Name: Scot Hopps
Title: Environmental Program Manager
Company: Saunders Hotel Group & EcoLogical Solutions, Inc.
Time in current position: Two years
Primary responsibilities: “Figuring out how to implement what we want to do. Setting goals and finding projects that can make an impact. Looking for the products and technologies that make sense for our business.”
Company’s most significant sustainability-related accomplishment so far: “Infusing the culture of sustainability into every management team.”
Company’s most significant sustainability-related challenge: “An increasing part of our expense is waste water costs. That really seems to be something that has gone up in price. We see that as an increasingly important challenge.”
BOSTON—Since 1989, longer than almost every other hotel company on the planet, the Saunders Hotel Group (SHG) has been taking serious steps to minimize its environmental impact. What first began with office paper recycling has evolved to a long list of actions the company takes each day. For its efforts the company has received international recognition and saved millions of dollars.
Helping to lead SHG’s green efforts the last two years has been Scot Hopps, environmental program manager. Along with Tedd Saunders, SHG’s chief sustainability officer, and Megan Falkenberry, environmental program coordinator, Hopps makes sure that everything possible is being done to save energy, water and reduce waste at the six managed hotels in which SHG has an equity stake.
Hopps says not two of his days are the same. “While my office is in The Lenox Hotel, every day I am on site at one of our properties. I could be meeting with a vendor, conducting an energy audit, or changing a light bulb.”
One recent project was at The Lenox Hotel. “We have a very historic feel there with decorative candelabra bulbs,” Hopps says. “LED technology did not seem to match that color. The vendor created a light for us. The switch from 40-watt incandescents to 5-watt LEDs will pay for itself in one year.”
On the Hunt for Savings Opportunities
Hopps is always on the hunt for ways to save. He mentioned using an infrared camera to help identify hidden problems—missing insulation or improperly connected ductwork, for example. Likewise, associates at each hotel, as part of an Eco Check program, consistently go through guestrooms to make sure green initiatives are being carried out.
Hopps overseas the green teams at each hotel. Typically, it is the general manager and operational managers who participate but line-level staff are also involved at a couple of properties.
Timing his department’s green projects with those larger ones going on in each hotel is one of Hopps’ challenges. Directing purchasing toward local vendors, when possible, is another. As part of SHG’s Sustainable Purchasing Policy, preference is given to companies that are within 100 miles of the hotels or that have 50 percent of materials harvested, processed, or extracted within 500 miles. Preference is also given to those companies that have products that are Energy Star rated, that are part of the EPA WaterSense program, and that have products that are Green Seal or Fair Trade certified.
‘Boots on the Ground’ Approach
According to Hopps, he uses a “boots on the ground” approach to implementing each hotel’s commitment to sustainable business practices. He has helped hotels develop quantitative long-term reduction goals along with realistic, ROI focused opportunities to achieve those goals. His operational experience within hotels helps him evaluate opportunities and communicate the benefits to a variety of stakeholders, including owners, investors, general managers, line-level staff, and current and future guests.
Hopps finished his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, and has a Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from UMass Lowell. He previously worked with a construction company, designing and installing renewable energy systems. Prior to that, he worked in all areas of luxury hotel operations, from overnight bellman to hotel manager, and everything in between.
What he enjoys most about his job, Hopps says, is “teaching and learning.”
“I have a passion for dealing with people,” he says.
SHG was just recognized yet again for its green efforts—this time topping the hotel sector in Climate Counts’ sixth annual report which rates major consumer brands on their approach to climate change. (See article.)
To learn more about the Saunders Hotel Group’s green initiatives, click here.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
