Luxury Resorts Go Eco-Friendly
By Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop
From planting trees, to offset carbon emissions created by their resort operations and their guests’ international travel, to restoring a coral reef and hand-rearing baby green turtles to give them a head start in life, Banyan Tree Holdings, a Singapore-based operator of luxury resorts, offers its guests an extra service – the opportunity to combine luxury relaxation with the active pursuit of environmental regeneration.
Many Asian luxury resorts are adopting features that showcase their social responsibility and environmental credentials. Measures typically include using eco-friendly materials to build their resorts and furnishing bathrooms with nontoxic, biodegradable toiletries in refillable containers.
But Banyan Tree is going a step further, collecting funds from guests in its resorts and hotels, matching them with its own money, and using the proceeds to developing active conservation programs.
In the Maldives, the company has coral regeneration and transplantation programs, and a turtle conservation program; a marine laboratory that it set up is collaborating with the ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research on a study of the life history, behavior, and ecology of the Blacktip Reef Shark in North Male Atoll.
In Seychelles, the company has joined hands with the Marine Conservation Society of Seychelles to implement a hawksbill turtle nesting program and a program to monitor sand movements, dune structure and beach vegetation coverage.
During renovation of the beach access of villas at the Seychelles resort, the conservation society offered suggestions "that would enable us to better co-exist with the sea turtles along their nesting grounds," said Michael Kwee, manager for Corporate Social Responsibility at the group.
"We simply added a bend in the path through the plants and trees to the beach. This provided a natural means to reduce the light from our villas at night when turtles emerge to nest."
Banyan Tree is now planning to open a conservation laboratory on Bintan island, Indonesia, in July. The lab’s first initiative will be to play host to visiting experts surveying the island’s flora and fauna to identify how to more actively protect them.
In 2001, the company established a Green Imperative Fund to finance these initiatives, offering its clients an opportunity to participate in its support of environmental protection and community help groups. Guests find a green levy of up to $2 per night added to the bill, although they can opt out of the charge if they wish. Banyan Tree matches these contributions, either dollar for dollar, or with a contribution of 1 percent of its previous year’s profit, whichever is higher. Last year, the company reported a profit of 33.5 million Singapore dollars, or $21.9 million.
With room rates averaging $665 a night in the Maldives and $1,425 a night in Seychelles, few customers begrudge the charge. As of the end of December, the fund had raised $1.6 million.
Among its beneficiaries is a recently introduced 10-year "greening communities" program, under which Banyan Tree plans to plant 2,000 trees each year in neighborhoods adjoining its resorts. "The act of planting trees drives more awareness and understanding of the complexities of climate change," Kwee said. "We recognize that 2,000 trees each year will not solve the world’s problems, but they are a start."
Claire Chiang, a senior vice president – and wife of the executive chairman and founder, Ho Kwon Ping – said that a good corporate image can "unlock sales in the immediate term and open opportunities in the long term. "
"Creating value is simply not a zero sum game; a successful business can enhance its success by aligning its business objectives with societal requirements," she said. A "value-based enterprise will reap good will and reputation leading to enhanced returns on investment.
"A company’s values are the ultimate yardstick to measure up against," Chiang said. "An overnight buck that contravenes corporate values is never a value proposition."