Hotel Pilot Progress

Today I met with the General Manager to discuss the hotel pilot progress for single-use toiletries, and where we should go from here. I was extremely worried after our “champion” within the business resigned recently, and therefore had no expectations especially when there’s still the uncertainty of COVID.

The only thing I knew for sure was that customers seemed to like the product based on feedback so far, and that my one Linkedin post about this pilot was getting a lot of traction.

Sample of customer feedback  card
Sample of customer feedback so far

So, I was pleasantly surprised when their GM still showed genuine interest in considering our products further.

Of course, they still need to do a detailed business analysis before making this decision as I know that we will cost a lot more than their current suppliers. However, they also would be the very first hotel in all of Australia (and probably beyond) to make this determined move to get away from single use plastic in this way.

How awesome would that be to start such a chain reacton in the industry!

In the meantime, I was really honest with him about what I need to do to make this happen too, and it all starts now with knocking on a bunch of doors to find the capital to make this a reality just in case they actually say yes.

There is obviously a lot of more work to do now. Still… here’s to the hotel pilot progress and my one idea that might actually achieve our goal of reducing plastic waste in a big way!

Hotel Pilot Update

Our hotel pilot has been running for about two weeks now, and feedback has been incredibly positive. So positive in fact that I’ve been pleasantly surprised, and I think the hotel has been too. Unfortunately, not everything is good news.

Our State Circle hotel amenities

This week, I’ve also learned that our “champion” within the company that helped us get this pilot off the ground has resigned. Given the uncertainty in this COVID world, I really have no idea where that will leave us after the pilot is completed.

I have a meeting with her boss set for next week. So, fingers crossed that all is not lost with her leaving.

I’ve actually thought about what I might do if we can’t secure a long-term contract with them right now, and my instincts say to keep going with the this product line regardless. It may just be that I need to wait out this pandemic.