Hotel, Spa & Tourism Industry Addresses Global Water Crisis

Last year, when I attended the Global Spa and Wellness Summit in Aspen, I was inspired by a cool initiative, called Hotel Water, designed to help reduced the use of plastic bottles in hotels and spas. The Green Spa Network recently re-posted this on Facebook, which reminded me about the program. As such, I wanted to re-posted this blog from SpaFinder to give you the scoop:

Sonu Shivdasani, CEO of Six Senses Hotels and Resorts and chairman of Soneva Fushi Resorts, has created Hotel Water, an industry-wide campaign for clean drinking water. The campaign asks hotels to stop importing bottled water to reduce food miles and the use of plastic, and instead, bottle their own water using reusable glass bottles, adding minerals at the source.

“If we sell our own water in reusable bottles and donate 10 percent of proceeds, we can help the world’s water crisis,” Shivdasani explained passionately at the Global Spa and Wellness Summit this year in Aspen, Colorado. “Our industry can solve this problem if we get behind it. As hoteliers, spas and restaurateurs, we’re often the last to get on the socially responsible and environmentally conscious bandwagon.”

Shivdasani went on to list facts on how joining a cause like this can improve a company’s image among consumers as water issues are the number-one cause consumers expect companies to support.

The hotel and spa business is one sector that has the potential, Shivdasani emphasized, with big names like Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, The Peninsula Hong Kong, Westin Hotels & Resorts, Vail Resorts, Hilton, Marriott, Kimpton Hotels, Protea Hotels, The St. Regis New York and more already participating. To show just how big of an impact the hotel and spa industry can have, Shivdasani took the top 10 hotel chains and broke down the numbers if those were to join in the cause:

  • Top 10 hotels = 4.3 million hotel rooms
  • $6 average/1 bottle of water per room per night = 9.6 billion in sales
  • 10 percent of $9.6 billion in sales = $955 million to donate

“It is said that it will take $5-$10 billion dollars to solve the water crisis – it is definitely in our grasp,” Shivdasani said. “We’re not incurring costs – we’ve noticed our cost of sales go down 2%-3%. Even if you give 10 percent to charity, you’re still financially better off. The sooner you join, the better – it will give the whole industry a big boost and will be better for all of us.”

Interested in learning more about Hotel Water? Here’s what to do:

  1. Become a member of the “water” global multi-media campaign with a minimal licensing fee
  2. Replace commercially branded bottled water with filtered tap water
  3. Sell it and contribute 10 percent of the proceeds to the Clean Water Fund

Visit thehotelwater.com for more information.