As an hotelier, you might recognise this: if all the towels are lying on the floor, they all get washed. If not all the towels are on the floor, some may be neatly hanging on the rail or may even not have been used … then you’re not sure. And you’re not the only one. An increasing number of hoteliers are scratching their heads with regard to an environmentally-friendly policy. And in the meantime, hotel guests no longer expect all towels to be washed. Of course as an hotelier, you like to take that into account, but it offers plenty of new challenges. What if I told you that with a well thought-out policy, you could kill three birds with one stone? In addition to a smaller ecological footprint, you can also achieve considerable savings on your costs and expand your clientele.

Today, many consumers want to make a positive impact on the environment. As a result, they have certain expectations. How can we – as the hospitality sector – meet those expectations? What’s feasible? Luxembourg research into guests opting to reuse towels shows that some things are easy to achieve. As long as you involve your guests and address them in the right way. With messages that appeal to them and that they can relate to.

When we’re not alone

It’s not always easy to act in an environmentally responsible way. You have to consider your actions and you don’t know if other people are making an effort too. And it’s exactly the latter that offers potential. What if guests know what other guests are doing? What if you, the hotelier, tell them about the use being made of towels? This is a radical break with the long-standing use of impersonal messages on signs with friendly encouragements to “Turn off the lights when you leave the meeting room to avoid wasting energy.” or to return to topic “Do our bit for the environment and avoid unnecessary laundry. Please hang up any towels that do not need washing. Any towels left on the floor will be sent to the laundry.”

The infamous towel study that I’m happy to mention here showed that this kind of general call for certain behaviour has little impact. People need a frame of reference: they want to know what others are doing. On condition that they can relate, this will determine their behaviour. Accordingly, people will be more influenced by what others of the same gender do or what others near their home do.

So not sheep after all

We’ve known for some time now that people act like sheep. However, the same research shows that a message referring to a specific individual from the group has the greatest impact.

How so? One of the signs that was hung on the towel rack during the research stated how many of the guests that had previously slept in the room, reused their towels. This stimulated similar behaviour. A whopping 49% of the guests who read the message, also opted to reuse their towels. A really remarkable result if you know that the same call for environmentally-friendly behaviour referring to a larger reference group, such as all the hotel’s guests, led to 44% of the guests reusing their towels … and the same call without any mention of a reference group only led to 37% of the guests reusing their towels. So a very tangible difference.

This text will get your guests to reuse their towels more

Help save the environment together with your fellow guests. Research carried out in the autumn of 2021 showed that 75% of the guests who stayed in this room (number 313), reduced their ecological footprint by using their towels more than once. Join your fellow guests to help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay.

What’s in it for me?

Fantastic for the environment, that very specific message … But how you as a hotelier benefit is also a very relevant question. Calculations show that you, the hotelier, will have 33% less laundry with this method. That saves you lot of money.

But what’s more, guests who expect an environmentally-friendly policy will be grateful and will return. Environmentally conscious guests indicate that they like to return to places that take the environment into consideration. They feel at ease there because they feel they are living in a healthier world in that way. Return customers who each time leave behind 33% less laundry … do I have to keep painting the picture to convince you?