Hospitality can have a big impact on local communities and the environment. On the positive side, hotels create jobs and draw in tourists who spend money at local shops, restaurants, and attractions, helping the local economy. But there are downsides too. More tourists can put pressure on local resources and infrastructure, sometimes making things more expensive for residents and even pushing them out of their homes. Environmentally, hotels can increase waste, water use, and energy consumption, which can harm natural resources and cause pollution. To lessen these negative effects, it's important for hotels to adopt eco-friendly practices like reducing waste, saving water, and using renewable energy.
Today, we are talking to Elissa Keenan, Chief Executive Officer of Ecotourism Australia, about connection between hotels and communities and the global strive to 'greener' tourism.
"Does receiving an international 'green' certification make a change for a hotel?"
We know that increasingly more and more travellers are actively looking for sustainable options when travelling. Travellers will choose a destination or accommodation committed to supporting culture and community, and they may even spend more to ensure an authentic, sustainable and responsible travel experience.
We also know that visitors are actively looking for authentic experiences backed by credible brands, particularly those holding a valid and current certification. There is a significant global shift around credibility and authenticity of green claims and ensuring they are backed up. Greenwashing is a global issue that we need to work together on to avoid.
Ecotourism Australia’s ECO and Sustainable Tourism Certifications use independent third party auditing which provide ongoing improvement recommendations for the hotel to ensure they continue to meet global best practice standards in sustainability.
Undertaking Ecotourism Australia’s global standard ECO or Sustainable Tourism Certification can help hotels manage for the long term, provide a positive financial return, build resilience and protect our tourism product into the future.
We know the demands of travellers are changing – visitors and tourism trade are looking for sustainable and responsible options, and are looking for clear, credible certification standards. We know we need to commit now to really start embedding sustainability as a normal part of business and indeed it is a ‘must do’, no longer a ‘nice to have’.
Photo credits: Rae Wallis, Pexels
"What sustainable efforts can contribute to a hotel's business success, while serving the community at the same time?"
Sustainable tourism is important for all tourism activity, as every business has impact on its operating environment, the local economy and community and the region’s culture. A hotel can provide sustainable experiences for their guests while ensuring they are minimising negative impacts on the environment and maximising benefits for local communities and culture.
Establishing a sustainability ethos within your business brings with it sustainability-driven customers looking to find holiday experiences that align with their values, as well as employees seeking an opportunity to work for a greater purpose.
Being sustainable is not just about minimising environmental impacts, it also includes being connected and engaged in your local community. When your businesses is entwined and part of the community, you become an integral part that is then supported in return by the locals.
Simple sustainability initiatives that hotels can do to benefit their business and the community include; sourcing local produce and supplies, engaging and recruiting local staff, participating in local issues and business groups, and including community give back into their financial decisions (e.g. sponsoring the local sporting club or a locals discount).
Prior to founding Wellbrook with his two partners, Timothy was Managing Director for North America for Ennismore’s the Hoxton brand. Griffin launched the Hoxton in the US market, establishing a central office and North American team in New York City and led the highly successful opening of Hoxton hotels in New York, Portland, Chicago and LA.
Photo credit: LEVEN hotels
What inspired you to co-found LEVEN Hotels, and what key values or goals drive the brand’s vision in the hospitality landscape?
TG: Now, more than ever, we have a heightened appreciation of what a sense of freedom and flexibility bring to the quality of our lives. We wanted to create a brand that supported this - a place that plays a role in helping guests live their best life. A place that fosters community by creating space for meeting, creating, working, eating, drinking, resting, learning, growing, living.
Freedom is a key principle for the brand. We felt traditional hotels had lost the core essence of hospitality by focusing on what served the business, rather than what makes people happy and at ease. We wanted to create a hotel where guests felt they had the freedom to be themselves – without restrictions.
Flexibility is a key driver for us. Our team members love to be a ‘yes’. We wanted to foster an environment where nothing is too much to bring a smile to a guest’s face.
Alos, Social is core element of the LEVEN brand – bringing like-minded people together to share new experiences whether it’s over great food and drink or at our series of activation and events.
Thoughtful is at the heart of everything we do. How we treat our people, our guests, our community and our planet are all front of mind.
Today's hospitality has a strong focus on community engagement. Can you share some ways your brand actively contributes to the local communities in which it operates?
TG: The first LEVEN hotel is located in Manchester’s Village district - a community with a heart. From the beginning we wanted LEVEN to contribute meaningfully to that community and become a part of the rich fabric of the Village. Shortly after opening, LEVEN ran a successful collaboration with 15 local Manchester artists to provide a free pop up space for them to showcase their work at the hotel, which successfully brough together not only the local creatives but the wider community.
