Hotel sustainability in luxury lodges: Singita Safaris
Singita Safari Lodge
What are sustainable, eco-friendly hotels or safari lodges?
Georgina Pennington
My role at Singita is Creative Direction manager for the group. That also involves a lot of guest experience design. So it evolves from a lodge design role into a guest experience and creative direction role, really just looking after the tangible and intangible elements of the group.
Matt Morley
The Singita safari lodge brand has such a strong connection with hotel sustainability and conservation, and we really mean a connection to nature. How do you reflect that in sustainable hotels in terms of the guest experience in the spaces?
Preserving the environment means saving the hospitality industry
Georgina Pennington
Well, we're very privileged to have our lodges in incredibly unique, wide, vast spaces in Africa, which in itself speaks of nurturing the planet. Our vision of sustainable tourism and hotel sustainability is to preserve and protect large tracts of land for future generations.
Adopting sustainable practices in luxury hotel sustainability basics
So, you know, we partner with various conservation, funds and trusts in order to achieve that. And then within our lodges, you know, we try and create for our guests an experience that is contextual to where they are in the country, as well as to the land and the climate change and natural order of where that Lodge is.
Singita Safari Lodge
Biophilic design to bring the outside world in
Then within that space to really let the outside world be the hero. Our guests have come to Africa, whether that be our lodges in Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, or South Africa, and they've come to the bush so we try to bring the outdoor world indoors.
When guests do walk through our doors, they get a feeling of respect for the land, and respect for the prosperity of the land and the future of the land.
Furnish rooms sustainably
Matt Morley
And how far do you have to go in terms of thinking for example of color palettes and materials and integrating artworks?
Georgina Pennington
I think, it can depend very much on the lodge and on the country that we're in, but we place an immense amount of importance on Sustainability, and a huge respect to the land and the culture.
Strategically designed to help hotels start their sustainability journey
So if I can just explain the way address our design processes is - when we are building a new lodge, we will do a huge amount of research on the area, on the context and the culture, and really delve as deeply as we can into that.
And then we create what we call a design brief, but the very same time as the design brief is being generated, we generate the building and sustainability brief.
So, our design teams, when they get a higher level creative direction brief, they get a sustainability brief as what we can and cannot use in a particular country.
Singita Safari Lodge
sustainable initiatives
I think that that has really been very beneficial to the design teams, you know, because they're given a creative brief, they're given us sustainability and conservation brief too. And we've done that a couple of times.
All the design teams we work with are really conscious about using sustainable materials and products and of the building process being as sustainable as possible and being as conscious and as respectful of the land as possible.
Evolving the safari lodge aesthetics in line with sustainability initiatives
Matt Morley
How has your safari lodge brand evolved over the years that you've been in business, in the context of hotel sustainability? How much are you taking from the surrounding aesthetic and social aspects and how much is coming from the brand level?
Georgina Pennington
Yes, I think a lot of it is coming from the local level, we have a framework within which we work when we go for a new project or refurbishment. And we also have the same sort of design teams that we work with time and again. It's been a very symbiotic relationship over the years.
From a brand point of view, we've got a great understanding with the teams that we work with of what we both want to achieve. And then, you know, from a local point of view, yes, we really do take the context from the local nature, the local fauna, flora, the topography of the land, as well as the local cultures. For us hotel sustainability is a combination of these factors.
Singita Safari Lodge
Support local producers and vendors
So I can give an example as one lodge we actually redesigned a couple of years ago, it was based on tribal colors and tribal patterns.
And, and when we looked to do a redesign, and we didn't want to lose any of that, so we kept the pattern and we kept that identity, we just changed the color palette, so that it was more of a natural color palette, more of a bushy color.
And so we sort of tried to blend the two together. It was about reducing energy and water consumption all the way through the life cycle of these products, while factoring in carbon emissions in the hospitality industry too.
Reduce waste by keeping furniture in the loop
We very respectful of the furniture that we existing have existing and the architecture. So, you know, we won't flatten the lodge and redesign a lot just for the sake of it, we will really interrogate you know, what we can reuse, from an architectural point of view, furniture point of view, you know, maybe it's doing a paint take on something or reframing something, but be very conscious of waste, whether food waste from the kitchen or furniture waste from the interiors.
