At The Refinishing Touch, we take guestroom design seriously. No joke. We want your hotel to stand out from the competition. A well-constructed furniture asset management program makes all difference to your guests and your bottom line. So straight from our home office in Alpharetta, GA, here are the Top 10 reasons partnering with The […]
Furniture asset management: Saving the planet and saving your budget
Each and every day, the team here at The Refinishing Touch is involved in sustainable initiatives across government, education and hospitality. We are at the leading edge of sustainable renovations, helping decision makers and facilities managers understand how to implement furniture asset management and understand best practices to fully realize its benefits.
There are many benefits of furniture asset management to discuss but the conversation frequently turns straight to the undeniable environmental benefits. These include the reduction in unnecessary landfill waste and disposal of old furniture, the ability to preserve existing furniture assets, and the fact that new furniture does not need to be built, bought or shipped. Carbon dioxide emissions are slashed by a factor of a hundred.
The green benefits are indisputable, and across each of our industries, are being recognized, shared and encouraged by ‘users’ – in education students want to commit to colleges and campuses that demonstrate their commitment to sustainability; travelers want to stay with hotels that are staying on course with green initiatives; and government at all levels wants to show that it’s governing its own emissions, waste and protecting our shared resources.
While it’s about going green, furniture asset management is also about the bottom line. One of the strongest facts about furniture asset management is that it provides substantial benefits to spend levels and to protecting budgets.
Our customers know this. Time and time again we have demonstrated up to 80% of budget spend saved by implementing furniture asset management. Our customers understand that saving the planet and saving budget are not mutually exclusive.
In each of our industries we’re seeing going green and cost considerations being brought together. For example, IHG, one of the hotel brands that we have worked a great deal with, shares that one of its key objectives for its ‘Green Engage’ sustainability system and program is to work with its hotels: “to help them reduce their environmental impacts and operating costs.” As we say, and we see each and every day, being green is a responsibility in terms of the environment, but it is also a strong business decision that protects existing investment and enables the saving and reallocation of budgets.
If you’d like to calculate how fiscally responsible furniture asset management would be for your organization, please email us at sales@therefinishingtouch.com.
Going Green In 2015: What’s To Come For Hospitality
The holiday rush is winding down and a new year is on the horizon. As we prepare to head into 2015, we’re keeping a keen eye on industry trends.
Hospitality is an ever-changing market. In our 35 years of implementing furniture asset management services within the hospitality industry, we’ve seen countless trends come and go. This year, we’re happy to see that environmentalism and sustainability are on the rise and seemingly here to stay.
As stated by LRS, sustainability has become a truly meaningful initiative. Both hoteliers and travelers are more willing to participate in green programs, which has made them an increasingly expected industry standard.
Deloitte’s recently-published study, ‘Hospitality 2015: Game changers or spectators?’ shares perspectives of what’s to come in 2015 including changing demographics, aviation trends, human capital and, of course, sustainability.
“Sustainability will become a defining issue for the industry. Rising populations and increasingly scarce resources will provide a challenging business environment in which sustainability will need to be embedded within all facets of the industry, rather than regarded as a standalone issue,” the report states first and foremost.
While it’s certainly become a factor in the decision-making of hotels worldwide, sustainability is not yet ingrained in the core of the business. Employing environmentally-responsible practices from the ground up is key, and it’s important to remember that there is always a greener option.
When renovating or simply refreshing facilities, hoteliers need to consider sustainable options such as refinishing, re-upholstery or remanufacturing existing furniture assets. Each of these brings countless environmental benefits. By eliminating the need to buy new, hotel operators, owners and managers eliminate the need for the shipment of new furniture, as well as the disposal of old furniture and the creation of unnecessary landfill waste.
Just consider: the total CO2 created when new furniture is being manufactured for a one-hundred room hotel amounts to an estimated 125.32 tons. The total CO2 created when refinishing an equal amount of furniture is just 1.24 tons.
Happy Holidays from The Refinishing Touch
It’s that time of year again. We hope that by now, you are done with your shopping and are planning on spending time with loved ones. Before we head off to spend quality time with our families and friends, we wanted to thank each of you for all that you’ve done for us since this time last year.
Without your support, we may not have accomplished all that we have in 2014. We won new customers, completed numerous furniture asset management projects at hotels, on college campuses and in government institutions across the United States and Canada. We networked with industry peers at many industry events and conducted a number of in-depth studies on sustainability.
Thank you for your support for The Refinishing Touch and for reading this blog.
As you move through the busy holiday season, we hope you take the time to enjoy it. From our family to yours – Happy Holidays!
Why green needs to be led from the top: A lesson from Unilever’s Paul Polman
This week there has been coverage, ideas and blunt language coming from the Global Landscapes Forum, held alongside United Nations climate negotiations. The press coverage has included discussions about carbon credits; the interplay between developing and developed countries; local and international policies; biodiversity and deforestation; and a review of the activities which impact our effort to address climate change.
