Sustainability Trends: Strategies and Tactics Considered
By Robert O'Halloran
Sustainability, eco-friendly, green, and other descriptors are marking what appears to be a sustained business trend. The headlines are continually using the term sustainability. However, my perception is that the term needs to be explained if not defined.
What is sustainable hospitality? Sustainable hospitality involves integrating eco-friendly practices into every aspect of the industry’s operations, encompassing waste reduction, conserving energy and water, sourcing local and organic products and adopting responsible tourism practices. The landscape of travel and hospitality in general is being reshaped by a growing commitment to sustainability through eco-friendly accommodations, green transportation options, community-centric tourism, carbon offsetting and regenerative tourism.
As travelers become more environmentally and socially conscious, the tourism industry is rising to the challenge, creating opportunities for meaningful, responsible, and inspiring travel experiences. In general, sustainability is inclusive of embracing eco-friendly accommodations, green transportation options, community-centric tourism, regenerative and people-positive travel, carbon offsetting, and responsible travel.
Travel, leisure and accommodation are all moving into the area of sustainable hospitality, which seeks to blend exceptional guest experience with ecological and societal well-being. The hospitality industry impacts the environment, communities and more, and this is evidenced via some basic indicators. For example, carbon footprint, water consumption, food waste, single-use plastics and other disposables, and negative impacts of the tourism industry.
The theme as noted by our colleagues at Glion is “be part of the change in hospitality management.” Some initiatives could include renewable energy utilization, waste reduction strategies and positive hospitality practices, all of which could include business leaders, employees, guests, and community members embracing sustainability. For example, consider water use and management for the lodging industry and in food and beverage, which includes guest rooms, laundry, and amenities and water use for recreation; pools, spas, and for landscaping and sanitation. Water is essential, and we as an industry consume a lot of it.
Many hotels have employed technologies to conserve water. For example, setting metrics to measure and alert the staff to water issues, which identify and report leaks plus room energy problems in short turnaround times. As a point of reference, in a home where water is supplied via a well, electricity is needed to run the well and measure output that is then translated into an energy bill.
In one example, it was noticed that the well cost usually in the mid $20’s range, had now increased significantly. The energy company reported that all was working properly on their end. The next call was to the pump and well company who came out and spent a day and a half, found, and replaced the pipe, which had an identifiable hole. In that scenario there was the cost of repair and the cost of increased energy use, the process of follow-up and investigation taking time and therefore creating increased costs. The point being that water metrics alerted us to the problem.
The addition of smart water systems and potentially limited water supplies makes water management a business necessity. Sustainable management practices should include energy management, HVAC energy management systems, smart lighting, sustainable amenities, food waste, and, as previously noted, carbon footprint measurement. From a business perspective, sustainability is about operating in a way that minimizes negative impact and maximizes positive impact, which could include using recycled materials in packaging, powering operations with renewable energy, offsetting carbon emissions, and more.
Sustainability Benchmarks
It is always a good idea to understand the importance of business focus areas, e.g., sustainable hospitality. It is useful and helpful to identify benchmark properties that have and are embracing sustainability. For example, the Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index is an industry-led global data initiative to enable any hotel to calculate its carbon footprint and benchmark its energy, water and carbon emissions at low cost, drawing from a dataset of over 27,000 hotels around the world. The Index allows the creation of multiple metrics that can be useful for decision making for sustainable operations.
Metrics can include a hotels’ benchmark performance in:
- Carbon: carbon footprint per room, carbon footprint per occupied room, and Hotel Carbon Measure Initiative (HCMI) per occupied room.
- Energy: energy usage per occupied room, energy usage per square meter, percentage of total energy from renewable sources.
- Water: usage per occupied room, and water usage per square meter.
- Waste: waste per occupied room, and waste per square meter.
The Index continually updates the data base and enhances collection efforts and hotel segmentation efforts (hotel type, location type i.e., resorts vs. non-resort). Also, collecting data on renewable energy resources, renewable energy credits and more detailed segmentation processes for validity focusing on water and energy.
Other resources include multiple rating systems and “Best” lists that can highlight best practices for all to learn from. Shared below are several benchmark hotel properties from a USA Today 10 Best Sustainable-Eco Friendly Hotel list to explore.
- The City Flats Hotel , Port Huron, Michigan. This is a renovation and reuse of a bank building. No two rooms are exactly alike. Smart choices like sustainable cork flooring, green bath products, and bamboo linens, as well as minimizing waste and energy usage standards and policies.
- The Bardessono Hotel and Spa in Yountville, Calif.. They are a LEED Platinum-certified hotel and offer a mixture of experience for eco-conscious practices meet indulgence. From geothermal heating to solar energy and water recycling systems, every aspect of this Yountville hotel is designed with the planet in mind. They are a member of the Ascend Hotel Collection ®.
- The Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth, Maine is noted for beautiful views and an environmentally conscious experience. They tout farm-to-table dining in Sea Glass, "Planting for Wildlife" seminars, ecology walks, and eco-oriented children’s programs. And it’s a LEED Silver-certified spa.
