve UN sustainable development goals for climate action.
The Sustainability Rating, powered by PMI GoGreen, is done on a scale from 1 to 10, with a top score of 10 indicating excellent performance and a score of 8 representing strong performance.
Source: strawberryhotels.com
Taking sustainability to new heights
In 2019, the sustainability team at Strawberry was determined to elevate their environmental efforts to new heights. They acknowledged that while their progress thus far had been commendable, there existed untapped potential for much more CO2 reduction and cost-saving within their extensive network of over 200 managed and franchise hotels.
They came to a crucial realization that the key to unlocking the full potential lay in adopting a more systemic approach; one that fosters ongoing motivation, creativity, and ownership among each hotel team. Moreover, they understood that eco-friendly practices could no longer be viewed as separate initiatives, but they needed to be integrated into the fabric of their daily management processes.
With this in mind, the sustainability team made the decision to expand their partnership with d2o, a renowned company specializing in assisting hotel companies in adopting resource and productivity management best practices. By leveraging d2o’s expertise and their innovative GoGreen solution, which is a part of their PMI SaaS platform, Strawberry aimed to accelerate the reduction of their environmental impact while driving profitability.
Key Success Factors for Embedding Eco-Friendly Practices in Hotels
Hoteliers face busy schedules and often find it challenging to prioritize learning and adopting major changes. “By addressing these key success factors and incorporating sustainability work as an integrated part of resource and productivity management processes, hoteliers can navigate change more easily and feel inspired to take ownership”, emphasizes Krohn, Head of Development and Performance Management.
While there are several established software solutions available on the market, including ESG tools, d2o stands out as being uniquely positioned to assist Strawberry.
“This is primarily attributed to d2o’s expertise in resource and productivity management, along with the capabilities of GoGreen and the integrated nature of the PMI platform”, says Strawberry’s Director of Sustainability Bjugstad-Holm.
To learn more about the key success factors identified, please refer to the articles below.
- Make goals actionable: How can a group’s long-term goals be broken down into ambitious yet fair and achievable monthly targets to drive meaningful daily action amidst fluctuating guest demand?
- Make adoption transparent, easy and engaging: How to promote eco-friendly practices, foster healthy competition, and support continuous learning and improvement among hotel teams
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