One line of reporting that caught our eye was that which covered the address from Unilever’s CEO, Paul Polman. You’ll have, undoubtedly, heard of Unilever but you may not know the company’s scale: it is the third largest consumer good conglomerate in the world, just behind Procter & Gamble and Nestlé, with products sold in more than 190 countries.
Paul Polman not only spoke about the “inconvenient facts” on how corporates and certain sectors impact climate change, he admitted that his company and his sector was part of the problem and needed to change. He stated “Most CEOs, I’m convinced of now, know that their companies cannot prosper in a world with runaway climate change. This is increasingly evident.”
We understand that Polman and his views do not represent every CEO. Yes, he is a CEO of a successful Fortune 500 company who is handsomely-compensated for exceeding growth targets and meeting shareholder expectations. That does not make him different. What makes him different is that this is accompanied by a very public commitment to being a green CEO. He openly shares these views and as such is creating a legacy for the Unilever brand and building on its global reputation, while meeting all the other global challenges presented to him as chief executive.
In our role as experts in furniture asset management working with hospitality, education and government organizations, we understand the need for every type of organization to be driven by a vision and a mission. A commitment to sustainability and to green initiatives and environmental targets needs to be led from the top, to be woven into that vision. When sustainability is a top-level vision it means that all activities which impact the business: its assets, its infrastructure, and its day-to-day impact on the environment, are all taken into account.
We understand that each organization and every business faces different challenges: growth, maintaining standards, balancing budgets against spend. But to see corporate leaders such as Paul Polman stand up and to show that a company of Unilever’s size can demonstrate successful business while integrating sustainability from the very top, is a lessonto every organization of every kind and of every size.
Sustainability in hospitality: Do travelers truly care?
This quarter we conducted an in-person survey of owners and operators attending the 2014 InterContinental Hotel Groups Investors and Leadership conference in Las Vegas. We covered topics from PIPs, to furniture, to sustainability. On the blog last week, we highlighted one of the most burning questions : Who is responsible for sustainability in the hospitality industry?Is it the owner, the operator, the brand or all of the above? (Answer: All of the above)
This week, we want to take a step back. Without understanding the urgency behind sustainable practices, green initiatives, and a commitment to environmental responsibility; owners, operators, and brand managers may be slow to come together on the issue.
We asked them if they feel that sustainability is important to guests. The response was comforting, with 78 percent stating: Yes, more than ever.
Although it’s reassuring to see the majority agree with a topic we feel strongly about, almost a fifth (19 percent) thought ‘only in some cases’. From our experience, spanning three decades of working in the hospitality industry, this is when decision makers think that being sustainable will eat away at more budget. However, we know the opposite to be true. With furniture asset management alone, it’s not uncommon to see budget savings of more than 80 percent.
Eco-awareness is at an all time high, and the attitude of the traveller has changed. Millennials booking vacations today are educated and passionate about making the world a greener place, and services like TripAdvisor make browsing a location’s sustainable ratings easier than ever.
The consensus, from The Refinishing Touch and our peers, is that sustainability is indeed important to guests, and the best possible solution is a combative approach from owners, operators, and brands across the board.
There is much more where this came from. If you’d like to receive our full Industry Insight report, please sign up here.
Can Canada meet its goal? Sustainability initiatives falling short
We are always pleased to see the sustainability movement gaining momentum, and were thrilled to see so much recent coverage on worldwide gatherings aimed at combatting global warming.
The United Nations Climate Summit was held in New York City during the last week of September. The summit was attended by politicians, scientists and celebrities who acknowledge the immediate need for action. A week prior, everyday people from around the world took part in The People’s Climate March to demand action from world leaders to end the crisis. One country that has seen a recent call to action is Canada.
Canada made a commitment under Stephen Harper’s government in 2009 to reduce greenhouse emissions by 17 percent by 2020. It is becoming clear now that the nation will most likely not attain this level of reduction leaving many to question what can be done to end the ‘sustainability deficit’.
Refinishing, reupholstering or remanufacturing existing furniture assets is a proven method of reducing carbon emissions. It takes about 1,000 times more CO2 to manufacture a new piece of furniture. Compare this to refinishing and the overall Co2 emissions are reduced by an estimated 124.08 tons.
At The Refinishing Touch, we work hard every day to help leading hotels, universities and government agencies throughout Canada uphold high standards of excellence while reducing their environmental footprints. Furniture asset management is not the standalone solution to global warming, but it certainly assists in the comprehensive plan required to make a difference.
Greening LA: Putting sustainable initiatives in motion
Last week, councilman Paul Koretz proposed an inspiring motion to reduce the carbon footprint of Los Angeles 80 percent by 2050. Koretz discussed plans to increase the city’s transition from coal to renewable energy sources by adding more trees, solar rooftops and deploying more clean-burning garbage trucks.