Additionally, the following lodging properties have been noted for their efforts in sustainability and noted amenities and innovations.
- LEED Gold Certification.
- Sedum ‘Green Eco-Roofing’.
- On-property Chef’s Garden inclusive of beehives.
- Waste and recycle management system.
- Nordaq Fresh Water Filtration System: plastic bottles have been reduced by 80,000.
- Chatham Bars Inn Farm, plus locally sourced fish, dairy and meats.
- Employ a farm manager
Legacy Vacation Resorts, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada
Legacy Vacation Resorts provides vacation experiences for families and friends to create unique moments and lasting memories in a manner that respects our environment, employees, and community.
- Theme: Travel as a Force for Good
- Noted for: B Tourism is a global network of Certified B Corporation travel and tourism companies as well as other conscious travel organizations that take collective action for environmental and social justice. The platform hopes to serve as a resource for the regenerative travel movement and to help travelers enjoy a vacation experience that embodies interdependence.
- For example, a Certified B Corporation is a travel and tourism company that has met high standards for social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Some criteria for a Certified B Corporation include Standards: B Corps must achieve a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and pass a risk review. Process: The certification process can take years and cost thousands of dollars. And Reassessment: B Corps must reapply for assessment every three years.
Additionally, analysis of the sustainability policies for some of the leading hotel brands can also provide good research perspectives. Several of these policy links are offered below.
· Accor, Choice Hotels, Fairmont, Hilton, InterContinental Hotel Group, Marriott International, and Wyndham .
Upon review of these policies, one will note that the terms associated with sustainability policies differ company to company. Some use sustainability, others refer to corporate responsibility, environmental policy, responsible business, green and more. The takeaway for the new reader should be to get familiar with the language of sustainability and create operational definitions for their sustainability efforts. As noted many times, sustainability is about concern for the environment, people, and communities and their health.
I am a believer that everyone in a community is part of its tourism and hospitality infrastructure. We all have a vested interest in the health of the community and should frame the tourism and hospitality experience in general, as optimal “Livability and Visitation.” Living in a place, a destination, village, town, city etc. means having responsibility for the conservation and preservation of the environment. Remember that we are passing through and need to leave the environment as we found it or perhaps in better shape, is more important than ever. This also means that the responsibility to a community is about its people, its businesses, its schools etc. We note that a sustainable workforce is vital for tourism and hospitality.
Sustainable businesses are also vital for the economic, social, and cultural health of a destination. The issue for economic development and sustainability is to know when to say “enough.” We are at capacity; we our community and infrastructure cannot support more growth. Businesses need to be able to make a profit or for non-profits, break even, but at what point does too much business harm the community and destination in terms of traffic, infrastructure and more. Sometimes more is just more, not better. The takeaway is set standards, measure them, and then manage them!
Sustainability for Business: Tactics and Strategies
The conversation around sustainability becomes more pressing every year. Brands are taking notice of consciousness consumers who are increasingly interested in products and services with minimal environmental impact. Mining your best practices and benchmark databases will allow you to identify tactics and strategies that can be used in lodging operations. For example, some eco-friendly examples include tactics and more strategic topics such as compostable packaging, renewable energy, sustainable packaging, reducing waste, water conservation, sustainable advertising, active and sustainable packaging, and a focus on achieving net-zero emissions, for example, clean energy and sustainable supply chains.
Also, by including local farmers markets and buying in bulk to reduce packaging and thinking about reducing your use of paper (save a tree) all contribute to the sustainability effort.
Sustainability and Education
What is our (higher education) role in sustainability? From a content perspective, a focus on current trends and innovations, research, and news in our industry (hospitality and tourism) specifically, but also in the greater service industries. Our role is to define sustainability but also to assess the application of sustainable innovations. One way to do this will be to assess the return on investment and or break-even levels to make sustainable a cost of doing business. Our role is to prepare the students as “thinking” managers and their ability to identify relevant facts and figures and understand how benchmarks and best practices might be applied. Therefore, they will be better thinkers, managers, and leaders.
Many students tend to think of sustainability practices as “green.” Recycle, reduce and reuse are common themes. Introducing students to the Hotel Sustainability Basics Toolkit for example, and other resources is an important part of creating awareness in soon to be graduates. The toolkit was developed by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and its partners. The WTTC is calling on hotel operators, owners, associations, and investors around the world to officially support the Toolkit and work with hotels across their networks to put the basics in place over the next three years. The takeaway I get from reviewing the toolkit is for operators to just get started. If a hospitality business is at the beginning of its sustainability journey, it needs to get started, or it will be left behind from the perspective of sustainability decision-making and marketing awareness of its efforts. The basics have been deliberately designed to align with existing frameworks and certifications, such as the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s Pathway to Positive Hospitality, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s (GSTC) hotel criteria, the UNESCO/Expedia Pledge, Travalyst, Booking.com, Google, LQA Sustainability Standards, Forbes Travel Guide Sustainability Standards, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
For graduates and soon-to-be management and leadership, there is a need for an awareness of the scope and breadth of industry partners and interest in sustainability to reinforce the importance of sustainable decision-making and planning. The toolkit criteria for Hotel Sustainability Basics are framed by management and efficiency, the planet, and, of course, people.
