‘Net-zero hotels’ are something no one had heard of ten years ago, but now an increasing number are redirecting their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint and achieve this gold standard in hospitality sustainability. While this is an encouraging step - you might call it a breath of fresh air - the wider environmental challenges facing the hotel sector remain stark.

According to the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s Global Hotel Decarbonisation Report, the sector must reduce its emissions by two-thirds by 2030 and 90% per room by 2050 if it’s to contribute to the goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. These ambitious numbers indicate that while there are some eco-friendly outliers, there’s still plenty of work to do.

Sustainability challenges facing hotels

Despite the dramatic increase in consumers seeking sustainable travel options, it’s still proving difficult for eco-minded guests to find truly green accommodation. The most recent UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai (2023) ended with a clear consensus that more must be done to limit global warming to 1.5oC by 2050, so why is the hospitality industry seeming to drag its feet?

Multiple internal and external barriers prevent sustainability adoption

A study of small hotel operators in Ghana found several internal and external barriers that are preventing hoteliers from making sustainability changes. While the study focuses on hotels in this developing region of West Africa, the results shed light on the broader issues and complex challenges that hoteliers face.

The main factors that prevent hotels from adopting and implementing sustainability measures are:

Internal barriers

  • Financial constraints: high operational costs, seasonal fluctuations, the cost of training, maintenance costs
  • Hotel staff: Negative attitudes, negligence, wasteful practices, frequent turn-over and unreliability among hotel staff members.
  • Understanding: A lack of education and awareness about the benefits of sustainability practices, attractiveness to customers, marketing, and strategic management principles.

External barriers

  • Seasonality: Seasonal fluctuations in occupancy rates, and particularly the low rates of patronage off season, make it difficult to invest in eco-friendly improvements.
  • Decision-making power: Interference in managerial decision-making by hotel owners who may be uninformed or unconcerned.
  • Regulatory: Compliance with environmental regulations can also be burdensome, with the requirement to obtain permits for renewable energy installations adding cost and complexity to sustainability initiatives.
  • Suppliers: Exploitative actions by suppliers who are profit-oriented and don’t care about sustainability, such as outrageous prices.

Improving an existing hotel has limitations

Another significant sustainability challenge facing the hotel sector is that achieving net zero requires hotels to take a holistic view of their emissions. Many only consider the harm caused by their day-to-day operations, but much of a hotel’s harmful emissions are embodied within the building itself. In fact, 30-70% of a hotel’s carbon footprint consists of emissions produced in the hotel’s construction, ongoing maintenance, refurbishment, and eventual demolition.

This reality leaves hotel operators with a key decision - should they demolish and rebuild the hotel with sustainability at its heart or improve what already exists? Building new, ultra-green hotels is expensive. Therefore, in terms of sustainability, many hotels have little choice but to make improvements to an existing property and retroactively renovate to improve its energy efficiency. Retrofitting can lead to significant improvements, but there are limits to what can be achieved within the existing infrastructure and with a limited budget.

Climate change risks are not seen as critical

Despite the forecasts, external pressure, and growing customer demand for sustainable practices, many hotel operators don’t see the potential risk of not complying with the sustainability agenda as critical.

According to a recent survey by Deloitte, only 39% of hotel operators believe non-compliance with sustainability issues represents a risk to their business over the next three years. This fact suggests that governments and regulators must do more to compel the industry to take action.

Why sustainability represents an opportunity for hotels

Despite the challenges of adopting sustainability measures, it also represents a tremendous opportunity for hotels. There’s no doubt that the future of the hospitality industry is green. A survey by Booking.com found that 83% of global respondents believe more sustainable travel is vital, with 49% believing there aren’t enough sustainable travel options and 53% saying they get annoyed when a hotel prevents them from being sustainable, for example, by not providing food waste or plastic recycling facilities.

