Hospitality Design - November 2017 - 74

perspectives

brand identity six senses
8+9. Ocean views and
treatment rooms set
within a dramatic hillside
landscape create a
luxurious, one-withnature setting for the Six
Senses Zil Pasyon in the
Seychelles, a collaboration
between London's Studio
RHE and the brand's inhouse team.

soon, circadian lighting. A wellness club that will
first launch in New York is also in the works.
Ultimately, she wants to encourage guests
to take micro steps into wellness as a "selfdirected, self-conscious choice," so they always
feel 100 percent. Highlighting the union between
planetary and personal health is something
Bjurstam deems essential. For instance,
discussing plastic and the polluting of oceans can
seem like a distant concept for some, "but when
we talk about the micro-plastic that's in our blood
because of this and how it's poisoning our bodies,
then it suddenly becomes more important."
Bjurstam says guests no longer only want to relax
on their vacation, but want to progress as well.
Six Senses, she says, has put itself out there as
"the stage for transformational experience."

8
9

Sustainable Measures

Chickens, goats, beehives, and still and sparkling
water served exclusively in glass bottles sourced
from reverse osmosis plants are signatures of the
brand. "We aren't 100 percent self-sustainable
yet, but we have more than just little herb
gardens. We allocate acres of land to food and
have permaculturists in most of the hotels," says
Jacobs. "People are more aware, conscious, and
mindful of what they're doing and how they're
behaving than they were five or 10 years ago.
We're perhaps a little bit ahead of the curve, doing
things that most hotel companies would not
consider part of their core business, whereas for
us, it is who we are."
Besides a "robust framework in place that we
use to measure sustainability," says Jeff Smith,
director of sustainability at Six Senses, one of
the biggest strides in this realm is Earth Lab,
which he describes as "almost a philosophy, and
a physical space at all our resorts dedicated to
engagement and education." Here, guests can
wander in and learn, in a DIY fashion, how
to make oil from coconuts that are "literally
falling from trees on the property," or even their
own toothpaste. "Those little tubes, they're not
recyclable. There's nowhere for them to go,
and it's not necessary. You can make your own
toothpaste, store it in a glass jar, and then wash
and reuse it. You've eliminated that piece of
waste from your life."

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November 2017 hospitalitydesign.com

Earth Lab, on one hand, teaches guests life
hacks they can bring home, but it also empowers
them along with community members and staff.
Smith says it's advantageous that Six Senses
doesn't abide by a one-size-fits-all ethos, allowing
for freedom within each property "because when
you're operating a hotel in Portugal compared to a
hotel on a tropical island in Southeast Asia, there
are different challenges for sustainability, and
there are different opportunities for it."
Local communities are among the greatest
resources to get around using a piece of plastic
or polluting technology, he says. He often
recommends that the team visit a remote
community's elders and ask them what they
used to do because nine times out of 10, there
is a healthy replacement that simply fell out of
fashion. In the Maldives, for example, the hotel's
staff, based on research, began tapping coconut
palms for syrup. Immediately, Maldivian hosts

recognized it, remembering their grandmothers
presiding over this lost art.
Sustainability funds are also in place at all
properties, with a percentage of revenue directed
toward programs supporting local issues such as
disadvantaged youth in Portugal and anti-turtle
egg poaching in Vietnam. "When our own hosts
see the hotel investing in the local community,
and our hosts are from that local community,
then they're going to invest back into the hotel.
It's no longer just a cold business relationship
and all three of those areas prosper from that.
It's special," he says. "Let's be well and let's
make sure the planet is well, and then we can
all be well. It's a no-brainer, but sometimes the
connection isn't made." Adds Jacobs: "As we look
to the future and how we can make a difference,
our focus on improving lives and caring for the
earth will remain critical to our mission and
values as a company. There is no alternative." hd

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Hospitality Design - November 2017

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