The European Sustainable Hospitality Club participated in Europe's resort-focused investment conference 2021, the sixth annual Resort and Residential Hospitality Forum edition, that took place at the Tivoli Marina Vilamoura Resort on 25-27 October.
The three-day conference welcomed senior executives of leading hotel chains, delegates coming from different cities and countries, suppliers, interior and architectural design firms to engage in conversation in the stunning surroundings of the Tivoli Marina Vilamoura Resort.
The program kicked off with the much-anticipated Minor Hotels CEO Interview with Dillip Rajakarier, who shared his views on the market after the pandemic and discussed some Minor Hotels pipelines and exciting news.
“Guests have new expectations, led in the short term by concerns about health and safety, travel restrictions, and lockdown. Their habits too have changed — they book last minute, they prefer villas and residential because they like their own space. Resorts have seen a lift because guests feel there are too many people in urban, city locations.”
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) disclosures are criteria for a business to act, gather data, and report on.
Key drivers of ESG include; Materiality, an increasing recognition that ESG factors can affect risk and return. Regulation, with more guidance from regulators that consider ESGs part of an investor’s fiduciary duty. And client demand, growing demand from clients for greater transparency about how their money is invested.
When investing in hospitality, it is indispensable to incorporate Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria into investment analysis and decision-making processes. It is crucial within industry activities such as; mergers and acquisitions, intercontinental transactions, workforce practices, especially employment conditions in developing countries, land usage, construction, commercial properties, and recreation activities, sourcing and supply chain management, biodiversity conservation in destinations, and data management.
The ESHClub Founding Partner, Maribel Esparcia Pérez, Moderated the R&R Panel Conscious Hospitality: Making ESG Integral to the Resort Business.
Ioannis Orfanos, Partner at Arbitrage Real Estate Advisors, Finance and Investment Management expert, shared his perspective, daily challenges, and experience working with investors. The discussion included investors and financiers who care about addressing ESG in transactions, ESG criteria during the due diligence process, and who pay for the extra cost/investment of ESG initiatives. Margarida Caldeira, Executive Board Director at Broadway Malyan, explained her expertise with conscious design, architecture, and material sourcing projects. Last but not least, Ana Cristina Beatriz, CEO at ABC Sustainable Hospitality, gave her expertise in Operations and shared her Hotel Sustainability Project Cycle Model.
ESG criteria are now a requirement for investors, and responsible behavior is expected from travelers. During the session, the panelists discussed how to incorporate best practices and measure their impact.
As discussed throughout the panel, given the current situation and our change of mindset as a society, owners, governments, customers, and suppliers demand proactive action. Although, as panelists convincingly mention, relatively small steps are taken towards an effective strategy implementation.
During the ESG and Conscious Hospitality Panel, Ioannis Orfanos, the founding partner at Arbitrage Real Estate Advisors, also sheds light on how many investors would only provide the capital required by residential resorts if they were presented with demonstrable evidence of commitment to ESG priorities. He stated that in the past, the action was delayed because of the belief that: “You cannot monetize that which you cannot measure.”
As we further grasp the topic, what if long-term strategies are developed by including the financial performance, mitigating the risks, and capturing the opportunities to create methods that would eventually allow us to record and recollect data?
Companies must have systems and practices enabling them to know and show that they respect human rights. To include an ongoing risk-management process to identify, prevent, mitigate and account concerning business practices. Many investors and other stakeholders are actively expressing the need for deeper transparency on the ESG strategies of companies.
The Hospitality Impact Investing Initiative supports hospitality industry stakeholders to understand, disclose and embed ESGs in operations and strategy.
Contact The ESHClub team for further details or send an RFP to: development@eshclub.com