Sustainability is a vital initiative for the entire travel industry and right now, it’s was perhaps the hottest and driest summer to date in Toronto in 2025.

Anomalous weather patterns like this are becoming increasingly common across the globe, and as such hotels will be increasingly pressed to do their part.

Rather than a burden, sustainability is a win-win. With better energy management and water saving equipment installed with new age AI-embedded monitoring systems deployed, very real cost efficiencies can be attained. Not only that, but when fully embraced, sustainability can bloom into a core pillar of the hotel’s branding, therein helping differentiate it from a sea of competitors to realize ADR uplift and more direct bookings (lowering acquisition costs), amongst other benefits.

It’s this second quality – brand storytelling – that brings us to the other, interlinked ‘S’ of genuine hospitality: stewardship. While sustainability is more about quantification and processing of carbon and energy, stewardship is more experiential and less explicitly measurable in terms of direct ROI.

We can say – and as the example hotels are here to help demonstrate – that great, exceptional and meaningful experiences benefit hotels with the aforementioned ADR uplift and direct channel shift, in addition to longer LOS (therein reducing CPOR and occupancy pockets), a boost to NPS (reducing marketing requirements) and augmented total revenue (namely from ancillary sales and packages).

The Yearning for Cultural Experiences

So, what exactly is stewardship? It means different things to different industries, but for hotels it’s best described as being a patron of the region – both the environment in what’s called land stewardship and the community in what’s called cultural stewardship.

In a previous article, we discussed some properties excelling at land stewardship, rewilding and regenerative agriculture. Here we focus on the communal, human front. Cultural stewardship’s ultimate goal is to preserve elements of the past while simultaneously ushering the region forward to a brighter future. It need not be overly elaborate; think having an art gallery on property or sponsoring a local school.

And to restate, there’s an ROI in this noble cause; guests of all walks crave authentic, localized cultural immersion, and they are willing to pay dearly for the privilege.

To give you some perspective, UNESCO estimates that roughly 26 languages disappear each year. As language is intrinsically fused with our diverse cultural iterations – as well as music, art, cuisine and even hotel design – we are losing a piece of our heritage with each person who moves to the city and falls in with the billions of adopters of our present-day, global, urban uni-culture.

At some primal level, we all feel this loss and it’s fueling a deep yearning for both nature escapes (safaris, ecotourism, adventurous excursions, green therapy and the like) as well as a glimpse into the past (local culinary experiences, cultural immersion and so on).

Just as romanticism then impressionism were movements to revive a more bucolic way of life in the face of increasing intensities of societal industrialization, so too are travelers nowadays seeking a respite from all the blue-lit screens, traffic congestion, overflowing email inboxes and AI-generated advertisements endemic of the knowledge class.

Generational Asset Growth

Before this becomes a runaway epitaph bemoaning urban modernity, know that the core business case stems from a great adage that we often use to guide our strategic plans: ‘the more personal, the more universal’.

What we mean here is that the more we are bombarded with instant messages, social media and digital everything, the more likely it will be for individuals to seek out destination hotels and resorts that can offer some form of temporary respite.

Let us be clear: nature escapes and cultural stewardship programs aren’t for every hotel. It’s very much a niche, albeit a profitable one when executed wholeheartedly. The world will always need lots of lodging: heads in beds establishments in the economy, extended stay, midscale and upscale categories.

But for the bona fide ‘hospitality’ brands and upper-upscale or luxury properties, stewardship can become a vehicle for sustained, long-term business growth, wherein the goodwill generated from culture-driven storytelling can earn customers for life and a strong reputation for that will last a generation.

And that’s the best motivation for teams to pursue these activities. They are a win for the community by helping support local culture and they win cachet for the hotel that translates into the various metrics that lead to boosted NOI – those being a combination of increased ADR, ancillary revenues and LOS as well as more indirect measurements such as easier access to labor or less turnover due to heightened community appreciation.

Examples Abound

All that said as an introduction to the megatrend and its potential ROI, let’s dig into some examples from around the world that we’ve witnessed which highlight the diverse range of possibilities under the banner of cultural stewardship.

The Mayflower, Autograph Collection. As the hotel in Washington D.C. where the president holds their inaugural ball and where plenty of dignitaries stay, this 585-key property celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this year, wherein they looked back at the menus from the 1920s and brought back select items with a modern twist. Being a hotel where history is made, each staff member is trained with docent-level knowledge so that they can answer any questions that guests may have about various events that have transpired within the property’s four walls.

