Meet Guido Bauer of Green Globe in Westchester

Today we’d like to introduce you to Guido Bauer.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
From the outset, I personally believed in the power of sustainability to bring change for the better. I directly invested in this belief and Green Globe is a now privately-owned company that provides all its services on a professional basis to tourism businesses from small eco-resorts in the rainforests of Belize, through to international chains including Club Med, Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts, and InterContinental Hotel Group, as well as many others.

Throughout my career, I have been heavily involved in the tourism sector, and in my view, this has really benefitted my role at The Green Globe. I began my career in the US where I was working in the travel industry which involved serving tourism businesses across the Caribbean. From early on, I became familiar with how important the Caribbean tourism sector is, and not only for the island nations who rely on the revenue, but also the US-based travel businesses that support the industry.

From my perspective, the key to all this success was clearly the protection of the core assets which were, and of course still are, the beautiful tropical destinations, their people and the hospitably they have to offer. Any disruption to that precious balance causes real damage to people’s livelihoods and their ability to conserve their natural assets and preserve their community.

For many years, Green Globe had been a leading brand in the Caribbean for both sustainability and certification, and the chance to take on this company and develop it into a truly global business was, looking back on it now, an amazing opportunity.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our success has been to maintain the core promise of Green Globe, which is to do good by assisting businesses with continuous improvement via sustainable management. At the same time, we want to ensure that we invest in our enterprise, to meet the challenges of industry and avoid the trappings of government assistance or NGO philanthropy.

From the time I took on ownership of Green Globe, I was told by colleagues within the travel and tourism industry that if sustainability was to be taken seriously, then we as a company had to be a sustainable business. So over the years, we have deliberately chosen not to seek funding from governments or NGO’s or be involved in ‘green projects’ whose lifespan is limited by project funding.

This economic decision has meant that we, like all other private businesses, have been in charge of our own destiny and need to rely on our capabilities and enthusiasm to maintain operations. In recent times, we have had to battle waves of skepticism from business and government factions who have fought against sustainability or triple bottom line as a management tool. With the current backlash against ratifying commitments made at COP21 in Paris, we have seen some national governments move to protect vested interests and stymie businesses from taking an enlightened approach.

Please tell us about Green Globe.
Green Globe is a certification company, which offers its membership a structured assessment of their sustainability performance. Typically speaking, our members are travel and tourism businesses and their supply chain partners. With Green Globe, our members can monitor improvements and document the achievements of their enterprise against our internationally recognized criteria of sustainable business practice.

Green Globe’s certification of these practices and the award of our globally recognized label, demonstrates to consumers, business partners and governments that these businesses are performing at the highest level with positive contributions to the local environment, economy and community.

Green Globe was conceived 25 years ago at the world’s first environmental summit in Rio de Janeiro. The standard that was developed which defines exactly what a sustainable business is, evolved over the decades and now underpins all green certification programs for travel and tourism worldwide. So we are very proud to have a strong heritage and continue to work with the best in the industry.

Pricing:

• Green Globe’s annual membership rates start at $750 for small businesses up to $5000 for large companies.
• Audit fees for independent verification range from $750 to $1500 depending on the size of the hotel or resort.

Contact Info:

• Address: 5230 Pacific Concourse Drive, Suite 102
  Los Angeles, California 90045
• Website: greenglobe.com
• Phone: 310-337-3000
• Email: gbauer@greenglobe.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greenglobe

Image Credit:
Green Globe

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