It’s been said that holiday makers suffer from ‘exceptionalism’ – people feel they are ‘good’
for 51 weeks of a year but can do what they want on holiday – the “I deserve it” mentality.
These cultural beliefs aren’t going away, so what can agencies and owners do to help guests
choose to align with their deeper values, and do the right thing, benefitting their own
experience and the planet.
As a self-catering agency we wanted to learn more about how to motivate our owners and
guests to support each other and participate in greener living on holiday.
Sustainability. “The S word”. It can be a lip-curling thing because global ‘doomerism’ has
taught us that it’s;
But we know that people care. And want to do something. There are so many statistics are
available now on climate anxiety (adults at 74% and teens at 83% in the UK from Oct 22
Census)
For any BCorp or company serious about doing the right thing, selling this sizzle can be one
helluva challenge.
How can we use our sense of play to innovate around holiday fun?
I’m still not a grown-up, and love a practical joke, so we dove in deep to this concept of
“Don’t mention the S word”….this lovely phrase, coined by Prof Xavier Font at University of
Surrey, whom we asked to train us and other industry folk earlier this year.
The short takeaway:
Stop telling people “do not” - instead breakdown sustainability into the specifics that people
care about: conserving nature, pristine places, fresh air, etc…
And angle comms’ on the fun side.
The long version:
Don’t use; amorphous guilt-inducing, altruistic and negative approaches – anything tells; do
less/don’t/threats etc
Instead sell the direct value that people will gain from doing/experiencing/choosing the
right thing).
Then do it with as much fun as you can.
Here are some signage examples we’ve been playing with:
For bedrooms:
“Sleep like a panda”
Sleeping in cooler air (18 degrees is best) has been proven to give you deeper REM sleep.
Keep your radiator on 18 for the best bed-zeds.
To switch away from chemicals in cleaning:
“We’re loving cleaning it cleaner”
Bicarb + lemons – all the way baby! Using eco-cleaning products, helps our team and guests
breathe the freshest air, and we’ve massively reduced our plastic and chemical use. And it’s
cheaper too! Granny would be proud!
A shower sign example:
30 secondos – Nice try buster. You just got your feet wet.
1 – Hmmm, did you even use the soap?
2.5 - Perfect – you even washed your halo too. Nice one!
3. – Wat’er you doing! Too much! Stop reading Harry Potter in here!
Another idea to see the S, is to use nostalgia for older folk:
Do you remember when…
The takeaway?
So wherever you are, keep it positive, keep it personal, keep it fun, and experiment.
We’ll be running a competition to ask our guests to improve our signs and participate in our
learning journey.
Whilst the issues are extremely serious, us humans are tricksy things, and getting us to
change our behaviours can be frustrating. Holidays are meant to be fun. So let’s work with
some of that.
Here's to growing up when we're mouldier.