Rosewood hotel group affirms its commitment to supporting both people and planet through the Brand-wide rosewood impacts program
22 June 2023
Driven by a sense of purpose to inspire, enrich, and positively impact both people and the planet, Rosewood Hotel Group is proud to announce a brand-wide program, Rosewood Impacts. Rooted in a mission to empower people across the brand’s entire ecosystem and embrace a sustainability approach that puts circular hospitality at the core of all Group business, Rosewood Impacts represents the latest expression of the company’s ongoing commitment to supporting its global communities. Having set tangible goals in the fields of sustainability, opportunity employment, volunteering and more, the comprehensive initiative champions consequential policies and programming under two distinct pillars: Rosewood Empowers and Rosewood Sustains. While social change and sustainable innovation have long been guiding priorities for the brand, Rosewood Impacts is both a recognition of how far the Group and industry have already come and a formal declaration of future efforts.
“At Rosewood Hotel Group, we are wholly committed to being responsible and charitable community leaders. We are proud of the work that our properties and corporate entities have been able to accomplish over the last forty-plus years of operations, but firmly maintain that we must do more,” says Sonia Cheng, Chief Executive Officer of Rosewood Hotel Group. “With Rosewood Impacts, we not only champion the exemplary efforts being made across our organization but set new benchmarks for positive impact that will propel us forward to a more sustainable and equitable tomorrow.”
Rosewood Empowers
Rosewood Empowers encapsulates the group’s belief that equal access to opportunity is the key to uplifting communities. To this end, Rosewood is dedicated to:
- Opportunity Employment, seeking talent from underserved groups and extending support and resources to those facing barriers in their careers.
- Uplifting Livelihoods by engaging in local hiring, sourcing, and partnerships to strengthen economies, address inequality, and build community resilience.
- Education, empowering communities through financing education and upskilling.
- Investing in its People and their professional growth, well-being, and personal development and committing to an equitable, inclusive, and diverse workplace.
- Empowering Guests to both share in and help shape the brand’s impact journey.
Through all Empowers programs and initiatives, Rosewood’s A Sense of Place® philosophy ensures that the brand’s efforts speak to and support the communities and environments wherein each property sits. An exemplary case study is Rosewood Mayakoba’s work with Centro Educativo K’iin Beh, a non-profit school in the Riviera Maya, Mexico. With a mission to support not only the hotel employees who needed adequate schooling for their children but the larger community, the resort raised and reallocated the resources required to reopen the school in 2017, after a number of challenges threatened its ongoing operations and forced it to temporarily shut its doors. Today, the school welcomes over 300 students, all of whom receive economic support for tuition and supplies through Rosewood Mayakoba’s scholarship program. The resort brings guests into the charge through fundraising efforts and a special volunteer and donation program, “Padrino,” that ensures the continued development of the students. In Fall 2022, guests’ donations contributed to the development and launch of the center’s new High School, which will allow hundreds of local youth to continue their education.
In Asia, Rosewood Hong Kong is committed to uplifting local livelihoods through several community-driven partnerships. The hotel champions Rosewood Hotel Group’s collaboration with the Hong Kong Vocational Training Council, which offers exciting opportunities for local youth to gain first-hand experience at various hotels managed by Rosewood in Hong Kong, mainland China and overseas. The program aims to nurture a new generation of industry talents and broaden their global vision, and to-date Rosewood Hong Kong has provided hundreds of internship hours to students which are integral to their curriculum requirements. Rosewood Hong Kong’s commitment to the local community is further realized through the recent launch of BluHouse, Rosewood Hotel Group’s first restaurant inspired by the concept of a business-with-purpose. BluHouse is committed to co-creating neighborhood resilience through donations, employment, and impactful experiences in support of underserved groups in Hong Kong. The property has pledged 1% of revenue towards this mission, and the restaurant also operates under the principle of Opportunity Employment which offers employment to members of underserved communities to close the opportunity gap.
Rosewood Sustains
Rosewood Sustains showcases a commitment to growing Rosewood’s lifestyle ecosystem responsibly and protecting the environment for future generations. From pursuing carbon neutrality, to engaging in regenerative practices, to eliminating waste by driving the evolution of circular hospitality, the Group is committed to embracing sustainability across all parts of the business and operations and has set ambitious goals with this mission in mind. These include diverting 70% of waste away from landfills and incinerators to more renewable resources, reducing energy use and water consumption by 25%, and eliminating 100% of guest-facing disposable plastics across the portfolio, all by the year 2025. The group has also pledged to attain a 50% carbon-neutral status by 2035 and complete carbon-neutral status by 2050.
An indisputable environmental steward, Rosewood São Paulo is the center point of the Cidade Matarazzo Complex – the largest upcycling project of a century-old property in Brazil. Supported by a dedicated solar farm as well as collaborations with local government agencies, the hotel achieved its mission for 100% of its energy supply to be fully sustainable in early January 2023, less than a year after opening. This will amount to an estimated savings of 17.342 tons of CO2 emissions annually. Rosewood São Paulo also vows to run a waste management program where 100% of all solid and organic disposables will be recycled and reused, and the property houses a biodigester and glass crushing machine to minimize having to outsource these sustainable measures.
In The Bahamas, a nation of islands with 95% of its territory underwater, Rosewood Baha Mar is preserving the pristine marine environment off Nassau’s Cable Beach through its partnership with The Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) and educating the next generation of Bahamians and visitors on how to protect coral reefs. Guests are invited to take a hands-on approach through Rosewood’s Citizen Science Program, where they can enjoy a snorkeling adventure with experienced ocean guides, with 100% of the proceeds going to BREEF. They can also adopt coral fragments to plant within the surrounding waters and volunteer for local beach clean-ups with the organization.
At the forthcoming Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort, opening on the Big Island of Hawai‘i this summer, the brand’s principles of circular hospitality, operational sustainability, and environmental stewardship come together in a way that ensures both the health of the environment and the longevity of culture. A commitment to the environment is evident throughout the entire property, which has been designed for LEED Gold Certification and is powered by 100% solar energy, while an on-site cultural center provides both visitors and locals with perspective into the rich natural and cultural significance of the surroundings.
“Rosewood Hotel Group is passionate about driving the hospitality industry’s circular evolution to preserve and regenerate the environment while simultaneously uplifting our communities,” says Mehvesh Mumtaz Ahmed, Vice President of Social Impact for Rosewood Hotel Group. “Understanding that our progress towards these goals has a direct impact on the long-term viability of the planet, our efforts can no longer be secondary, but must sit at the forefront of everything we do. Rosewood Impacts has been developed to promote sustainability and social change across the entirety of our operations and empower our people to serve as stewards within their communities, as well.”
Both Rosewood Empowers and Rosewood Sustains have been designed to work in harmony together, representing the overall principle that true impact is the most powerful when the social and environmental are considered holistically. Through this framework, the brand is able to measure its success and continue to set ambitious benchmarks. Rosewood is proud of the advancements the entire group has made towards the Rosewood Impacts mission, but recognizes that more must be done, and is evolving every part of the business and operational strategies with this in mind. With Rosewood Impacts at the leading edge, Rosewood Hotel Group looks to the future with optimism.
About Rosewood Hotel Group
Rosewood Hotel Group, a privately owned company, is one of the world’s leading global lifestyle and hospitality management groups. It encompasses four brands: ultra-luxury Rosewood Hotels & Resorts®; upper-upscale New World Hotels & Resorts; Asaya, an integrated well-being concept; and Carlyle & Co., a modern and progressive private members club. Its combined hotel portfolio consists of 44 hotels in 20 countries with more than 30 new properties currently under development.
