July 22, 2026 | From the Hotel Interactive Newsroom
Savannah, Ga. — Sustainability in hotel design can be easy to promote and harder to execute. Its real impact often shows up in decisions that guests may never notice, such as reinforced millwork edges, climate-appropriate fabrics, sourcing routes and materials selected to withstand years of use.
That broader view laid the groundwork for “Where Design Trends Meet High Level Sustainability Strategy,” the Day 2 executive discussion at BITAC Purchasing & Design Summer 2026. The event brought together hospitality professionals July 12-14 at the JW Marriott Savannah Plant Riverside District in Savannah, Ga.
Cody Adent, president of Vibrant Management and a frequent BITAC participant, moderated the discussion. Panelists were Robert Laschever, AIA, principal at Cauhaus Design, and Jennifer Smith, director of interior design at RAD Architecture. The panel examined sustainability in terms of durability, maintenance, environmental context and the gap between what guests perceive and what a property is actually doing.
Lessons Learned
The session opened by revisiting the question that began the previous day’s discussion, “BITAC Purchasing & Design: Overcoming Supply Chain, Shipping and Warehousing Delays While Advancing Cost-Per-Key Performance”: What design decision had each panelist regretted, and what would they do differently today?
Laschever recalled allowing a project to proceed without the usual shop-drawing review because he was confident in the quality and detail of his firm’s documents.
“Our drawings are so good. The details are so good. Don’t worry about it. You can just dive right in, save that time, whatever,” he recalled telling the owner. “Big mistake.”
The problem reinforced the importance of the planning and coordination discussed during the previous day’s session, he said.
“When you get a little overconfident about your work and you skip processes, bad things happen.”
Smith said she had experienced a similar failure when millwork moved forward under a compressed schedule and ultimately had to be remade. She also said her approach to design has changed over 14 years, with greater attention now given to whether products will remain functional and attractive well beyond installation.
Laschever connected those lessons to the pressure that designers can feel to accommodate unrealistic schedules. Experience, he said, makes it easier to tell a client that proper detailing and coordination will require more time rather than promising a deadline that cannot responsibly be met.
Adent offered his own example from a renovation at a property in Zion National Park, where outdoor tables and chairs looked good when installed but warped after one season. Replacing them underscored how a product’s suitability for its environment affects cost and sustainability.
Sustainability Beyond Labels
As the panel moved into the broader topic, Laschever described sustainability as a concept that can encompass renewable and maintainable materials, energy efficiency, labor and hotel operations. He also distinguished between visible sustainability messaging and the work happening behind the scenes.
“The perception of what sustainability is and what the reality is can be two very different things,” he said.
Smith agreed that green design and LEED-certified design can become shorthand for a much wider set of considerations. For hotel owners and operators, she said, sustainability can involve how a property is maintained, how it conserves water and energy and how frequently materials must be repaired or replaced.
Some of the most effective durability measures may receive little guest attention, Laschever said. Reinforced edges on millwork or protective details at vulnerable corners can reduce damage, but owners may question the added upfront expense because those features do not create an obvious visual impact.
“Some of the details that provide the greatest sustainability are almost invisible to most people,” he said.
That makes life-cycle cost an important part of discussions with owners. Laschever acknowledged that ownership strategies vary, including whether an investor intends to hold or sell a property, but he said better-performing materials can preserve value in either case.
“In the long run, you will save money,” he said.
Nature as a Design Guide
The discussion then turned to biophilia, which Laschever described as a connection between people and nature through elements such as natural materials, plant life, daylight and views.
“It basically means a relationship of people to nature, essentially bringing in something natural, organic, you know, of the earth,” he said.
Laschever said the connection between biophilia and sustainability may sometimes be conceptual rather than direct. Even so, visible natural elements can help guests recognize and support ideas related to renewable materials and environmental responsibility.
For Smith, nature is central to her work because most or all of her projects are in the Caribbean. Rather than competing with a destination’s landscape, she said, the design should support it.
“I cannot compete with nature,” Smith said. “So, my whole design philosophy is I’m just going to design to support that.”
That approach can also produce interiors with greater longevity. Smith said designs rooted in a destination and its natural setting are less dependent on short-lived trends. She also considers locally appropriate woods, including mahogany and teak, that can perform well in the environment where they are used.
Laschever connected that practice to contextualism, or designing a property in relation to its surroundings and local culture.
“If you’re contextual, and if you know where your project is and you’re connecting to it, it’s great for guests,” he said.
Adent pointed to the event venue as an example. Large windows gave attendees views of container ships and a riverboat, adding a sense of place that would have been lost if the room had been closed off from its surroundings.
Perception and Practice
Returning to the distinction between perception and measurable action, Laschever said hotels may use sustainable products that guests do not immediately recognize. Recycled rubber flooring in a fitness center, for example, may support a property’s environmental goals without looking dramatically different from another flooring product.