Our team loves to play a role in engaging with our community whether it’s running the Manchester Marathon to raise money for a local charity, mentoring students at Manchester Metropolitan University, or hosting Queer As Day, a group founded in 2024 by a member of the team to create safe spaces for LGBTQIA women to network and socialise.
We wanted LEVEN to be a great place to work, stay and hang out. So, fun is important for the brand. Not manufactured fun, but an honest light-hearted approach to life that translates into an environment that guests want to return to again and again and where our team members jump out of bed in the morning wanting to go to work.
LEVEN also takes pride in working with local suppliers to supply things from pastries to gin and champions local initiatives such a running clubs and art classes.
Photo credit: LEVEN hotels
How does LEVEN Hotels approach innovation in hospitality, and what unique experiences or services does it offer that set it apart from traditional hotels?
TG: LEVEN was the first independent hospitality brand to launch a hotel in the Metaverse.
We believe that as the Metaverse evolves from a sci-fi concept into a reality, every industry disrupted by the digital era will feel its impact. We believe the potential for creative hospitality brands is limitless and saw an opportunity to connect our real life space with the online and create a digital amenity space for our customers. The
LEVENverse is a place open to all, enabling global networking of likeminded people in an immersive, fun virtual hotel environment ,expanding upon LEVEN’s physical social spaces to reach a broader audience. The LEVENverse provides an extended platform for makers, creators and innovators to showcase their work, as the physical LEVEN hotel does, through commissioned NFTs and creative digital experiences for users to enjoy.
LEVEN has a popular line of merchandise commissioned for the Manchester hotel including caps, T-shits, hoodies and more. A new merch line is dropping in Q2 which with new lines including beanies, bucket hats and dog accessories.
Every guest receives a part of LEVEN branded socks in their room to keep them cozy. The socks have become a collector’s item, with guests looking out for the newest 6 monthly design to drop. Guests also receive a free breakfast smoothie in the mornings and can check in and check out whenever they want as long as we have the room available.
From an interior design perspective, we drew on the meaning of LEVEN - to live - to craft spaces that were not only stylish and sophisticated, but felt warm, relaxed, homely and honoured the fabric of the landmark early 20th century warehouse building. We preserved as much of the original fabric of the building as possible. We built on the rich canvas of the building by keeping exposed detail such as the red brick, steel pillars and timber. By selecting calming colours, and paying attention to the tactility of materials, using natural woods and stone, the interiors complement the industrial fabric of the building. We embraced the juxtaposition of raw materiality with calming layers - for example the corridors are wrapped in floor to ceiling wooden panels painted in a charming Farrow & Ball Card Room Green with soft textured carpeting set against an industrial mesh ceiling. All of these design decisions were made to create spaces that people want to linger in.
We selected around 300 individual pieces of art for the hotel, many by local artists. The use of art to create a visual narrative was twofold. Firstly, the art selections represent the essence of our brand – crafting spaces that welcome a community of unique individuals. The art is eclectic, inspiring and at times unexpected. Secondly, the mindful use of art adds a layer of atmosphere that is distinctly residential - helping guests feel at ease.
Emotional connection to brands becomes increasingly important to travelers. How does LEVEN cultivate a sense of belonging for both guests and locals, and why is this important to the brand?
TG: At the core of LEVEN is to foster an environment that puts our guests and team members at ease, whether it’s the hotel interiors designed to be restful and homely with a touch of whimsey or making staying with us hassle-free from arrival to departure. If we can make people feel good, then we begin to build an emotional connection. LEVEN brings heart and life to its neighbourhood. The town hall of its community, LEVEN is center of a community of entrepreneurs, makers and creators. Culturally aligning with the values of a new generation of consumers seeking out like minded brands that align with their values. However, this connection can only be maintained and fostered if the experience is consistent and has integrity.
Looking ahead, what role do you envision LEVEN playing in shaping the future of hospitality, particularly in areas like sustainability, technology, and social responsibility?
TG: LEVEN is playing a role in returning hospitality to what should be its core principle of making people feel good, whether they work in our hotel, are staying overnight or dropping in for a drink or dinner
Manchester LEVEN was developed with principals of sustainability in mind, as an adaptive reuse of a derelict industrial building rather than a new build property. Energy efficiency initiatives, carbon reduction plans and actively reducing waste and use of plastics are all embedded in the day-to-day operations, including partnering with a not-for-profit created to help travellers offset their carbon by planting trees. We endeavour to help shape a brighter future one small decision at a time.
As we scale the brand to other locations to bring what is special about LEVEN Manchester to a wider audience in other great cities, we hope our core principles for how we run our business will role model what the future of hospitality can look like.
The respected leader of one of the most loved UK brands explains how applying multi-generational approach in hospitality result in business development and fostering connections.