Christian de Boer, advisor to the UN and UNWTO on sustainable tourism, and co-owner of Cambodia’s Jaya House River Park, says luxury hotel brands are stuck in bureaucracy and need to adapt to the new luxury traveller.
“Large luxury hotels are stuck in their way of operating and think their way is the only way, and they stick to what they think luxury is.
“A lot of them are followers, not leaders, so they aren’t prepared to go against the system, but the luxury traveller has changed,” says de Boer.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Jaya House River Park, Cambodia’s first 100 per cent single-use plastic-free property, and de Boer says change is simple, if only hotel owners would take a few simple steps to ensure it happens.
“It’s so easy, and you can use your asset for good without losing money by simply thinking differently.”
De Boer’s interest in this area came from staying at a hotel where they promised to plant a tree if he hung up his towel.
“I did it and felt good about it, but when I went back to find out where that tree was being planted – because that hotel group has 6,000 hotels, so I was thinking if they do that every day, they must have an Amazon rainforest – I found they never planted a single tree, it was all marketing.
“That annoyed me because I felt mistreated, and it was a learning tool, so if we say something, I have to have proof we’ve done it.”
That was 11 years ago, and so when de Boer started Jaya House River Park, he started planting trees, and they’ve now planted 3,500 trees along the river and in other parts of Siem Reap.
“Back then, people thought the plastic movement was a bit of a drama. They thought, “How is my one bottle going to make a difference?” But someone said to me, “If you don’t start, why would others?” That hit me, and I wanted Jaya to be completely single-use plastic from opening, and surprisingly, it’s easy and doesn’t cost a lot.
“So instead of plastic water bottles it’s glass, and instead of buying water we have our own filtration system, and it was around US$900, so not expensive… and we bought refillable bottles and give them to guests, and the cost is US$4 per guest, and that’s not a lot if average the guest stays three days.”
That led to the establishment of Refill not Landfill, a global initiative tackling plastic waste in tourism, which is now in 19 countries.
“It was an extremely simple initiative. All of us have a mobile phone, all have GPS, so your phone knows where you are, so you only have to put on Google Maps all the refill stations in a city, and people can scan a QR code and they know the closest refill station, and that was the whole concept.”
The hotel also makes its own shampoo, conditioner and body lotions, “it’s better for CO2 output and creates a job and creates a livelihood”.
Time for change
De Boer says he now wants to explain to other hotels how to get on board.
“We’ve proven ourselves, and I’m now on more of a mission to explain to more hotel owners how it’s simple to go single-use plastic-free.”
He says the barrier for most is being “stuck in their ways”.
“Some are still stuck in the 1990s way of having a business centre, car park and blackout curtains, but the meaning of luxury has changed, and they need to adapt to it, but in reality they can’t because they are stuck to their brand and business model.”
He says that’s despite the fact that guests now expect hotels to deliver sustainable initiatives.
“Luxury is a feeling, it makes people feel good when they know they are doing good, and it’s the same as my experience 11 years ago when I was told that by hanging a towel, the hotel would plant a tree.
“I would like to showcase to hotel owners that our model is so easily copied, and you can use your asset for good without losing money by simply thinking differently.
“I’m so driven to try to showcase this different way of working where people can really make a difference, and I believe it can be everywhere in the world.”
For more information, visit Jaya House River Park.