Six Senses Rome. This ultraluxury addition to the acclaimed wellness brand is situated in a beautifully restored UNESCO-listed palazzo, integrating historic preservation with modern sustainability, including LEED Gold certification and 100% renewable energy use. It also serves as a community hub through its Earth Lab, hosting events and workshops on culture, ecology and sustainability. The key trend here is the concept of embracing historic building conversions in combination with the contemporary push for reducing embodied carbon through cleaner materials sourcing, upcycling furniture and other methods.

Singita. This safari lodge brand has made conservation and community stewardship a core element of their branding and experiential programming for guests. They rewild forests; they sponsor anti-poacher funds; they offer sustainable ecotourism adventures. But they are also dedicated to include a strong focus on education and range from Early Childhood Development to onsite environmental education for school groups, academic bursaries and scholarships, digital learning opportunities for remote villages, English classes and adult bridging courses as well as gender empowerment for women and girls. They also support small and medium enterprise development and livelihoods such as smallholder agricultural cooperatives that supply lodges, honey production, and local arts and crafts. We could go on, but needless to say these programs took decades to set up.

Kasbah Tamadot. Through the Eve Branson Foundation, this Virgin Limited Edition property outside Marrakech provides young people, especially women and girls with training in traditional crafts such as weaving, woodworking, rugmaking and embroidery. The hotel has also set up free English classes for the local population irrespective of whether they wanted to ultimately apply for a role at the hotel. Currently, their team is 100% Moroccan with most of the team employed from the local community.

Ngalung Kalla. This resort in Indonesia has built an experience for guests to tour several villages known for producing some of the finest hand-woven Ikats in the world, helping to support and preserve this traditional decorative dyeing technique for fabrics.

J.K. Place. To showcase all the artists and designers they’ve worked with and to progress the conversation around fashion and interior design, this small group of boutique luxury hotels commissioned its own monograph called Bellosguardo used as an in-room coffee table book as well as a gift.

Fogo Island Inn. Perhaps the best independent resort in all of Canada, all operating surpluses from this Newfoundland gem are reinvested in the community of Fogo Island through Shorefast’s programs and initiatives (Shorefast being the hotel’s foundation). One of these projects is Youth Programming that offers mentorship programs, scholarships and local activation designed to engage Fogo Island’s teenagers. With the total population of this remote community being just over 2,100, local engagement is critical for staffing.

Palazzo Cordusio, Gran Meliá. Another historic luxury conversion in Milan, one experience of note is through the hotel’s partnership with the nearby Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, a smaller, often-overlooked museum that also served as Leonardo da Vinci’s study when he resided in the city. Hotel guests have exclusive access to after-hours private tours, therein give the museum an additional source of revenue.

Jamaica Inn. Branching out from its coral restoration and sustainable fishing programs, this independent resort in Ocho Rios has started a foundation that provides support to the local community focused on the education and wellbeing of youth as well as supporting several local charitable organizations.

Imperial Hotel Tokyo. Emblematic of Japanese culture, this hotel is now entering its fourth complete redesign and ground-up new build on the existing site. Each new iteration honors the past hotel buildings by thoughtfully incorporating historic exhibits and antiques into the public spaces, offering thoughtful touchpoints for visitors to discover as they go about their days. Guests can also explore these treasures – such as the original Frank Lloyd Wright terracotta panels and other memorabilia – via an audio-guided Discover Imperial tour that narrates the hotel’s architectural legacy.

Grand Hotel Continental Siena. Here we find an Italian luxury hotel that fully embraces its Sienese past through its craft experiences which give guests a window in the city’s unique Renaissance artistry techniques, simultaneously preserving them from vanishing. To give you a visual in your mind, these three experiences are silk scarf painting, creating ceramic souvenirs with a master artisan and art workshops using 24-karat gold.

Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. - Hotel Strategist, Industry Pundit, Veteran Marketer, and Public Speaker. Adam Mogelonsky, is the chief technologist of the company, Adam has a broad understanding of the complexities of the hotel tech stack as well as the vendors who are paving the way for increased labor efficiencies and new revenue growth opportunities.

Leveraging over 40 years working in hospitality, Hotel Mogel Consulting helps both hotel owners maximize property performance and technology vendors navigate the industry's entry barriers to realize financial success. Visit our contact page to start the conversation.

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