The put up Designing for Tomorrow: How Accor’s Reema Diwan Is Redefining Sustainable Hospitality in India appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily Media.
India’s cultural variety signifies that every vacation spot has its personal distinctive components to supply. Reema feels that sourcing domestically not solely encourages sustainable practices but additionally delivers an genuine and memorable visitor expertise that displays the true spirit of the area. Sustainable accommodations are likely to have decrease working prices as a result of energy- and water-efficient techniques, lowered waste, and better-maintained property. In an interview with TDM, Reema Diwan, Vice President – Design & Technical Services at Accor India & South Asia shares extra on the evolving panorama hospitality—notably round sustainability, Hospitality and design innovation.
Travel Daily Media (TDM): With most travellers and corporates changing into extra discerning about sustainability, are you able to share with us how it’s being utilized to greenfield Accor initiatives in India?
Reema Diwan (RD): Sustainability is a non-negotiable core pillar for Accor, and in India, we guarantee it’s seamlessly built-in into each stage of our greenfield initiatives—from design to operations. We give attention to maximising vitality effectivity by good constructing orientation, façade design, and high-efficiency MEP techniques, whereas additionally incorporating renewable vitality the place possible. In our current initiatives, we have now adopted revolutionary paints, finishes, and supplies that assist sustainability, and collaborated with native communities—an method that not solely empowers them but additionally brings genuine, sustainable worth to the venture. Notable examples embrace the LEED-certified Pullman Chennai; Novotel Goa, Candolim, the place initiatives reminiscent of a stay façade showcase sustainable design; and ibis Mumbai BKC, which options artwork created solely from recycled supplies. We additionally emphasise using low-impact, domestically sourced supplies, strong waste administration techniques, and guest-facing initiatives reminiscent of good room controls and lowered single-use plastics. This holistic method helps environmental accountability, enhances long-term price effectivity, enriches the visitor expertise, and strengthens group influence.
TDM: What is being executed in phrases of redesigning and renovation for Accor accommodations in India?
RD: We are dedicated to strategically planning the refurbishment of our accommodations, embedding new initiatives that reinforce sustainability whereas enhancing the general visitor expertise. For occasion, many properties now function clever dashboards to watch and information useful resource consumption, serving to us optimise vitality, water, and waste administration.
Renovation efforts additionally give attention to incorporating energy-efficient MEP techniques, domestically sourced and low-emission supplies, and sustainable design components that scale back the environmental footprint. Beyond operational effectivity, these initiatives considerably enhance asset worth, modernise public and visitor areas, and reposition our manufacturers strongly in the market. Additionally, we combine native tradition and artwork wherever attainable, creating distinctive, genuine experiences for our visitors whereas supporting native communities and making certain long-term sustainability advantages for each the lodge and its environment.
TDM: Kindly clarify sustainable revolutionary design in phrases of native procurement and cultural affect.
RD: India has developed considerably and provides a wealth of revolutionary merchandise, permitting us to rely closely on native procurement. This method not solely brings native nuances into every venture, making it deeply tied to its location, but additionally helps construct a compelling story for visitors as a part of the general design expertise.
An ideal instance is the ibis Styles Mysore, the place we embraced the theme of town’s wealthy heritage and wove it all through your complete design. All supplies and finishes had been sourced domestically, making the lodge really distinctive to its location. India’s cultural variety signifies that every vacation spot has its personal distinctive components to supply. By sourcing domestically, we not solely encourage sustainable practices but additionally ship an genuine and memorable visitor expertise that displays the true spirit of the area.
TDM: Do share for our readers the present tendencies in phrases of sustainable design and innovation.
RD: Current tendencies in hospitality design are targeted on creating areas that not solely look good and really feel good, but additionally do good. Biophilic design is on the forefront, bringing nature indoors by cautious research of sunshine and wind, creating tactile, sustainable supplies that improve visitor well-being. This wellness-centric design goes past spa areas, integrating consolation, air high quality, ergonomics, and conscious spatial layouts into each nook of the lodge.
Today, consolation is the silent hero of design—visitors might not all the time consciously discover it but it surely shapes their notion of the area, creating an intuitive sense of ease and satisfaction. At the identical time, sustainable supplies and energy-efficient techniques are seamlessly woven into these designs, making certain that accommodations ship operational effectivity, environmental accountability and a memorable, holistic expertise.
TDM: How would you clarify the advantages of a sustainable lodge venture which might price greater than a standard lodge to an impartial hotelier’s greenfield venture, who would ultimately get the property managed by Accor?
RD: I wouldn’t describe a sustainable lodge venture as essentially costing extra—if deliberate and executed appropriately, it will possibly price the identical and even lower than a traditional construct. Achieving this requires meticulous planning, intensive research, and persistence to make sure the venture is positioned optimally, from design and supplies to vitality, water, and operational techniques. While it calls for upfront effort, the long-term advantages are way more vital. Sustainable accommodations are likely to have decrease working prices as a result of energy- and water-efficient techniques, lowered waste, and better-maintained property. They additionally entice the rising phase of aware travellers, who actively select properties that align with their environmental and social values, enhancing occupancy, visitor satisfaction, and loyalty.
When the property is managed by Accor, these sustainability measures are absolutely leveraged by our operational experience, international requirements, and model presence. This not solely ensures clean execution but additionally strengthens the lodge’s market positioning, enhances model notion, and in the end improves asset worth and return on funding (ROI). In essence, embedding sustainability in a greenfield venture isn’t just environmentally accountable—it’s basically commercially smarter, delivering a lodge that performs properly at present and stays aggressive and related in the long run.
TDM: What is it that you simply love in regards to the hospitality enterprise and your position in it? Any phrases of knowledge for kids aspiring to be in your footwear.
RD: I really feel really lucky to like what I do—it drives me on daily basis. The fantastic thing about the hospitality enterprise is that no two days are the identical. Each venture brings a brand new design, a brand new positioning problem, and a chance to discover what extra could be achieved and what’s subsequent for the trade. Over time, my expertise has grown past simply hospitality design—it now encompasses the strategic positioning of property, enhancing asset worth for homeowners, strengthening model recall for our firm, and contributing to constructing a greater future for our group.
My recommendation to kids aspiring to enter this subject is to embrace steady studying, persistence, and a holistic perspective. Don’t simply give attention to design or operations in isolation; perceive how every resolution impacts visitors, homeowners, and the broader market. Be able to study constantly, adapt to new tendencies, and suppose creatively. Most importantly, discover pleasure in the work you do—ardour is the gasoline that may maintain you thru challenges and make your journey each significant and rewarding.
TDM: Kindly share 10 suggestions for everybody to grow to be sustainable in their day by day lives.
RD: Here are 10 important suggestions for everybody to grow to be sustainable in their day by day lives:
- Practice conscious consumption: Buy solely what you really want
- Empower group
- Support native producers: select domestically sourced meals and items
- Minimise plastic use: stop single-use plastic and carry reusable baggage, bottles and containers
- Conserve sources, from water to vitality
- Embrace nature
- Protect native nature
- Reduce and compost waste
- Choose inexperienced transport: stroll, cycle or use public transit extra usually
- Stay knowledgeable and unfold consciousness
The put up Designing for Tomorrow: How Accor’s Reema Diwan Is Redefining Sustainable Hospitality in India appeared first on Travel Daily Media.
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