Singita Safari Lodge
Eco friendly materials in a luxury lodge
Matt Morley
Are there any points where you feel that you've come across where there's been a sticky moment where, you know trying to deliver one of some of the highest, quality guest experiences out there, and it's truly up there at the very pinnacle of the hotel industry and yet, you've got these requirements around respect for nature, are there any points where it can become problematic as a truly sustainable hotel lodge?
Georgina Pennington
There have been instances, yes, I think it's got a lot to do with the sustainability credentials of materials that we would like to use, we really try and get as many materials locally as possible without having to import, but sometimes locally, you just can't get what we need.
So, you know, we do a huge local trawl as to what we can find, and if there is something that we can't find, then we have to look at importing - that has been the biggest wall that we come up against.
Keeping the guest experience top of mind
Matt Morley
And obviously, the standards that the Singita hotel sustainability brand culture has set for itself are high, how much pressure around hotel sustainability is coming from the guest upwards?
And how much do you think is being driven back by the business culture? Are there certain points where you have to adapt or adjust things according to feedback from the guests?
Guest feedback in the safari lodge mindset
Georgina Pennington
Matt, we take our guest feedback very seriously. So I think it's a little bit of both, it's a little bit of, you know, being a leading African safari brand, and creating these guest experiences and also knowing where our lodges are, knowing the experience we can give our guests.
So, you know, over time, if there's been a recurrent piece of guest feedback, then of course, we will really study it and, and look to change, if need be.
We also spend a lot of time looking at hotel sustainability trends, hospitality industry forecasting, looking down the pipeline of hotel industry developments trying to understand what people will need from a holiday - we need to deliver a break from the world, we need to be true to our promise and in sending guests back to where they came from feeling shifted, feeling change and feeling rested. And that's really what we aim to do.
Wellness facilities and wellbeing in safari lodges
Matt Morley
You've touched on the idea of integrating wellness and wellbeing into the hospitality industry and safari lodge guest experience without wanting to lose touch with that connection to the planet, but then also focusing on people.
So in terms of the creative direction piece, how are you working with an increased interest in wellness within the guest experience?
The power of nature connection, biophilia and biodiversity in guest wellbeing
Georgina Pennington
Well, I think hotel industry wellness has been around for a while, as you well know with your wok running Biofit. And, and it's something that we adopted and have been working. You know, conclusive evidence shows nature is a healing force to healing power and people turn to nature to heal.
We are very privileged that we are in the middle of nature and these pristine pieces of wilderness so just by the very fact of where we are, our guests wellness journey is already halfway there. Hotel sustainability comes more easily in that sense.
Over and above that, we place a lot of importance and on food and beverage, on creating time and space within the guest experience to have their own time and space. So, we take passive activity as importantly as active activity.
And, you know, we really try and create environments where within the healing order of nature you will find yourself sitting, you may be inspired to meditate for the first time in your life, you may be inspired to do yoga.
Health, wellness and connectedness
Wellness in our safari lodges has evolved into health and wellness, and possibly health, wellness and connectedness. Initially, the connectedness between health and wellness, which is very important. And then connectedness with yourself, connectedness with nature, connectedness with each other.
So at Singita you don't go and receive wellness from a treatment room and then come back to your room and possibly lose whatever 'wellness' you just gained. We create an entire experience, consciously and subconsciously, tangibly and intangibly so that guests can feel it, the healing power of nature.
Forest bathing in hotel contexts
Matt Morley
You've got concepts like forest bathing in Japan and Korea, where it's almost like a Green Prescription where stressed out corporate workers are sent out into the forest for a few hours of guided walks. It's about meditation or moving meditation and just about time in nature as a way to remove anxiety, it seems to me you are offering Bush Bathing!
Georgina Pennington
Exactly Matt! So we are very lucky in that we are in nature. So you know, just going on a game drive in the morning, driving along, wherever you are, along the river by these huge trees, listening to the insects and the birds and animals in the distance, feeling the busha air on your skin.
You are present in that moment, it can feel like you're on that game drive for a very long time. It's incredibly peaceful and restorative.
