The Role of Hotels in Sustainable Tourism: Essential Insights

On the journey towards more sustainable tourism, airlines, governments and tourism businesses are taking significant action. However, for hotels, often associated with luxury and life’s pleasures, turbulent times lie ahead. Some practices within hotels are often unsustainable and generate enormous amounts of waste. Nevertheless, this does not exempt establishments from taking drastic action. With 41% of guests considering environmental credentials when booking, hotels must anticipate and embrace sustainability initiatives. The question is: how can hotels ensure a positive perception among this growing number of environmentally conscious guests?

Audit and Adapt: A Step Towards Sustainability

In a world of overconsumption, returning to the basics can make all the difference. Do guests really use complimentary items such as earplugs or toothbrushes? Does every bathroom need a new set of shampoo and conditioner every time a new guest arrives? By auditing and reviewing existing partnerships, suppliers and practices, hotels can introduce more cost-effective and environmentally friendly options, reducing unnecessary waste. An inspiring example is IHG, which has replaced miniature products with refillable dispensers. This seemingly small change has a significant environmental impact. Organisations such as Clean The World also lend a helping hand, collecting discarded soap from more than 8,000 establishments to recycle and redistribute to families in need. This is just one of many efforts that help hotels embrace sustainability, educate guests and drive change. However, if we want to reduce the global emissions of the hotel sector to zero, we cannot rely solely on external organisations.

People Over Profits: The Importance of Staff Awareness

For the modern traveller, a sandy beach and a comfortable bed are not enough. More than 80% of tourists consider sustainable tourism essential to their holidays. To appeal to eco-conscious travellers, hotels must consider what this means for prospective guests in relation to their offering. In cities, it could mean planting a tree for every guest through a forestry partnership programme or encouraging guests to use public transport and bicycles. For hotels in rural or coastal areas, it could mean offering activities that support local conservation, such as beach clean-ups or farm-to-table dining options. A hotel’s staff team becomes its most important asset in this regard. They will be responsible for turning off lights in vacant rooms and educating guests as they move through the property. It is vital that staff are trained to understand the benefits of ESG practices.

Future-Ready: Sustainability in Hotel Development

With an endless stream of guests moving through their corridors, hotels require substantial maintenance. Repairs or renovations are often carried out hastily to minimise disruption to the guest experience. However, this leads to missed opportunities to plan ahead and build more sustainable facilities. If an establishment is truly committed to improvement, sustainability must be at the heart of any future development plan. Rather than choosing the cheapest material or the quickest solution, let us consider a sustainable approach, prioritising materials with high energy efficiency. Not every hotel will need to change its foundations and rebuild. The Hilton London ExCeL  received the prestigious Green Tourism Gold Award through relatively simple efforts, such as installing a living wall and striving to use local suppliers. Every hotel’s environmental journey will be different, but this is the standard all should aim to achieve. In a world where sustainability is no longer an option but a necessity, there is truly no alternative: establishments must clean up their act. Not only because the natural world will soon be destroyed without change, but because travellers are already beginning to turn their backs on those that are hostile to the environment.