The Corporate Housing Industry Aligns on Sustainability
Even as the world reckons with political disruption and economic challenges like inflation and supply chain shortages, corporations and governments remain focused on a long-term sustainability agenda. That focus has moved more towards a ‘facts and data’ and measurement-oriented progress. This is an evolution from an early stage ‘principles and intentions’ approach. What it means for corporations and their supply chains is a formalizing of expectations and regulations, similar to what we experienced with data privacy and security, which produced GDPR and other guidance. The next important information release on this topic is likely to be formal guidelines from various European and US regulatory bodies, such as the policy currently under review by the US Security and Exchange Commission.
The travel industry in all its aspects-- air travel, automobile use, accommodations and more-- is estimated to be accountable for between 8-10%, or just over 4 billion tons, of the world’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While there is no precise emissions marker for the subset of corporate housing and serviced apartments, the point is made. As sustainability moves to a measurable business process, governments, corporations, consumers, employees, and investors are all looking for more specific data to judge progress and performance.
The corporate housing industry is already committed to supporting sustainability and to taking practical, useful steps to help both operators and clients with education and a roadmap towards a reduced carbon footprint. In mid-April, ASAP, the Association of Service Apartment Providers, based in London, hosted an informational session attended by 100+ industry affiliates and heard about the value of sustainable development from a property investor’s and a lender’s perspective, as well as on-premises solutions being implemented across multiple local and regional operators, and compliance insights from Green Tourism, one of the industry’s most recognized eco-certification organizations.
The US-headquartered Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA) has, as well, organized a work group that will launch with current state assessment and then move to providing suppliers with reliable, vetted resources for earning sustainability credentials in managed stages. The work group kicked off at the end of April, and is , co-chaired by Dwellworks Living VP, Global Supply Chain, Debbie Woodley, and other leaders from the industry. As the work group members shared, the breadth of efforts that qualify as contributing to carbon footprint reduction is large…from reducing food usage in common dining areas, to replacing plastic water bottles with filtered water, to lowered levels of electrical and HVAC use, and more. Every step forward can be measured and not all actions have to be at the enterprise level. Assessments and guidelines are a work in progress to be shared as they are developed, but the early level of engagement is encouraging.
As noted in our earlier ESG blog, Worldwide ERC, the trade association for global workforce mobility, is undertaking advocacy and education for sustainability across all the sectors of relocation, including corporate housing, and has just published its report: Environmental Sustainability: A Guide for Global Mobility Professionals. The topic will be front and center at the Worldwide ERC Spring Virtual Conference May 17-19 will also be on the agenda at the EuRA Conference in Seville, Spain, May 31 – June 3. Dwellworks Living is actively engaged in our professional associations’ education and advocacy efforts, and will continue to be an information resource to align regulatory, client and supplier actions. We look forward to being a proactive part of the sustainability solution.
Dwellworks Living: Global Solutions for Corporate Accommodations
Dwellworks Living is committed to providing our clients and their employees with the best possible corporate housing and serviced accommodations experience. With a global network of property partners, a tri-regional team of customer experience and supply chain professionals, and a wide range of services for global mobility and travel customers, Dwellworks Living can provide the perfect corporate housing solution for any need or budget.
Dwellworks Living is the global corporate housing solution of Dwellworks, an award-winning, business-to-business provider of global mobility and business travel services. As a global leader in corporate housing and serviced accommodations solutions, Dwellworks Living is uniquely positioned to meet the temporary living needs of businesses and their employees who are relocating or traveling on short-, medium- or extended-stays. With 60,000 high-quality professionally managed properties in over 125 countries worldwide, Dwellworks Living is the preferred housing solutions partner of many Fortune 1000 and leading relocation management companies.
Dwellworks Living's corporate housing and serviced accommodations solutions are designed to help businesses attract and retain top talent, support employee productivity, and ensure a smooth and successful relocation or business travel experience. In addition to our core global accommodations management services, Dwellworks Living, through our worldwide network of local experts, is uniquely capable of offering our clients expanded and related services, such as area orientations, group move assistance, destination services and intercultural training.
Whether you have corporate housing needs for an individual employee or a large team, Dwellworks Living can provide the serviced accommodations solutions you need anywhere in the world to ensure a safe and successful stay. Please contact us to learn more or visit our Properties page to begin your search for global corporate housing accommodations.