Hotels face many considerations when deciding to go green, but with more than five billion square feet of space in the United States alone, the hospitality industry represents an enormous sustainability opportunity. Hotels are poised to transform the market by creating healthy, smart, efficient, responsive, resilient, and above all else, sustainable buildings. Despite these positive shifts in the green hotel market, there are many myths that prevent hotels from incorporating green practices. Hotels may be operationally intense, but that also means there are significant opportunities in changing the way we all operate our hotels, making them greener and more efficient. READ MORE

The hotel industry is uniquely positioned to help reduce the use of plastic water bottles and lead the charge in the responsible consumption of drinking water. In fact, many hoteliers have already diverted millions of single serve, plastic water bottles from landfills and waterways. With hundreds of millions of room nights sold each year, the hospitality sector plays host to a global audience for whom it can lead by example; very few other industries wield this level of influence. With its tremendous buying power, hotel groups have the unique ability to reshape the market and demand that suppliers deliver eco-friendly solutions that contribute to global sustainability. READ MORE

Westin is the wellness leader in the hospitality space. As the global demand for well-being evolves, Westin continues to develop new programming and experiences in lockstep with consumer lifestyle trends. Most recently, this has meant innovation around sustainability and the relationship between philanthropy and well-being, all with the ultimate goal of inspiring change in the hospitality industry more broadly. Westin's new campaign, Project Rise: ThreadForward, is an unprecedented sustainability initiative that collects, processes, and reweaves hotel bed linens into thousands of pairs of children's pajamas, closely aligning with Westin's belief that sleep and giving back are two core elements of wellness. READ MORE

While Total Revenue Management is primarily focused on implementing a holistic approach to increase your hotel revenues, the fact of the matter is that none of this is possible if you don't have the right technologies by your side. Whether or not your hotel has the resources of a five star international chain, it is essential for you to start using the latest technologies to make the most of a total revenue management approach. Using the latest software and systems will allow you to collect important and high quality data in a timely manner, and enable you to use this data to your advantage before it becomes obsolete. READ MORE

No one can have missed the current debate about plastics and the environmental problems this hugely convenient material causes. But how does this affect the hotel sector, and what do I need to do as hotelier to be part of the solution rather than be part of the problem? Only 14 percent of all plastic packaging is collected for recycling after use, and vast quantities of the rest escape into the environment. This results in a financial loss of USD 80 to 120 billion per year; and if the current trend continues, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 according to recent research. READ MORE