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ILHA, Partner of Chambre ORIGINE
Sharon Hirschowitz
I am delighted to announce that the International Luxury Hotel Association (ILHA) has joined Delporte Hospitality as a partner for La Chambre ORIGINE, which will be featured at EQUIPHOTEL 2016. ILHA is a key name around the world for all those who like to stay up to date on the luxury hotel industry and its latest trends. Sharon Hirschowitz presents ILHA and shares the group’s outlook on sustainability in hotels.
Can you briefly introduce your association?
The International Luxury Hotel Association is a Global Non-profit association for the luxury hospitality industry. The ILHA works with independent hotels, small & large hotel groups, governments, travel agencies, hospitality educators, vendors and other stakeholders to grow business in the full service hospitality industry. The ILHA offers educational training, certification, and other brand development programs to hotels, resorts and cruise lines who seek to improve the quality of the service standards in their operations.
The ILHA is also the luxury hospitality industry’s premier media provider of news and insight. Both the ILHA Smartbrief, a quick-read daily news summary and Luxury Hoteliers magazine, a quarterly in-depth report of major trends in the business are respected publications read by hospitality executives. The ILHA’s Hospitality & Travel Forum is LinkedIn’s largest group for hotel and travel reaching more than a quarter million people in 90+ countries.
How has your association contributed to promoting awareness of sustainable development in the hotel industry?
A key role of the ILHA is to highlight and explore mega-trends influencing the luxury hospitality industry via our various media platforms and global conferences. Sustainability has been a theme of discussion both at our conference in Athens early 2016 as well as at our Pinnacle Summit in Washington D.C. in September 2017. Travelers are more discerning now than ever before and expect hotels to consider more sustainable alternatives across their operation. Guests want to feel that their experience has both meaning and a positive impact on the environment around them, and are interested in learning more about sustainable design and local initiatives along with hand crafted wellness and spa products.
Villa Noi at the Aleenta Phuket Akaryn
What is your vision of the room of the future where sustainable development is concerned? For you, what would it take to get there? What are examples of sustainable development initiatives in the hotel industry that have particularly impressed you?
Sustainability, when applied to a hotel room, really needs to reflect and balance its surroundings, whether it is located on an exclusive island in the Pacific Ocean, or an urban jungle like New York. That is the challenge of the architects, designers, owners, operators and staff. It is a team effort, and a synergistic relationship across organic design, seamless technology and authentic guest service. It has to be real and meaningful.
Lobby at 1 hotel central park
I have been impressed by 1 Hotels NYC, who have silver LEED certification, earned for their use of organic ingredients in their restaurant, composting leftover food, offering chalkboards in the guest rooms instead of notepads, and ensuring their HVAC system is ultra-efficient, among other things.
Akaryn Hotels have taken advantage of their island situation and operate an organic farm that supplies the resort with fruit and vegetables and also the local population, as it allows staff to take food home when they work on the farm. Visitors can pick freely in exchange for replanting a seed, and the farm produce and smoked meat is transported to the resort kitchen by bicycle or a tuk-tuk powered by fuel made from cooking oil disposed of by other local resorts. Their philosophy is to find the balance both in your own body’s wellbeing, and also in nature. To ensure the environment where they choose to build their resorts is not only preserved but safeguarded for the future, they created the Pure Blue Foundation, which was set up to preserve the ocean’s eco-system and the local communities around their properties.
Discover La Chambre ORIGINE here.
DELPORTE Hospitality Partner of ILHA with the “Chambre ORIGINE”
ILHA, Partner of Chambre ORIGINE
Laurent Delporte, an editor and conference speaker, is a strategic expert in the sector of hotels. A visionary, he brings his unique look on hotels in service to the decision-makers in the industry, whether to enhance the development of new projects or strategic visions.
Laurent has visited and audited over 350 hotels across the world and also participates in mystery visits to provide quality control for the world’s finest hotels.
