November, managers arenas del mar The resort near Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica challenged its employees to come up with ways to operate more sustainably. Maintenance staff recommended installing electronic locks on guest room doors. The Food and Beverage Department proposes making jam from the peel. Housekeeper’s advice: Throw away the slippers.
“It doesn’t make sense because you use them once and throw them away,” said Hans Pfister, the company’s president and co-founder. Cayuga Series, the hotel group that manages the resort, took the advice of housekeeping staff. “It’s very wasteful.”
Along with plastic straws and mini bottles of shampoo, disposable slippers – flimsy styles often made from plastic and fabric often found in bedside tables or packed in hotel wardrobes – are the next thing sustainability campaigners are targeting disposable items.
“Anything disposable is problematic,” Willy Legrand, a sustainable hotel expert and professor at the International University of Applied Sciences at Indiana University in Bad Honnef, Germany, wrote in an email. He mentioned that when production, transportation and waste are taken into account, a small slipper takes up a lot of floor space. Disposable slippers, he said, “make people feel out of place and disconnected.”
Nina Boys, Vice President of Sustainability beyond greenA group of hotels have launched a review of their sustainability practices, calling slippers a “low-hanging fruit” in the fight against plastic.
Slippers as a status symbol
While plastic straws can be easily replaced with paper straws and small shampoo bottles for larger dispensers, slipper replacement is more complex and depends not only on the material but also on cultural expectations and perceptions of luxury.
Sustainability expert, “Reimagining luxury“.
“As hotels began to cater to international guests, particularly those from Asia, providing slippers became a way to accommodate and respect these cultural norms,” Ms. Vede Nieto wrote in an email. She added that the comfort and hygiene of slippers have become a common luxury standard today.
Providing slippers can also help hotels earn status ratings from tourism organizations, e.g. AAA or EU hotel star.
Some resorts are finding it easier to address sustainability issues through food waste and community involvement than footwear. Wen WeianA boutique resort with 18 cabins and one suite on 113 acres in Litchfield Hills, Connecticut, the resort grows about 70 percent of its produce and built a cabin from wood cleared on site. Guests receive reusable sandals at the spa, but in the rooms, visitors find more luxurious designs that they are encouraged to take home and reuse; about half do so, and the rest are discarded.
“The thing is, it’s one of those things that people look forward to,” said Heather Smith Winkelmann, the resort’s general manager.
Ivan Bauza is Sales and Marketing Director Shitai, a luxury hotel in Miami Beach. “Our guests are very demanding and expect everything to be brand new,” he said, adding that amenities such as full-size bottles of shampoo and slippers are available for guests to take home — including the occasional boutique brand. Fashion style brunch — “Shows the luxurious side of hospitality.”
‘Rethink’ slippers
IU’s Mr. Legrand said the waste associated with disposable slippers is considerable. He calculated that high-end hotels in the United States, with an average occupancy rate of 63%, may throw away more than 10 million pairs of slippers each month.
In a 2018 study, Chekitan S. Dev, a professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, tracked 50 hotel amenities to determine how they were used. Only 27% of guests used the bathrobes provided in their rooms. “We did not study slippers but it is safe to assume that many or more people use slippers, especially during turndown service when slippers are often unpacked and placed next to the bed to encourage their use,” Mr Dave said.
Members of Unite Here, the union that represents hotel housekeepers, said hotel cleaning standards often dictate that slippers removed from their packaging should be discarded.
“The waste caused by hotel slippers may seem insignificant compared to larger issues such as energy consumption, food waste or water use,” Mr. Legrand wrote. “Ultimately, however, every bit of waste adds up and there is increasing focus on these aspects as part of a wider approach to sustainable industry.”
Shop for greener footwear
A hotel company that has pledged to ban single-use plastic has blazed a trail to produce more eco-friendly slippers.
Six Sensesis a brand of 23 high-end resorts that offers slippers made from natural materials such as jute or bamboo or recycled plastic. Six Senses Crans-Montana Swiss stocks kaita Felt slippers made from recycled plastic bottles can be washed and reused or recycled at the end of their life. Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Disposable slippers will be phased out in 2022 and replaced with slippers made of cardboard, cork and cotton, which will be returned to rooms after cleaning. The Dorian, Autograph Collection Hotels in Calgary, Canada, are stopping providing disposable slippers in hotel suites and instead upgrading to thicker, more durable slippers; guests in other rooms can use them as needed. General manager Ian Jones wrote in an email that customers are encouraged to take them home for “multiple uses rather than one-time use.”
green keyThe organization, which conducts a review of hotels’ sustainability practices, recommended that hotels provide slippers and other single-use amenities upon request rather than forcing cancellations. In line with its commitment to eliminate single-use plastic, Sheraton San Diego Oceanfront Hotel Slippers are only provided to guests who require them.
Few resorts that offer slippers go as far as this in reducing footwear waste. Alila Villas Uluwatu In Bali. In its on-site sustainability lab, glass bottles are turned into drinking glasses, old umbrellas are turned into tote bags, and shredded slipper parts are turned into stuffing for bean bag chairs.
“By closing the waste cycle, we are creating a circular economy,” said resort general manager Morgan Martinello.
Reject or reuse
Will travelers start carrying their own slippers the same way they carry their own water bottles and shopping bags? They may have to.
“We have a lot of arguments about slippers, pens, cotton balls, toiletries,” said Oliver Milne-Watson, the company’s general manager. Newman, a luxury hotel set to open in London later this year. Although management found it difficult to find satisfactory reusable slippers, the rooms will not contain single-use plastic.
“We ask, ‘Can we make this with something that has a longer life cycle? If not, do we really need it?'” Mr Milne-Watson said.
Experts doubt that the needles on the slippers would have fully swung before the traveler made a sound.
“We’re at the stage now where we were with food waste just a few years ago,” said Mr. LaGrand, the Indiana University professor. “When we started monitoring, measuring and quantifying the cost of procurement and waste, we realized: We have to do something about it!”
They have appeared in the minds of some travelers.
“I used to think about how short the life of these shoes was, and now I’ve gotten into the habit of taking my old shoes with me when I leave the hotel,” said Karla Cobreiro, 33, a publicist at the headquarters. Located in Miami. She packs them into her carry-on luggage along with a sleep mask and other essentials. “Now I wear them on long flights.”
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