Blog Post

Conscious Luxury Travel | 22 Jan, 2020 | Author: RARE - destinations and experiences


Time to put it out there.....


Being sustainable in a consumeristic universe is a tough journey and we have to open our minds to learning every minute. I have known some including myself who were born to thrift , and in a life that was neatly assembled to order, this was manageable and quickly translated to sustainable goals they inherently understand. I was born in a household that  believed in living with the barest minimum that is needed, till my mother took up a job and some more money came to the household. And then I began to make my own money and lived by the adage....have money will spend. How is this relevant to my journey towards sustainability ? Just that I was unaware of what I was doing. 

And then my first born began going to a progressive school and brought back this tag home...."Say no plastic". And this is when awareness set in. With RARE in 2004, my journey unfolded right there : I went from being unaware to believing that we can make a difference. And each one of us can make a difference, beginning exactly from where we stand. And then the big shift to choices. My mind and heart longs to spread out and join each and every movement, but for now I work on myself and use  RARE as a vehicle for change, within and without. Because of where I stand in business and amongst people.... I think a gentle campaign and advocacy to have the industry and travellers aware and inclusive is better than to take on an activists role and 'shame' people. 

As a marketing and communication company we have done this for a long time now through the concepts of our partner hotels. And we believe sustainability has to be relevant to the times and gently move away from excesses and become a mainstream attitude. To this futuristic goal RARE has begun to rephrase its business ideology to look at the following as a part of  'conscious luxury' parameters on the basis of which we have formed our community of hotels. 

Our parameters for sustainable luxury first begins with being conscious of the range of issues we can cover. Here is the first doable list and we add on as we go along. 


1. Measurable community impact
2. Conservation of nature and wildlife
3. Preserve built heritage 
4. Promote intangible heritage as local experiences 
5. Sensitive land and efficient resource utilisation 
6. Sustainable solutions and best practices ( watershed management, plastic usage etc.) 
7. Excellence in service, style and design

Here is what we pledge as we go forward : 

1. To become increasingly aware of our role for advocacy and hence introduce strict principles in the office and create process documents to share with others. 
2. RARE with its company principles through events has always worked towards green initiatives and we pledge to bring these values centre forward. 
3. Use our 'Hero' partners as role models to create transformations for others in the community. 
4. Work towards a scalable model to ensure that sustainability goals work towards mainstream transformations.
5.RARE will create avenues to lobby with government bodies through advocacy and conversations to facilitate policy change
6. Create Campaigns to help spread the word through corporate houses and schools.
7. All our documents will highlight the urgent need transformation to mitigate the stress on environment. 
8. Our event The RARE Showcase 2020, is aimed at bringing the industry to relook at the principles of luxury and bring about an attitude change. We are instituting an award to encourage this change among Travel Companies for running plastic free tours. 
https://rareindia.com/newsletter/24?fbclid=IwAR06njzMoyGkeGHx0KcJd7p5VpOoMW-hOCkOxEJAmv29OtlC-2AfrTmJXu0
9. Our Social Media and Media information reflects this urgency. 
https://rareindia.com/press-details/60
10. Our newsletters will be used as efficient communicators to work towards the above goals by highlighting initiatives and success stories that inspire. 

"Earth ka kuch karo, varna 'Unearth' ho jayega."
( Let's do something for the earth, before there is disaster.) 


Micheal Alexander | 30 Jun, 2020
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