Looking Ahead

Hospitality brands launch environmental initiatives, luxe alternatives to Airbnb, and some of the best boutique hotels

- Kissa Castañeda

It has been a tough year for hotels, but many of them are trying to turn trauma into triumph by using this unexpected pause in their trade to investigate how they can change for the better.

Many hospitality companies are reaffirming their commitment to the environment. Case in point: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, which banned the use of single-use plastic bottles and straws in its properties long before those policies became common, and this year became one of the first signatories of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative led by the UN Environment Programme and UN World Tourism Organisation. Six Senses has pledged to be free of all plastics and to send no waste to landfill by 2022—an ambitious plan that is being rolled out at all Six Senses properties, including the soon-to-open Six Senses Shaharut in Israel and the brand’s first urban property, which is opening in New York next year.

Similarly, Banyan Tree’s Global Foundation has launched the Greater Good Grants. These will provide funding for projects that protect the environment or empower local people in countries where the hotel group operates.

Home for the Holidays

The fact that Airbnb, the world’s largest home-sharing platform, plans to go public in a pandemic year proves that the demand for holiday rentals is still strong. But it’s not the only booking service out there—here are some of our favourites

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