Safari game drives as meditative wellness experience
You're exfoliating your auras, and kind of cleansing yourself of the clutter of the world. And everything that we've got to deal with and all the stimulation we've got every single day.
And then you're out on this beautiful green area with the blue sky, the hues of brown. It's incredibly gentle visual landscape, but at the same time, incredibly inspiring.
Biophilic design and wabi-sabi aesthetics in safari lodges
Matt Morley
It's fascinating, this concept of biophilic design basically tries to recreate some of the original source of nature in an urban environment where you're almost deliberately making things a bit wabi sabi, you know, where they have this kind of rough finish to make them feel more organic or deliberately seeking those design touches to try and bring some of that organic natural design into an urban context.
In a way I'm not sure we describe it as biophilic design what you do but I remember from the largest house that the trees in the landscape are almost brought into the architectural experience, it's completely integrated almost hard to distinguish where the lodge ends and nature against them.
Integrating luxury hotels architecture into natural landscape
Georgina Pennington
Definitely and and we know we try very hard with that as a luxury hotels group. So when we go into a build or redesign no tree can be cut down, and we'd fit in gently with nature as opposed to trying to make nature fit in with us.
We also try to completely blur the line between outside and inside. You know, where we do have inside it's generally very open or if it's not open, it's glass and we will bring plants and botanicals in inside where we need to, to fill the gap in a way.
And when you're in those glass boxes of a safari lodge, hotel guests can't see another hotel room, you really feel like you're in nature, even though you're inside your hotel room at the same time.
So it's incredibly important for us and, and also for our guests experience to be able to achieve that, you know, a lot of our guests come are international and you know, come from big cities. And when they come to us, we want them to feel the healing effects of nature.
Matt Morley
What's the team look like when you're going in on a refurb? Or a new development project? Do you have a landscaper? Is that even part of the discussion? Or is it more about sustainable architecture?
Sustainable architecture in safari lodge contexts
Georgina Pennington
We do have a landscaper and you know, really based on once you do a project, there was a bit of rehabilitative landscaping that needs to happen. However, our landscaper is very versed in indigenous and local plants.
So we only use indigenous local plants when we do need to landscape and the majority of our landscaping is restorative landscape after a build to get the earth back to what it needs to be.
We don't want to leave the earth scarred by us in any way. But to have a huge amount of respect for the natural order.
Leaving no trace with sustainable safari lodge design
Matt Morley
It reminds me of that concept of 'leaving no trace', touching lightly just being present, but also allowing nature to dominate in a way, which must be quite a quite difficult balance to get right. Have you ever looked at anything like Circular camps that can be moved on from location to location following the seasons?
Georgina Pennington
Yes, we do you have one similar one in, in Tanzania, where there is that concept where we have our tented camp will be up on in one area of land for six months, nothing is dug into the ground. So we have sort of little patches, where the tents sit on the ground or ground sheets, and then they're there for six months, and then we move them to another site.
So that site is completely rehabilitated, and can go back to the natural order. So we do have that in Tanzania, it's called Singita Explore. And that's an incredible experience, you're so close to the ground, it's the pinnacle of being immersed in nature, you wake up with the sun, you go to bed when the sun sets, woken up by somebody sort of just saying good morning to you.
Connection and conservation in a safari lodge experience
Matt Morley
That 'connectedness' is a really interesting addition in hotels, perhaps not immediately obvious, in addition to the conservation piece, but the idea of the connectedness of our world, but also how when we're disconnected from nature, in a forced way, we really sense that loss.
Importance of nature in sustainable safari lodges
Georgina Pennington
I think people are going to place a lot more importance on nature post-COVID in hotels, you know, I think that people have taken nature, the outdoors, being able to go and walk in a park for granted.
I think we're all realizing the power of being connected to nature, to yourself and to others, but also being able to disconnect when you need to.
If you go on to our hotels website we've got amazing things happening on SoundCloud. We've got guided meditations, we've got the sounds of nature, for those who can't get to nature.
And then also on our Vimeo page, we've got amazing videos where you can go in and experience the visual of nature for those people who are unable to make it to a lodge in person.