Location Solvers is a corporate partner and long-time supporter of Clean the World. In its efforts to bring greater attention to travel deals and rich information about lodging and meeting planning options for savvy consumers, Location Solvers also has a passion for sustainability.
It is this passion that led them to help support Clean the World.
Michael Jahn, CMP, managing partner of Location Solvers, was gracious enough to answer a few questions about his company’s support of Clean the World, and the reasons he feels this partnership will grow in the future.
How did you first hear about Clean the World?
About four years ago, Location Solvers began asking, “how can we make a positive impact on the world through our operations?” We started looking for ways to preserve the Earth’s resources and give a portion of our revenues to charitable donations such as Save The Amazon Rainforest Organization (STARO) and Metropolitan Touring Company, which makes efforts to protect and preserve the Galapagos Islands. Over two years, the decision to give annually quickly evolved, and we started to look for an organization that directly contributes to the sustainability of the hospitality industry.
After some research of organizations working in the hospitality industry, we found a soap-recycling organization that was in its nascent stage and its aim was to sanitize used hotel soap and send it to refugee camps in Africa. This concept of recycling a common waste product like soap struck us as something that could change the hospitality industry, but we also wanted to find something that also connected to our communities here in the United States.
Not long after, we read about Clean the World in a hotel industry newsletter, which highlighted how Clean the World collected and recycled soaps from hotel partners and distributed those soaps to communities abroad as well as those in the United States. We were also impressed by Clean the World’s desire to employ people in need of work and support social programs. These goals to support local employment and to improve sanitation to communities in the U.S and abroad really resonated with Location Solvers’ commitment to be a positive global steward.
How can Location Solvers work with Clean the World to grow together with a common purpose?
Location Solvers has an extensive network of hotels and sales contacts across the United States, both brand-name and independent hotels, which are always looking for ways to be more environmentally and socially responsible. Many are looking to develop programs to “green” their operations and they want to connect with non-profit organizations that work in the hospitality industry. We continue to share the story about Clean the World and the experiences that other hotels and our clients have had with implementing the soap-recycling program. And we’ll always serve as a liaison between and our hotel contacts and Clean the World to jumpstart new hotel soap-recycling programs across the United States.
In giving our time, energy and a portion of our proceeds to Clean the World, we hope that there will be growing awareness of consumers, hoteliers, and the general public about the products we use and the waste it creates. Something as simple as soap can have a big impact, both in terms of recycling, but moreso in providing soap to those populations that have limited access to sanitation. We hope our donations and time will help build critical relationships and awareness to support communities in need.
Some of the ways that our clients and hotel colleagues talk about sustainability and Clean the World’s mission is by talking about waste. Trash removal and its costs are a big target for managers to consider when reviewing the Clean the World recycling program. Others look to discuss ways to connect their meetings or events to a greater purpose. Even if the meeting content is unrelated to the environment or international development, meeting planners and attendees still desire to be part of something big and connect themselves to a greater cause.
Hotel initiatives that include putting up sustainability statements in guest rooms may also feature Clean the World as part of that property’s social and environmental commitment. We’ve not yet seen this with our hotel affiliates, but it would be a great way to start designing a standard Clean the World statement to share with each of the participating hotels to put in all their guest rooms. There’s so much that can be done to help Clean the World.