However, if LA isn’t able to replace energy it currently buys from the coal-fired plants in Utah, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) may need to buy more solar and wind energy. Though it is 100% carbon-emission free, it is costly. It is promising to see that the LADWP is on track to reduce carbon emissions by 58 percent in 2025, and up to 70 percent by 2030.
At The Refinishing Touch, we pride ourselves on our green credentials and all our products are safe, non-toxic and environmentally friendly. We work hard to reduce carbon emissions of government edifices and it’s encouraging to see communities take steps towards becoming greener and managing their environmental impact. We hope the Los Angeles climate change plan will inspire others to do the same and take a more proactive approach to becoming environmentally conscious.
Do you know the impact of your organization’s activities on the environment? When it comes to replacing furniture, there’s a huge impact – just consider that cutting down one tree to make new furniture produces more than 58 tons of CO2 with an additional 7.4 tons produced to then cut that tree into sections and transport it. By the time you add assembling and shipping, the total is an estimated 125.32 tons of CO2 for every 100 rooms of furniture, compared to less than 1.25 tons for 100 rooms of refinished furniture.
To calculate your carbon footprint – and see how you can reduce it with furniture asset management – follow this link.
Time-lapse video: Furniture asset management in motion – it’s more than refinishing
We frequently answer questions about furniture asset management. People want to know what it is and, more importantly, what it can do.
The process of furniture asset management, as delivered by The Refinishing Touch, involves refinishing, reupholstery and/or remanufacturing of existing pieces in order to forgo the need to buy new – drastically reducing budgets, environmental impact and facility downtime.
While providing these services to the higher education, hospitality and government sectors across the United States and Canada, we take great care to ensure that our customers – and current and future guests, students and government officials – are satisfied.
As for what it can do; take a moment to watch the time-lapse video below, highlighting The Refinishing Touch crew in the process of refinishing, remanufacturing and re-upholstering a hotel guest room from beginning to end. The transformation speaks for itself.
If you’re interested in furniture asset management for your property, please request a free quote today and get in touch at sales@therefinishingtouch.com.
The Refinishing Touch’s sustainable spotlight: National Institute of Building Sciences
Guest author: Ryan Colker, director of the consultative council and presidential advisor At The Refinishing Touch we often focus on sustainability in the government sector. In this interview, the director of the consultative council at the National Institute of Building Sciences discusses how he works to bridge the private and public sectors around sustainability.
The Refinishing Touch (TRT): Tell us more about your role at the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS).
Ryan Colker (RC): My main role is to direct the consultative council, which is one of the requirements within our enabling legislation that asked us to bring the building industry together by identifying key issues, coming up with recommendations and then transmitting those to the president and Congress.
We’re looking at what the high-level issues impacting the industry are – everything from workforce development, to energy and water conservation, to defining high performance buildings. Basically, anything at a high level that the industry as a whole needs to engage with and look at.
I also help look at how the public and private sectors can come together to improve buildings. We look at the broad spectrum of activities within the built environment – everything from disaster and hazard mitigation to building information modeling to facility maintenance and operations.
TRT: Tell us a bit about NIBS. What is its mission, values and key activities?
RC: The institute was established in 1974 through an act of Congress. There was a need for the delivery of safe buildings across the country particularly in the housing sector, but in the commercial sector as well. Our main mission is to engage the public and private sector in providing buildings that meet the public need. We do that by providing technical guidance and resources to the public and private sector as well as the dissemination of best practices through resources like the Whole Building Design Guide. We also do a lot of work with federal agencies through buildings-related programs – assisting them with best practices and through the development of tools that can help in the implementation of those processes.
TRT: Tell us about one of the most recent projects the group has worked on. What were the results?
RC: One of the most recent was General Service Administration’s moving of P100 standards for design to a performance-based outcome. Rather than having prescriptive requirements of what building systems you need to use at which particular levels, we’re looking at what the desired outcomes are and how you specify that requirement to a design team together with the standards that the results would be measured against.
TRT: What do you think are the real drivers behind green and sustainable initiatives in government today?
RC: Certainly looking at regulatory requirements – whether established by an act of Congress or an executive order – they’re a key driver. But there is also a recognition that governments tend to own buildings for a very long time. There’s been an attempt to shift focus to total cost of ownership and identifying how to move away from an initial first-cost focus and understand what the operational aspects of that building are and what it will cost long term. Green and sustainable initiatives certainly help to push in that direction.
Overall there is recognition of how sustainability and green practices fit into the mission of government organizations. We’re seeing departments like the Army moving towards net-zero bases for energy, water and waste. They recognize that being the Army, one of the aspects of being prepared and being able to protect the nation is to understand where various inputs are and reducing your reliance on outside entities to provide those types of services.
To read more about the National Institute of Building Sciences, visit the organization’s website at www.nibs.org. To read a full list of The Refinishing Touch’s completed projects in the government sector, visit our website here.