How Six Senses Has Become Synonymous With Eco-Luxury Hospitality
Photo by: Six Senses Ninh Van Bay
The Bangkok-headquartered Six Senses is an award-winning hotel, well-known for its uniquely sustainable hospitality.
The brand is synonymous with an eco-chic design that is authentic and timeless. Their properties are in harmony with surrounding natural and cultural landscapes..
Since founder Sonu Shivdasani sold Six Senses in 2012, now under the IHG ownership, the brand has expanded to 22 properties across 17 countries. It has become one of the most desirable hotel brands with discerning Asian travelers.
Why it matters
It pays off for a hotel brand like Six Senses to operate at the highest level of sustainability.
Six Senses has set the standard for it means to be a sustainable hotel brand.
Its properties gain some of the world’s best prestigious sustainability recognitions including HICAP, and also contribute to Cornell University’s Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking program that compares their performances against a global dataset of their peers.
The brand has more properties in the Asia-Pacific region than any other parts of the world.
In 2022, Six Senses gained 14 awards by Condé Nast Traveler Readers including the Top 2 Resorts in Asia.
Also in 2022, Six Senses topped LTI – Luxury Travel Intelligence ranking for the third year in a row.
This ranking measures 128 touch points relevant to a brand’s performance and ability to deliver its passion, commitment, ethos and values, quality of its management and staff, and continuing investment in new properties and refurbishing existing ones.
Six Senses enjoys today’s successes thanks to its founder’s out-of-ordinary vision that has been executed with precision over the years.
What Caught Our Eyes
When it comes to sustainability, people, planet, and prosperity are the 3 major areas of measuring and evaluating impact.
PEOPLE
A wellness and education advocate
Launched in 2019, Mission Wellness aimed to create a sustainable and supporting workplace culture, emphasizing on the wellness of every host (e.g. team member). All activities are centered on the eight dimensions of wellness.
The mission is host-run (e.g. employee-run) and comprises activities to support team members in achieving optimal well-being.
Every property of Six Senses has a Director of Sustainability, a key executive leadership role, to ensure seamless integration of sustainability practices into every aspect of a hotel.
Beyond internal teams, Six Senses also invests in apprenticeship programs to develop the next generation of hospitality leaders in communities where the properties operate.
A wellness-centered guest experience provider
Six Senses signature spa offers a layered approach to wellness with treatments that go beyond the ordinary for adult guests.
The Climate Warriors program provides the children fun and tangible eco activities such as soap making, turtle rehabilitation, tree planting, and fashion program shows using recycled materials.
For example, Six Senses Zighy Bay’s Sense of Oman is the sultanate's first guest experience program that centers on connecting well-heeled and well-meaning guests with the Omani female entrepreneurs for hands-on experience of traditional pottery making.
PLANET
An environmental champion in and out of the properties
Since 2017, Earth Lab has served as the sustainability hub at every Six Senses property to carry out its concerted efforts to:
Create a fun and engaging space, where waste is transformed into wealth, to share and educate hosts and guests on different recycling opportunities, in line with Six Senses goals of Plastic Free and Zero Waste operations
Enable The Sustainability team to track and report all waste generated by different categories on a monthly basis
Reduce energy consumption via a cross-departmental Energy Conservation Committee
Allow accurate tracking and reporting of all Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions on a monthly basis
Build an organic garden at every property to produce and source food locally to minimize food miles
Support communities and ecosystems via property-led initiatives to protect land and sea environmental assets from Vietnam to Maldives.
Six Senses’ Sustainability Fund stipulates 0.5% of the total revenue of every property to be invested in sustainability initiatives externally within its geographic jurisdiction to support local communities via healthcare, educational, and environmental projects.
Photo by: Earth Lab at Six Senses Ninh Van Bay
PROSPERITY
An inclusive and transparent communicator
Centered on the “sustainability stories based on facts not fiction” approach of communications, Six Senses makes it easy for holiday-makers to learn about both the brand’s and each property’s sustainability initiatives on its major social media platforms.
The brand’s properties across Asia unreservedly share their sustainability initiatives with specific examples and highlighting benefits.
Using culturally appropriate language aside, what gives their audience a pause to mindless scrolling on social media are stunning images that showcase a good mix of guest experiences and the hosts working behind-the-scenes to deliver the brand’s sustainability commitment.
A visionary hotelier
Six Senses are introducing at least 7 new hotels from 2022 to 2024 including the highly anticipated opening in Galapagos.
Many experts suggest that this expansion is possible thanks to Six Senses’ bold move of joining IHG to leverage the UK-headquartered hospitality group’s financial firepower.
With these properties located in some of the world’s unique destinations, the brand commits to build them with a very high level of care for the planet and community.
This is a clear sign that nature-led and sustainability-driven hospitality brands like Six Senses continue to see higher demand from the travelers.
Let’s zoom out for key takeaways
Six Senses’ commitment to going above and beyond to achieve its vision is a key to success in its sustainability journey.
“[For] sustainable well-being to work…it has to be honest and championed with care. Perhaps this authenticity is what guests appreciate the most.” - Neil Jacobs, Six Senses CEO.
Good sustainability practices make good business sense.
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