Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility practices in the Hotel Industry have been developing in a synergistic pattern that is reflected in the web pages and annual reports of many international lodging companies. In 2015 the United Nations revised the original 8 UN Millennium Development Goals to better the quality of life on the planet by 2015, establishing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) to be achieved by the year 2030. Reflecting the original Millennium Development Goals, the 17 SDG's include eliminating poverty and hunger, fighting climate change, improving world health, education and saving oceans and forests. READ MORE

When executed at the highest levels, sustainability is a win-win proposition for your lodging cleaning program. A successful program can cost effectively deliver clean, safe and healthy guest rooms, using efficient products that are simple for the housekeeping staff to use. Does this seem too good to be true? If so, let's review the historical approach, and then explore a framework for the systematic design of a sustainable lodging cleaning program. READ MORE

When Piazza Hospitality first started developing its h2hotel concept and design in Healdsburg in the mid 2000s, “green” properties were hardly as well-known as they are today. Architects tended to simply follow Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines, and most consumers weren't really clear on what “eco-friendly” meant. H2hotel's Eco-Friendly View Is All About You The idea of being earth-friendly seemed like something everyone could and should embrace, but bringing that vision into a reality consumers actually wanted could be challenging. READ MORE

193 out of 196 possible countries have agreed on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in 2015, 194 countries signed the Paris Agreement that includes a joint commitment to leave 80 per cent of known fossil fuel resources in the ground. These are signs of a paradigm shift that is happening right in front of our eyes. What does this shift mean for an individual hospitality executive in May 2017? Has it, or will it perhaps change the playing field dramatically? READ MORE

Discussions of sustainability in the hospitality industry have focused mainly on strategies at the level of energy-efficient and eco-friendly adjustments to operations and maintenance. These "tweaks" can include programs to reduce water usage, updating lighting to LEDs, campaigns to increase guest participation in recycling, and similar innovative industry initiatives. Often overlooked-not only by industry experts but even by hotel operators and designers-are possibilities for hotel design and construction that can make a property truly sustainable from the get-go. READ MORE

Utility costs are the second largest operating expense for most hotels. Successfully reducing these expenses can be a huge value-add strategy for executives. Doing this effectively requires more than just a one-time investment in efficiency upgrades. It requires ongoing visibility into a building's performance and effectively leveraging this visibility to take action. Too often, efficiency strategies center on a one-time effort to identify opportunities with little consideration for establishing ongoing practices to better manage a building's performance ongoing. READ MORE

Hotels brands have actively engaged in large-scale efforts to become more environmentally friendly. Individual hotels have made great strides on property. Many significant large-scale eco-initiatives are most easily built initially into the infrastructure and design of the building and surrounding areas. Given that the adaptation of these large-scale changes into the existing asset base is expensive and disruptive, hotels seek different ways to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. One way is to shift the focus from large-scale change to "small wins." Small wins can help a hotel create a culture of sustainability. READ MORE

As an industry we could add more sustainability to our benchmarking, as we benchmark the comp set for other hotel amenity and service attributes. Thus, our quest for hotel sustainability benchmarking began. In the years since, we've worked with the big support of hotel chains to push this concept forward, now benchmarking sustainable practices and performance across thousands of hotels worldwide through various initiatives. One of which, the Green Lodging Trends Report provides the empirical results for this article's title. Through this free benchmarking exercise, hotels can see how they compare among trends in over 100 best practices. READ MORE

Over the years, luxury has been defined by everything from fancy objects and shiny finishes to exceptional service and authentic experiences. Today's definition of luxury encompasses a new element, eco-consciousness. Whether a property is Platinum LEED certified and positions itself as “green” or simply promotes responsible practices, an element of eco-tourism is now the expectation at upscale hotels and resorts around the world. Leisure travel contributed $7.58 trillion last year to the global economy. Furthermore, the number of travelers who are aware of sustainable travel issues and the willingness of said travelers to spend on environmentally-sustainable travel have increased by a third in the last decade. READ MORE

Explore the evolution of wellness in hospitality from the early days of Greco-Roman Thermae to the thermal spas of Central Europe and US resort towns to ultra-modern spas in the heart of the Swiss Alps. As wellness takes on a renewed importance in hospitality, we see medical science-based technological innovation applied to the health and well-being of hotel guests through the Stay Well Rooms program created by health-centric real estate developer Delos. Learn how major hotel firms are incorporating robust wellness programs into their brands. Watch wellness evolve to satisfy growing market demands with technological advances and innovative programs. READ MORE

