Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education announce agreement to advance sustainability in the hospitality industry.

Leading networks for responsible hospitality and global education for hospitality and tourism have formed a co-operation agreement to create innovative solutions for advancing sustainability in the hospitality sector. The agreement between the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (the Alliance) and the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (ICHRIE) was announced at the Alliance’s Net Positive Summit in London on 11 October.

This partnership combines the Alliance’s sector-specific expertise and industry leadership with ICHRIE’s reach among the academia and hospitality student community. The agreement will see the two organisations collaborate on the development of research to support the people and planet innovation needs of hospitality industry, and the sharing of key learnings from within and beyond the sector.

The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance brings together leading hospitality companies and strategic partners to address key challenges affecting the planet and its people. The organisation has a long history of supporting education within the hospitality industry.

This includes providing guidance and trainings to improve the environmental impact of hotels and promote ethical recruitment and human rights within the industry. They have also run an employability programme for over 15 years which provides skills training and experience to disadvantaged people to enable them to build a successful future in the hospitality industry.

ICHRIE provides programs and services to continually improve the quality of global education, research, service and business operations in the hospitality and tourism industry. They are active in supporting ethical and progressive action and improvement of global hospitality and tourism education and research.

Glenn Mandziuk, CEO, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, said: “In order to make our ambition of net positive hospitality a reality, it will require the commitment and engagement of every person involved in the hospitality industry. Therefore, it’s crucial that we are increasing awareness and education with every employee – and future employee – to ensure the sustainability is fully embedded within our daily activities as well as strategic plans. This partnership with ICHRIE will help to ensure that sustainability continues to be an integral part of quality global hospitality and tourism education and research.”

Dr. Ralf Burbach, President, ICHRIE, Head of Hospitality Management Discipline, School of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Technological University, Dublin, Ireland, said: “We are very pleased to be an official knowledge partner of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance. This partnership is especially important at a time when sustainability is so critical to our businesses and our lives. This partnership will allow the hospitality industry and education to work together to foster research and to promote this agenda among the over 120,000 students represented by our ICHRIE member schools.”