Whereas in Europe and the US there is more receptivity to making green investments, in parts of South East Asia persuading hotel owners to commit sums to energy efficiency is still a challenge, the panel said.

 

“We do see some difficulties in convincing our hotel owners to invest in relatively unconventional systems,” said Hoyce Ho, director of engineering and energy management at InterContinental Hotels Group Asia Australasia at the ‘Building and Investing in Green Chains’ discussion. “It depends on the country on whether green design is well received. In South East Asia, we do have some difficulties. We need to have long discussions with owners about what investments we need to put in what is the ROI, and if there is no ROI, what benefits there are,” he said.

 

Roger MacFarlaine, vice president IT Middle East & Asia, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts, also on the panel, agreed. “It depends on the country. Some still have a way to go. I truly think that a lot of people are a little bit shortsighted about investing US$5 million dollars for X,Y or Z. They get blocked by the initial cost and can’t see the efficiency five years down the line.”

 

The solution, he added, was to present owners with a strong business model and to get sustainability established on the agenda early on in the design process for new hotels.

 

“What we are doing is we try to influence the owner much earlier now. At the management agreement stage, we start to get a commitment. In that case, it is good for owners if they start at the preliminary stage and good for the architect,” said Ho.

 

Investing in green design is a win-win situation for all major stakeholders, added MacFarlaine. “We’re not robbing Peter to pay Paul. For owners, they see significant reduction in costs in terms of architecture; at operations level, our processes are more streamlined and defined; and for guests, we’re delivering green conscious and providing them with a smorgasbord of technologies.”

 

The panel agreed that governments also need to do more to encourage green design, particularly on items such as solar panels that are still too expensive for individual owners.

 

Ho cited a project in Australia whereby depending on the time of year, between 40% and 80% of a hotel’s energy could be generated by solar panels.

 

“It starts from the top down and those sorts of [initiatives] are very expensive. We need a big push from the government and they need to step up to the plate,” said MacFarlaine.

 

Arfinn Oines, social and environmental conscience at Six Senses Resorts & Spas, and moderator of the panel, commented that there is a lot more the hotel industry could be doing to support the environment.

 

“There are a lot of good things that are being done but overall there is a lot more the industry could do to realize its potential. There are a lot of challenges in getting investors to understand. The industry as a whole is not doing enough and I would challenge every company to do more,” he said.

 

The panel discussion was held on the second day of the Hotel Operations & Design Conference, which is part of the Food and Hotel Asia Expo taking place this week in Singapore.