In November, managers at the Arenas del Mar resort near Costa Rica's Manuel Antonio National Park asked employees to consider more sustainable ways to operate. The maintenance staff suggested putting an electric lock on the guest room door. The food and beverage department proposed making jam from fruit peels. And the housekeepers advised him to throw away his slippers.
“There was no point in using it once and throwing it away,” said Hans Pfister, president and co-founder of Cayuga Collection, the hotel group that manages the resort, who took housekeeping's advice. . “It's so wasteful.”
Disposable slippers (usually flimsy models made of plastic and cloth, often found by bedside turndowns or in hotel closets), as well as plastic straws and mini-bottles of shampoo, , the next disposable item for sustainability activists.
“Anything that is disposable is problematic,” Willy Legrand, a sustainable hospitality expert and professor at the IU International University of Applied Sciences in Bad Honnef, Germany, wrote in an email. He noted that small slippers have a large footprint when considering production, transportation, and waste. Disposable slippers “feel out of place and out of place,” he says.
Nina Boys, vice president of sustainability at hotel group Beyond Green, which has been scrutinizing its sustainability efforts, said the slippers were a “low-hanging fruit” in the fight against plastic. .
Slippers as a status symbol
While plastic straws can easily replace paper straws and small shampoo bottles with large dispensers, slipper underlays are more complex, based not only on the material but also on cultural expectations and luxury.
Providing slippers in hotels is rooted in the Asian tradition of removing shoes indoors, said Diana Verde Nieto, sustainability expert and author of Reimagining Luxury.
“As hotels began catering to guests from other countries, particularly Asia, providing slippers became a way to accommodate and respect these cultural norms,” Verde Nieto wrote in an email. She added that the comfort and hygiene associated with slippers have now become a universal luxury standard.
Providing slippers also helps hotels gain status ratings from travel organizations such as AAA and the European Union's Hotel Star.
Some resorts have found it easier to address sustainability through food waste and community engagement than through shoes. Winvian, a boutique resort with 18 cottages and one suite on 113 acres in Litchfield Hills, Connecticut, grows approximately 70 percent of its produce on-site and has trees harvested on its property. The cottage was built using recycled wood. Guests receive reusable sandals at the spa, while in their rooms they can find luxurious designs that they're encouraged to take home and reuse. About half are executed and the rest are discarded.
“The problem is, it's one of those things that people have come to expect,” says Heather Smith Winkelman, the resort's managing director.
Ivan Bauza is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Setai, a luxury hotel in Miami Beach. “Our guests are very demanding and expect everything to be new,” he said, adding that amenities such as full-size shampoo bottles and slippers meant for guests to take home include It added that trendy models from boutique brand Branch may also be included. The “luxury side” of hospitality.
Rethinking slippers
IU's Legrand said the waste associated with disposable slippers is enormous, estimating that a high-end U.S. hotel with an average occupancy rate of 63 percent could throw away more than 10 million pairs of slippers a month.
In a 2018 study, Chekitan S. Dev, a professor at Cornell University's Hospitality School, tracked amenities in 50 hotels and looked at how often they were used. Only 27% of guests used the bathrobes provided in the rooms. “While we did not study slippers, we found that people who used them often unpacked them and placed them at their bedside, especially during bedtime services, encouraging their use. , so it's safe to assume that the same or more people are using it,” Dev said.
Hotel cleaning standards often require slippers to be thrown away once they are removed from their packaging, according to members of Unite Here, the union representing hotel cleaners.
“Waste from hotel slippers may seem trivial compared to larger issues such as energy consumption, food waste, and water usage,” Legrand wrote. “But ultimately all the waste adds up and these aspects are receiving increasing attention as part of a broader sustainable industry approach.”
Sourcing more environmentally friendly shoes
Hotel companies working to ban single-use plastics are paving the way to develop more environmentally friendly slippers.
Six Senses, a collection of 23 luxury resorts, offers slippers made from natural materials such as jute and bamboo, or recycled plastic. Switzerland's Six Senses Crans-Montana stocks Kaaita Felt his slippers made from recycled plastic bottles that can be washed and reused or recycled at the end of their lifespan. Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group will phase out disposable slippers in 2022, replacing them with models made from cardboard, cork and cotton, which will be cleaned and replenished in guest rooms. Dorian, an Autograph Collection hotel in Calgary, Canada, has discontinued the provision of disposable slippers in its hotel suites in favor of upgraded slippers that are thicker and more durable. Guests in other rooms are also available on demand. General Manager Ian Jones wrote in an email that patrons are encouraged to take home items for “multiple uses, not just one use.”
Green Key, which has been scrutinizing hotels' sustainability efforts, is proposing that hotels make slippers and other disposable amenities available upon request, rather than requiring them to do away with them. . In keeping with our commitment to eliminating single-use plastics, Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina provides slippers only to guests who request them.
Few resorts in Bali offer slippers that are as committed to reducing footwear waste as Alila Villas Uluwatu. The on-site sustainability lab turns glass bottles into glasses, old umbrellas into tote bags, and shreds slippers to fill beanbag chairs.
“By stopping the cycle of waste, we are creating a circular economy,” said Morgan Martinello, the resort's general manager.
Reject or reuse
Will travelers start bringing their own slippers the same way they carry water bottles and shopping bags? They may have to.
“There's a lot of discussion about slippers, pens, cotton balls and toiletries,” said Oliver Milne-Watson, general manager of the Newman, a luxury hotel set to open in London later this year. No single-use plastics are used in the rooms, but management has found it difficult to find acceptable reusable slippers.
“We're thinking, 'Can we make this with something that has a longer life cycle, and if not, is it really necessary?'” Milne-Watson said.
Experts doubt whether the slipper needle will fully move until travelers speak out.
“We're at a point now where we're tackling this problem, just like we did with food waste a few years ago,” said Ragland, the IU professor. “When you start monitoring, measuring and quantifying both procurement costs and disposal costs, you realize you have to do something about this.”
They are already on the minds of some travelers.
Carla Cobreiro, 33, a public relations officer, said, “I've always thought about how short the lifespan of shoes is, but now I'm in the habit of carrying my used shoes with me when I leave a hotel.'' Told. Based in Miami. She puts them in her carry-on along with a sleep mask and other essentials. She said, “Now I wear these shoes on long-haul flights.''
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