“The perception has to be there,” he said. “People have to have an understanding. They have to care, and want to support it.”
Education and communication can help guests understand why certain products or operational practices are in place, he said. At the same time, the underlying environmental performance must be real rather than limited to promotional messaging.
Designing for Demanding Environments
Nowhere is that gap between labels and lasting performance more visible than in the extreme conditions Smith designs for. Smith said the Caribbean’s sun, salt air, humidity and heat shape nearly every specification decision she makes. Salt air can rapidly corrode materials, while intense light and weather exposure affect fabrics and furnishings.
“You have to be really particular about the materials that you use,” she said. “I’ve gotten so far as to specify exactly the type of thread that they use to make the pillows.”
Thread composition can determine where outdoor cushions fail, she said, making small components important to the life of the finished product. The deeper she goes into those details, Smith added, the greater the longevity of her projects.
Laschever noted that island projects also create sourcing and labor challenges because many materials must be imported. Smith said she evaluates where products can be obtained, the routes they will take and how many times they may change hands. Shorter, more direct sourcing routes can reduce transit time and the risk of products being damaged and replaced.
She said working on islands also creates an immediate awareness that resources are finite. Properties are surrounded by people, water and nature, which can make the consequences of material and operational choices more visible.
The Roles of Brands and Manufacturers
Those same pressures extend beyond individual designers, Laschever said, as brands and manufacturers absorb more of the sustainability burden themselves. Brands are actively requesting greater attention to sustainability, he said, even when the design team is not responsible for all of the related tracking and documentation. He cited a program he identified as MindClick as one example of how materials and manufacturers may be evaluated.
“The manufacturers I think are the ones that are carrying a big part of the burden of this right now,” he said.
Manufacturers have environmental and business reasons to reduce waste, Laschever said. He described wood-product companies collecting scraps, chips and dust for heat or for use in furniture, artwork and other products. Those practices can extend the value of materials that previously might have been discarded.
Brands also want guests and the wider market to recognize that they are acting responsibly, he said. That creates a balance between perception and the pace at which large organizations can implement changes across their portfolios.
Specification Informed by Failure
Smith returned to the cost of poor product selection with an example from a hotel penthouse in Turks and Caicos. Outdoor loungers looked worn, and a housekeeper told her the cushions had been replaced only six months earlier.
“That’s unacceptable,” Smith recalled responding.
The problem suggested that the cushions had been made with materials unsuited to the setting.
“That means she’s not using the right foam, the right fabric, the right thread for this,” Smith said.
Smith contacted Sunbrella and the outdoor-furniture manufacturer, then researched the individual components to determine what could perform better. The process reflected the responsibility designers assume when they tell an owner that a replacement product will last longer.
Materials that Can Age Well
That same scrutiny of individual components, Laschever said, is also reshaping which materials designers reach for in the first place. Laschever identified increased use of wood as one of the clearest ways sustainability is influencing current design. Wood is being used in finishes, furnishings and structural applications, while some designers are reducing their use of acrylics, oil-based products and wall vinyl where those materials are poorly suited to the environment.
He also pointed to products made from repurposed materials, including lounge seating made with automobile seat belts and wall systems or furnishings made with fire hoses.
Smith added that wood can provide durability along with renewability.
“It’ll last for a really long time. Like if you actually take care of it,” she said.
She said owners and guests appear more willing to accept materials that develop patina and feel lived-in rather than expecting every surface to remain visually perfect.
Small Choices for the Guest
The panel then considered smaller design and operational decisions that can reduce water or energy use without diminishing the guest experience.
Smith recalled a Caribbean hotel that placed an image of women carrying water in a guest bathroom with the words, “Please conserve our water.” The message connected the request to the location and its resources.
It made guests aware of water use “without it being preachy,” she said.
Smith also described a client that uses controls near the guest-room entrance to let guests request service or decline towel replacement. Giving guests an immediate, private choice can encourage conservation without making them feel pressured during check-in.
Design and Sustainability Influence Each Other
Asked whether sustainability will drive design or design will continue to drive sustainability, Laschever said the relationship works in both directions.
Technology and new materials can give designers options they did not previously have. In other cases, a design goal, such as reducing plastic use, creates demand for manufacturers to develop a more sustainable way to achieve it.
“Sustainability is a thing, and it can affect and invite design to respond,” he said.
Designers, manufacturers, brands and operators will continue to influence one another as new products and expectations emerge, Laschever said.
“It’s really a back and forth, and it’s both.”
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Jacqui Barrineau is editor at Hotel Interactive, an online trade publication covering developments, trends and thought leaders in the hospitality industry through curated news stories, contributed guest columns and event recaps developed from AI-assisted transcripts, which are manually reviewed and edited for accuracy, clarity and context.
