A Case for Sustainable Development: BEYOND Aparthotels

 

Case Study 2 – BEYOND is Sustainability in Practice

Key to MyResidence.Africa’s sustainable initiatives of sharing Global Sustainable best practices within the extended stay industry sector, we had the pleasure of chatting to James Fry, Owner & Founder of BEYOND Aparthotels based in the United Kingdom. James has a tangible passion for sustainable business and has made sure, that he has gone  above and beyond to address their extended stay needs without leaving a mark for the future. BEYOND are setting a new precedent for sustainable business travel. They are the first & best of London’s fully sustainable extended stay self-serviced apartments.

In our interview James clearly noted, and I quote “We have stayed away from accreditation simply because I don’t believe it works.” He went on to say “Sustainability is part of our DNA, part of the culture of the business, it leads us into every decision we make.” He mentioned that in the future when people announce that they are going to build a green hotel, that his wish for a reply would be ‘Oh, are you going to be like BEYOND?”.

He confirmed that the majority of clients are still booking for location but are however quickly converted when the depth of sustainability initiatives are so evident, not to mention their response to the various health benefits derived by the VOC paint and filtered air, to name but a few. James has a passionate and refreshing view on sustainability, one that has inspired us and we aim to share this with our property partners in supporting them make visible strides in improving their sustainable development practices.

As James’ business is UK based we understand that he has been focusing on more of the green initiatives but we do feel that both green & social initiatives could be successfully introduced in Africa.

 

Some examples we feel our property partners could implement, are:

• Learning
  Educate your staff on sustainable development, exposing them to both green and social developments within the extended stay industry.

 

• No single-use plastic
  Refill cosmetic & cleaning products into their original containers by buying product in bulk. This will help eliminate single-use plastic.

 

• Recycle
  Separate the refuse and recycle glass, paper and plastic products that you are not able to re-use.

 

• No chemicals
  Use chemical free cleaning products. You’d be surprised at the number of suppliers in your area if you just Google ‘chemical free cleaning products’!

• Energy efficient
  Invest in low energy LED lightbulbs and low energy appliances, where possible.

• Go Green!
  Plant a vegetable or herb garden on your property.

 

Join us in our purpose to create more sustainable extended stay accommodation in Africa & feel free to share your initiatives with us.

Email us at info@myresidence.africa

We would love to hear from other properties on what you are doing so we can write and share your journey and help encourage others to become more and more sustainable.