Specifically, students should be able to define and explain sustainability and understand the complexity of environmental, community, social, cultural, and economic issues as they relate to sustainability. At the undergraduate level, sustainability content can be integrated throughout the curriculum in diverse courses. For example, for a preliminary feasibility project for a hotel, there is a partnership between the course and student groups and municipal partners. The partner is a destination that wants a hotel for tourism and economic reasons. As a course, our job is to research and analyze the collected data and make recommendations for brands, if any, size, location, amenities, and facilities that will be optimal for the business and the community. The project sounds a bit like environment, community, and business successes, doesn’t it?
Faculty and students can also use case studies that describe sustainable related scenarios. A student, acting as a consultant, will define the problem, conduct background research, and develop and create alternatives to solve the problem. Faculty members will provide guidelines that will outline cost limits, and ROI targets for sustainable equipment purchases. Therefore, pointing the student to value-enhanced solutions. There are diverse and numerous course learning goals and objectives that can be created surrounding these and other available sustainability resources. For students, their instructors and our industry partners, sustainable learning goals should be embraced.
Going Forward
We do not know what will happen in the future, but we need to be aware and keep up with current trends in sustainability, climate, utility use, and more. There is such a thing as climate change, and it is likely to get worse. The question is, how will municipal, state, and federal governments and leaders react to climate change, and what can be done? For example, North Carolina had a significant hurricane “Helene” hit its western mountain regions, which included Asheville and multiple surrounding communities, that caused outages of power, WIFI, and water for extended times. There were also lives lost and entire communities destroyed. The hurricane hit September 28, 2024 and initially Asheville noted that potable water will not be restored until mid-December. Government authorities are working towards restoring services and a posting (11-20-24) indicates potable water is restored in some areas.
In general, it is expected that sustainability reporting will garner more attention and investment within companies will be more heavily scrutinized. It is also estimated that partnerships to tackle sustainability issues at scale will grow. One conceptual framework partnership to be embraced on a broad scale, is aligning hospitality sustainability with the United Nations seventeen sustainability goals. The United Nation 17 Sustainability Goals provide a framework of issues and topics to research, study, teach and apply at live sites across the globe. The U.N. goals are listed below with notations included (just my two cents).
- No poverty: Tie this discussion to sustainable labor and offer people the opportunities they want to have productive lives and provide for their families.
- Zero hunger: Given our ability to create enormous quantities of food, the fact that there are starving people is amazing. Efforts for food production and distribution also need to support the creation and development of food production and farming opportunities. Plus, efforts to reduce food waste and look for demand for plant-based and ‘alternative’ foods.
- Good health and well-being: Healthcare is a right, not a privilege and access to medicine, doctors and well-being opportunities on all levels need to be part of community development.
- Quality education: As noted above, education is a right for all people, and the opportunity to gain experience needs to be addressed.
- Gender equality: Opportunities for people for education, careers, and a healthy life needs to be part of everyone’s life.
- Clean water and sanitation: The availability of potable water is a life right for everyone and a business necessity. The availability of water for communities in the future may also become problematic. Think about climate change, rainfall, snowfall, much of which become spring water flow.
- Affordable and clean energy: Energy management for optimal and efficient use of energy. This is tied to an increased use of renewable energy sources.
- Decent work and economic growth: Focus on labor, wages, work environment and workforce management. Look for continued development of more people working from home.
- Industry innovation and infrastructure: Improved transport and infrastructure, plus increased brand responsibility and transparency.
- Reduced inequalities: More opportunities and equity for hiring and promotion.
- Sustainable cities and communities: More recycling, More sustainable materials available.
- Responsible production and consumption: Reducing to optimal production levels, reuse and purchasing of second-hand and more sustainable materials can address this goal.
- Climate action: Even greater, climate-positive technology, government actions for global climate accords.
- Life below water: Think about clean water, food production and aquafarming, reduction in pollution levels. Also, water use, both salt and fresh, rivers and oceans, clean for consumption and recreation.
- Life on land: Pristine and productive farm and ranch lands that reduce food shortages and housing shortages and embrace the biodiversity of the land.
- Peace, justice, and strong institutions: This addresses the social responsibilities for the environment, ethical behaviors, and a reduction in governmental corruption and geopolitical aggression.
- Partnerships for the goals: As citizens of the world, we all need to be engaged in the partnerships that impact our planet. Everyone has a vested interest in sustainability, trade associations, commercial businesses and individuals all need to participate and contribute.
It seems trite but we are all in this together. The goal is a sustainable planet that is good for the environment, good for communities its peoples and good for the economy. The concepts of culture, societal issues, heritage, preservation, and conservation are vital for a theme of livability and visitation.
