Sustainable Lodging’s Good News

Major progress is global

Good news in climate action seems scarce as hen’s teeth (to borrow a favorite saying of my grandmother’s) these days. As some business sectors and even some governments retreat from the ever-increasing advance of global warming, hospitality is standing its ground and even enhancing its defenses.

That’s the big takeaway from the latest Green Lodging Trends Report from Greenview, a leading provider of sustainability programs and data management for the hospitality and tourism sector. Based in Singapore and Washington, D.C., with teams in six countries, it works alongside top global hotel chains and smaller regional chains in STR segments ranging from economy and limited service to upscale and luxury resorts.

The report aggregates data from 20,000 hotels in 50 countries; 80 best practices were assessed. Here are key findings.

• Nearly nine in 10 of all hotels surveyed offer sustainable meetings and events.
• More than 90% are tracking carbon emissions, usually at least once a month.
• 91% have an action plan to reduce carbon emissions.
• 83% track energy consumption, and 77% have an action plan to reduce energy use.
• More than eight in 10 of all hotels track water consumption, and 45% have an action plan to reduce water use.
• 82% have an action plan to reduce waste.
• 80% use green cleaning products.
• More than nine in 10 of all hotels have replaced plastic mini toiletry bottles with alternatives like refillable dispensers for shampoo, conditioner, soap and lotion.

Read More: Going Beyond Green

More Findings

The good news continues.

• 63% have eliminated the use of plastic straws, and 67% have stopped stocking single-use plastic water bottles; luxury hotels lead in this latter category—two in five have removed them from guest rooms, F&B outlets and meetings and events.
• 96% have implemented a linen reuse program.
• 78% offer vegetarian menu options.
• More than half of all hotels offer guests opportunities to contribute to environmental and social initiatives; 95% report they communicate their sustainability efforts via their website.
• 83% donate leftover bathroom amenities.
• 66% divert most of their food waste.
• Virtually all hotels communicate their level of accessibility to guests and say that they are accessible to persons with physical disabilities and other special needs.
•  82% have initiatives to support the local community, with 77% showing preference for local suppliers in purchasing.

 Wait, There’s More!

Having a consistent, ongoing approach to sustainability requires more than occasional directives from hotel management. Overall, Greenview found, more than 60% of hotels do have a dedicated sustainability team. Interestingly, U.S. properties do not lead in this. The top three countries with such teams are the Maldives (100%), United Arab Emirates (93%) and Qatar (93%).

Read More: Case Study: How One Event Achieved Renowned Sustainability Accreditation

More importantly, nearly one in two hotels surveyed has achieved third-party sustainability certifications. The top three countries having these are Belgium and Denmark (both 100%) and Austria (93%). Preventing greenwashing is particularly a thing in the European Union, which has issued a Green Claims Directive aimed at enforcing third-party verification of environmental claims and setting strict guidelines for transparency.

Unmet Needs

Still, there’s always more work to be done. For example, only 18% of all hotels surveyed have installed sensors or key card switches to turn off energy in guest rooms when unoccupied. And less than a third of hotels currently offer EV charging stations for guest vehicles. Less than one in three have environmentally friendly pool water treatment systems.

Another need is in lighting. Almost a third of hotels say they do not use energy-efficient LED lighting. And only 6% have switched to renewable energy.

Finally, the hotel kitchen has plenty of room for improvement as well. Less than a third of all hotels buy at least half of their seafood from certified sustainable sources (by spend). And only one in five hotels purchases at least half of their F&B products from organic sources (by spend).

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