The unseen side of sustainable hotels: labor, time, and care
When talking about sustainability in the hotel industry, the conversation almost always revolves around buildings, energy, water, or food. Work is rarely mentioned.
Perhaps because work doesn't look good in photographs. Perhaps because it's easier to measure kilowatts than human rhythms. Or perhaps because caring for people is the hardest part to make scalable.
At Gandum, sustainability never made sense if it was just about the material. It has always been—above all—a question of how we work.
Sustainability begins on time
The hotel industry thrives on long hours, split shifts, and constant availability. This is the case almost everywhere. For a long time, it was also the case here. But it quickly became clear that it made no sense to talk about caring for the land, food, or materials without considering people's time.
At Gandum, work began to be thought of in a different way:
more predictable shifts
less constant improvisation
more respect for rest
None of this is perfect. None of this is simple. But each adjustment had a direct impact on the quality of the space and the way it is experienced.
Taking care of the place requires continuity
A hotel is not a static object. It is an organism in constant use. Rooms need daily attention. Common areas need continuous maintenance. Cleaning is not a mechanical gesture, it is accumulated knowledge. When teams rotate too quickly, that knowledge is lost. Care becomes minimal execution. The details disappear. At Gandum, the commitment was clear: less turnover, more continuity. This means investing in conditions that make people want to stay—and be able to stay.
Guest comfort begins before arrival
Many guests mention something difficult to quantify in their reviews: the feeling of being welcomed, cared for, and respected. This does not happen by chance. The way someone cleans a room, sets a table, or responds to a request depends directly on how that person feels about their work. Operational sustainability is this: realizing that care is not demanded, it is created. There are no shortcuts here. Only time, training, and trust.
Work better to work less in the future
There is a persistent idea that better working conditions always cost more. Experience shows something different: they cost differently. Investing in stable teams reduces errors. It reduces wear and tear. It reduces constant replacements.
In the medium term, it also reduces invisible costs: redoing, correcting, explaining again, starting over. Sustainability, in this plan, means thinking beyond the monthly statement.
Care is not a department
At Gandum, there is no separate "sustainability department." Care permeates everything: architecture, cuisine, cleaning, reception, maintenance. This requires decisions that are less efficient in the short term. It requires saying no to certain accelerations. It requires accepting that not everything grows at the same pace. But it creates something rarer: consistency between discourse and practice.
A hotel made by people, not in spite of them
Perhaps the most invisible aspect of sustainability is this: recognizing that a hotel does not function despite people, but because of them. The walls may be made of earth. The food may be local. The materials may be natural.
Without well-cared-for teams, all of this quickly loses its meaning. At Gandum, sustainability does not end when the door to the room closes. It continues every day, in routines, schedules, conversations, and decisions that rarely appear anywhere else.
And maybe that's where it counts the most.