The
Hospitality Alliance for Responsible Procurement (HARP) seeks to improve supply
chain logistics, collaboration, transparency and economies of scale with its
trading partners.
Five hotel companies — Accor, Hilton, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International and Radisson Hotel Group — two hospitality purchasing firms — Avendra and Entegra — and sustainable ratings agency EcoVadis have launched an alliance aimed at accelerating sustainability performance across the industry.
According to a news release, the Hospitality Alliance for Responsible Procurement (HARP) will work to improve supply chain logistics, collaboration, transparency and economies of scale with its trading partners.
“It is through partnerships and industry-wide collaboration that the hospitality industry can maximize its collective impact,” said Richard Eyram, chief customer officer at EcoVadis. “By joining forces, aligning focus and sharing best practices, HARP members can achieve positive outcomes that pave the way towards Net Zero targets and a more sustainable future.”
The HARP initiatives look to use the alignment of these companies to send a unified message to the supplier community and create significant chances in the industry. The partnership wants to bring a common voice, standard and platform around sustainability for the industry. Its goals include strengthening suppliers’ engagement rate and accelerating their performance improvement curve.
The companies in the partnership will use EcoVadis’ sustainability rating methodology, scorecards and improvement platform.
Innovative initiatives, based on solutions that have an impact on our core business, are crucial to achieving the sustainable ambitions that the hotel industry has set itself.
Caroline Tissot, Accor
“Innovative initiatives, based on solutions that have an impact on our core business, are crucial to achieving the sustainable ambitions that the hotel industry has set itself,” said Caroline Tissot, group purchasing director at Accor.
“Avendra understands that collaboration is critical to success in reaching sustainability goals. Our efforts with HARP help ensure we have a deep and wide pool of hospitality suppliers to meet our clients’ sustainability needs,” said Chip McIntyre, senior vice president of strategic sourcing for Avendra Group.
The HARP founding members have already collectively rated more than 2,000 suppliers for the start of the partnership. The plan is to increase the number of supplier ratings to gain insight into the sustainability performance of their supply chains.
“We firmly believe that collaboration is key to accelerate impact,” said Damien Calderini, Global CEO for Entegra. “We are convinced that we can make a significant, positive impact by improving sustainability all along the hospitality supply chain and sharing our best practices.”
In May, at its summit in Berlin, the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (SHA) unveiled a five-year strategy seeking a net-positive hospitality industry through several initiatives, including standardizing sustainability metrics. The SHA was founded over 30 years ago and includes Accor, Caesars Entertainment, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Wyndham Hotel & Resorts, and a dozen other global hotel and resort groups.