TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL

The COVID-19 pandemic is giving us the time to reflect on the effect of our individual actions can have on the Earth. Owing to that, we have the chance to choose how we are going to adapt to unexpected challenges placed on the industry. The pace isn’t what nobody of us was planning for. Nonetheless, we are ready to start changing how we travel; we are approaching the era of sustainable travel.

Helping make sustainability the new black

Our story begins with one woman asking herself: What can I do to make the world a better place? She found her answer on sustainable travel. Building upon her experience in marketing and tourism, Maria Olazabal founded Eco Hotels & Resorts. She had one intention in mind: To help hotels and travelers make smarter, more sustainable choices. However, she soon came across a series of obstacles the sustainable luxury travel industry faces.

Hotels and resorts that don’t know how to position themselves on the traveler’s mind as sustainable travel options

Firstly, people tend to perceive sustainable travel as oxymoronic. How can something be good for the environment and the community while also being luxurious and comfortable? Tourism professionals do provide this combination but are failing on their marketing and communication strategy. On the one hand, if they invest their marketing budget on positioning themselves as sustainable, travelers unconsciously associate the terminology with the absence of such amenities as air conditioning and hot showers. On the other hand, luxury positioning tends to displace the focus of the value proposition. Thus, travelers enjoy their stay while remaining ignorant of the hotel’s soul and ethos.

Limited by a tight marketing budget

Moreover, sustainable travel luxury resorts and hotels tend to lack the economic power of bigger hotel chains. Consequently, their budget has to be stirred in the right direction. However, given that sustainable travel is relatively new, they lack the knowledge to communicate it efficiently and effectively.

Travelers don’t know how to name what they want

Finally, while recent events are changing how travelers regard their leisure time, travel destinations, and consumptions, they are still unaware of the difference between sustainable luxury travel and eco-friendly destinations. Not to mention that they lack the knowledge to identify when a company is practicing greenwashing on their products and marketing strategies.

 

The Eco Hotels & Resorts difference

Here is where Maria Olazabal’s company Eco Hotels & Resorts, comes forward. Olazabal’s Eco Hotels & Resorts provides knowledge, tools, and experience to make each hotel’s strategy as sustainable as their practices. Therefore, she is channeling the power of the community to make things happen. The entrepreneur is bringing different hotels together to raise their positioning, increase the likelihood of desired guest discovery, but above all, to help them sell themselves in these ever-changing times.

Each of the ten hotels that belong to the collection contributes to the betterment of the world. They do so by integrating sustainable practices into their core principles. In other words, the guest stay is upgraded by practices such as employing sustainable energy sources, growing-or-buying local ingredients, helping the surrounding communities grow and evolve, educating travelers, and more. While, at the same time, member hotels profit from belonging to a community positioned as trustworthy by travelers.