In 1994 & 1995 a British economist working on corporate social responsibility coined two phrases- Triple Bottom Line, and later People Planet & Profit. The simple three word phrase describes a sea change in hotel operations that would take place over the next 2 decades. John Elkington's minimal catch phrases for the complex theories of sustainability were easy to understand and provided a simple road map for business. Recognizing cost savings from reductions in water, waste, energy and chemicals as well as the value of preserving regional icons as travel destinations, the Planet piece of Elkington's phrase is now accepted as mainstream hotel operation. READ MORE

The hospitality industry is a unique sector when factoring in the total amount of guests that visit any given facility in a single year. Most commercial buildings do not see nearly the amount of people visiting their facilities in comparison to the lodging industry's visits. The Environmental Protection Agency has reported, “on average, America's 47,000 hotels spend $2,196 per available room each year on energy.” READ MORE

The tourism industry leaves a significant impact when you consider the need to move people around, host them and feed them, with the intrinsic needs for water, energy and food. As the travel industry continues to grow apace in Asia Pacific it is becoming increasingly important for hospitality providers to reduce their environmental footprint as well as to give back to the local communities in which they operate. AccorHotels first committed to a comprehensive environmental policy back in 1974 and is firmly committed to creating positive hospitality wherever it operates. While many of its actions are on a global scale, it has found that what is just as important is for each hotel in the network to work regionally to impact positively on its local community. READ MORE

Resource conservation is becoming more of an economic necessity than a choice in hotel business practices as the cost of water, energy and other supplies rises. Laundry operations represent a fertile frontier for such improvement. Using mass-production technologies easily accessible via outsourcing decreases a property's carbon footprint thanks to water and energy conservation in linen processing. Ensuing labor savings from this greater mechanization add to this economic benefit. TRSA aids hotels in locating high-efficiency outsourced linen, uniform and facility services through its Clean Green certification program and provides a published guide to finding certified green suppliers of all kinds of products and services needed for hotel operations. READ MORE

This issue of Hotel Business Review is devoted to the concept of Sustainability, so how does energy efficiency fit into this topic? And why is it so important now? Well, because, as that famous philosopher Yogi Berra once said, “the future ain't what it used to be.” We're experiencing changing consumer attitudes with regard to the environment resulting in shifting market trends. We're seeing a vastly different and uncertain political landscape. Competition in many industries has begun to beat the sustainability drum. And all of these trends are linked back in one way or another to energy and how we use it - energy efficiency. READ MORE

This article discusses the overall benefits for hotel owners and managers of partnering with their local jurisdiction to promote sustainable tourism. Such a partnership goes beyond the typical relationship with the city's CVB in that it directly includes city departments and ideally the mayor's office. The partnership may take many forms; the type expounded on in this article is based on promoting environmental certification by a third-party to tout the hotels' and city's sustainability credentials. The city's support may come in the form of in-kind service and promotion or actual grants to subsidize program costs, such as for certification fees. READ MORE

Water scarcity has been identified as among the top five global business risks in the next ten years. Tourism is recognized as a high water-use industry and hotels are some of the most water-intensive operations in the industry. Water scarcity disproportionately affects hotels since some of the most popular tourism destinations are in water-stressed areas, driving up utility costs and creating other challenges. For this reason and other reasons, reducing dependency on fresh water and making the best use of existing supplies makes good business sense. This article explains how hotels can respond to the looming water crisis by incorporating some low-cost best practices and strategies that have proven to save money and generate a return on investment. READ MORE

Steeped in myth and legend, the ancient springs at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa, 60 miles north of Santa Fe in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, have been a gathering place and source of healing for thousands of years. The use of the waters can be traced back to the earliest human migrations in the region, when ancestors of today's Tewa tribes built large pueblos and terraced gardens overlooking the springs. Now, ruins of these ancient cities are marked by the shadows of walls and a sprinkling of potsherds. READ MORE

Green initiatives have become widespread across the hospitality market, often denoted from a sign that kindly asks guests to reuse your towels or use less water. These are small steps that hotels can take, but new technologies are making large-scale sustainability programs possible. This next wave is about more than material conservation; now the whole building is starting to get smarter through design, automation systems, sensor technologies and a fully integrated guest experience. One of the first aspects that hotels consider when going green is the materials for the decor as part of the branding and custom experience. READ MORE

The United Nations designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector. But how will those of us whose purpose it is to innovate and drive change in corporate social responsibility affect change among consumer behavior? It is not enough to just implement policies and practices. Communicating our actions to guests is the key to inspiring change in everyday behaviors. The United Nations designation provides a platform to communicate the great programs and initiatives happening all over the world, especially within sustainable sourcing. READ MORE