The most environmentally conscious consumers - Millennials and Gen Zs - are quickly becoming the dominant market force in the travel industry. So acting now, despite the challenges, and getting ahead of the curve can bring significant future rewards.

Sustainable solutions for hotels

These are the practical sustainability solutions that hotels can implement to minimize their environmental impact and guide their journey towards net zero.

Energy efficiency

Energy accounts for just 3 to 6% of a hotel’s budget but produces roughly 60% of its carbon footprint. For that reason, making energy efficiency improvements is a good place to start.

Heating and cooling, hot water, ventilation, and lighting are the biggest energy consumers in hotels. To improve the efficiency of these systems, hotels are moving beyond LED lighting and occupancy sensors and switching to automated energy management systems. They include real-time monitoring and dashboarding solutions that track energy usage, identify areas where energy can be saved, and provide real-time reporting to optimize usage.

As well as sustainability advantages, energy management systems lead to lower consumption costs. Hotels can also switch to smaller, more efficient heating and cooling systems that reduce wear and tear, use less space, and create more comfortable guest environments.

Renewable energy sources

Hotels should also think about where their energy is coming from. Onsite solar and wind are popular power-generating options. However, many brands are thinking outside the box and entering into large-scale agreements with renewable energy providers that use everything from biofuel to hydrogen fuel cell technology.

One hotel in Japan even uses plastic and food waste to power a hydrogen fuel cell generator that produces enough energy to meet its requirements while reducing its CO2 emissions by 200,000 kW annually.

Water usage

This issue is one of the most difficult and most urgent for the hospitality industry. Many countries with the highest predicted levels of water stress for the coming years are also forecast to see the greatest tourism growth, putting hotels at the forefront of the critical battle for sustainable water management.

Luckily, hotels can take many practical steps to reduce their water usage, most of which are relatively inexpensive and easy to implement.

Four easy, cost-effective measures that hotels can take to reduce water usage:

Install water meters and submeters: Determine the areas of the hotel with the highest water usage and target your conservation efforts effectively.

Use water-saving tools: Install low-flow taps, toilets, and showerheads for quick and simple fix.

Simple staff training: Instruct housekeeping and restaurant staff to use minimal amounts of cleaning products and water in their daily operations.

Guest awareness: Encourage guests to reuse towels and store towels in places where they stay fresh to reduce the amounts of water used for laundry.

You can also make more impactful changes. For example, installing a greywater system enables wastewater from sinks and baths to be treated and reused for toilet flushing. One hotel chain in India has installed rainwater harvesting ponds throughout its grounds that collect rain that falls during the monsoon months for use throughout the year.

Waste management

The management of waste represents a significant sustainability opportunity for hotel chains. Many hotels do not have a waste management plan in place. The result is an industry that produces 290,000 tonnes of waste annually, including billions of pieces of single-use plastic.

There are many simple steps hotels can take to reduce their waste:

Providing clearly labeled bins for different waste items allows hotel guests to recycle and dispose of items properly.

Minimizing single-use plastics is another vital step, with refillable water stations and compostable packing providing a sustainable alternative.

Partner with local charities and food banks to reduce food waste and positively impact the local community.

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Sustainable sourcing

There’s also a lot of unnecessary supply chain complexity in the hospitality industry, with goods and ingredients sourced internationally when sustainable alternatives exist nearby. For example, sourcing fresh, organic food from local producers reduces the harmful chemicals and emissions in the food supply. Other simple steps include buying eco-friendly cleaning supplies and purchasing sustainable furniture that’s made locally.

Several excellent solutions exist in this area, including Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM), Circular Supply Chains, and Sustainable Value Chains.

Embrace your sustainability journey and tell your story

Sustainability matters in the hospitality industry. It influences guest’s choices and impacts how they feel about your brand, so be sure to tell them about the steps you are taking. Whether it’s a video on your website or social media posts, keeping people updated and promoting your green practices will increase your sustainability performance and turn employees and customers into advocates for your brand.

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