Hotel Green Efforts Are Hitting Right Message for Social Media Users

25.08.2023 - 14:39 / skift.com

Many hotel companies pledge to do better on ESG, or environmental, social, and governance goals. We found a few brands whose work on the “E” in ESG deserves an A grade in the eyes of many social media users.

From reinvigorating the site of a former mine to protecting sea turtles and their habitats, several hotel companies are supporting environmental efforts that deliver a bonus — namely, ideal content for social media engagement.

Hoteliers have recently shared on Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms content portraying verdant panoramas, cute animals, and adorable children immersing themselves in local activities. They said this experiential and sustainability content has been resonating on social media better than average.

Here are three brands whose work has been racking up likes and shares.

The Datai Langkawi is a resort in Malaysia’s northwest with a private beach, 28 hectares of rainforest, and a spa. In 2019, it founded a private trust for its conservation and sustainability work, where it does community outreach projects (such as partnering with a marine mammal conservation organization to adopt dolphins), waste-cutting efforts, and projects to support local flora and fauna.

The resort manages dedicated profiles for The Datai Pledge on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Since creating the profiles a year ago, the Datai Pledge audience has seen strong engagement. On Instagram, content is attacting an impressive 10 percent per post engagement for the Datai Langkawi Pledge, said Arnaud Girodon, general manager of the Datai Langkawi. Industrywide, Instagram engagement rates between 1 percent and 4 percent are considered good, and 5-6 percent above average.

Keeping the pledge profiles separate from the brand’s main commercial accounts “ensures that the tone fits the message,” said Girodon. “We are very careful not to be too commercial, as we feel that would send the wrong impression.”

The hotel does reshare the stories on its main social media accounts, bringing in guests — and potential guests — inspired by the conservationist mission. But unlike traditional short and punchy content, the team bucks convention slightly with longer posts – like a recent campaign focusing on International Coastal Clean-up Day – that skew more “educational,” said Girodon.  

On-site education features prominently on an ongoing basis, including an outdoor classroom constructed from 8,000 glass bottles and 618 pounds of recycled plastic. Beyond tree planting and coral education with resident naturalists and marine biologists, guests are encouraged to attend upcycling workshops at the lab.

Girodon said that ideas like regenerative travel — the mindset of leaving a destination “better” than it was before arrival — are the