Driving sustainability practices in lodging companies is the two-fold need to reduce operating costs and the impact of resource use on the communities in which hotels and resorts operate. From Los Angeles to Miami, hotels need to reduce water and energy use. In New York, Chicago and San Francisco city wide efforts to reduce carbon emissions is causing hotels to search for methods to measure and report. The corporate responsibility reports of major lodging companies publish company-wide carbon emissions goals and reductions as well as the results of waste, water and energy conservation. For many hotels and lodging companies measuring carbon emissions can be a new challenge. READ MORE

As the Vice President of Sustainability at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, I find myself searching for strategic and innovative ways to solve a myriad of challenges across our global portfolio. One challenge owners and managers face is prioritizing and financing capital investments needed to increase the efficiency of operating the asset, meet the company's aggressive reduction goals, all while improving the guest experience and saving money. One way myself and my Global Sustainability team solve this challenge is through innovative partnerships. READ MORE

When developing new systems, purchasing new equipment, and devising new programs, how can we ensure that we keep an eye to sustainability? Sustainability is here to stay. It is no longer a fad or trend; it has become an integral part of the hospitality industry and an expectation of guests around the world. As operators of hospitality businesses it is important that we acknowledge this new standard. Therefore, integrating sustainable practices into our operation across all departments is vital. READ MORE

Sustainable design and practice are no longer optional, as economic and cultural trends suggest their increasing importance. The developer and designer represent a powerful team for communicating the myriad benefits of green building and environmentally responsible practice to both operators and guests. They can demonstrate to operators the reduced costs associated with energy and maintenance as well as the potential for tax incentives, influencing the choice to become a franchisee. They can also demonstrate to guests a corporate commitment to sustainability, engendering brand loyalty and repeat stays. READ MORE

Welcoming the new generation of touch control cooktops into hospitality offers a consolidated solution for en-suite cooking that is cost-effective, eco-friendly and safety enhanced; and while the initial equipment costs are higher; the measureable savings to operating expenses coupled with intangible benefits to safety and sustainability net a win-win value-added proposition. READ MORE

Even if one occasionally played hooky, all of us remember the so-called “three R's” from our school days: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. For the past 25 years, businesspeople aiming to create the most efficient, cost effective and profitable operations focused on another three R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Now that socially responsible business practices have gone so mainstream, a new threesome sums up the opportunities we face in this new age. Namely, reducing Risk, increasing Revenue and enhancing Reputation. And what business leader would not wish those three benefits for (and from) their company? READ MORE

The “Internet of Everything” is the networked connection of people, data, processes and things. Twenty years ago, how broadly the internet would change our lives and grow in ubiquity was unimagined. Today, our connection to each other via the internet is fundamental to how we interact and how we run our businesses. For example, currently the majority of customers in the hospitality industry use the internet to research and/or book their stays - whether it is for hotels, timeshares or short-term rentals. Many people base their decisions on feedback and reviews found on major Online Travel Agency (OTA) sites with hundreds of million unique users every month. READ MORE

Until recently, Indonesian hotels lacked the ability to measure their energy performance. With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Tetra Tech designed and implemented a pilot program for 30 hotels in three destination: Jakarta, Jogjakarta and Bali. The program consisted of an energy benchmarking tool, energy intensity indices, energy assessments of the hotel facilities, energy monitoring software program, training for hotel engineers, and a guidebook for energy management linked to national “green hotel awards”. This article provides an overview of the approach taken, the results of the pilot program, and the expectations for Indonesian hotels to embrace energy efficiency READ MORE

Upon arriving in their hotel room, a guest drops their bags and notices the room feels stuffy. They crank up the air conditioner (A/C) and leave, only to find the temperature hasn't changed much upon their return. When they try adjusting the temperature again, the A/C unit begins making noise as it struggles to push out cooler air. The room never reached the guest's desired temperature and they had to listen to the loud noise coming from the unit all night. Moral of the story? The hotel could have saved itself a negative review and hundreds in energy savings if it had properly maintained the A/C unit. READ MORE

The message from customers to hospitality companies is clear: checking the box on sustainability isn't enough. Actionable targets and a focused approach to measurement are critical to demonstrating progress and informing substantive changes to help create a better business. But setting goals and benchmarking progress can be challenging. Not long ago, Hyatt took a step back to review its environmental stewardship platform to better align with our business impacts, refreshing legacy goals and setting new targets for the year 2020. The process underscored several best practices related to measuring what matters when it comes to sustainability. READ MORE

Sustainability enables us to live in the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Ecological concerns, such as water resource management and energy efficiencies and living a greener lifestyle continue to be top of mind for businesses and consumers. Customer loyalty and repeat business is integral to any business. A majority of hotel properties have implemented sustainability programs to reduce water, greenhouse gas emissions, waste and energy used in daily operations. READ MORE

From the advent of "Earth Day" in 1970 to today's opportunities for offsetting a carbon footprint, sustainability has evolved from an ideal and a concept to a way of life. And it's just as critical to the hospitality industry, because consumers are increasingly making their purchase decisions through the lens of environmental impact, today and in the future. As hospitality developers, this is something we can address at every single stage, from site planning to construction as well as daily operations. READ MORE

NATIONAL REPORT — According to the latest “Energy Infrastructure Update” report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects, solar power provided 20.4 percent of new electrical generation brought into service in the United States during 2014. Solar now accounts for about 1 percent of total installed operating electricity generating capacity in the U.S. According to Sun First Solar, the amount of electricity generated by solar systems has tripled in the U.S. in the last three years. The amount of solar power produced today is enough to power 3.6 million homes. A primary driver of increasing interest in solar is cost. Costs for solar panels are down 50 percent from where they were five years ago. READ MORE

Sustainability is becoming embedded in performance measurement as standard key performance indicators (KPIs) and is transitioning from a best practice to a cost-of-doing business by customers and investors, and even being mandated by regulators. What are sustainability KPIs? Though sustainability KPIs cover a wide scope and may not be fully understood within the industry yet, the language is quickly changing. Just because some facet of performance is difficult to understand doesn't mean we don't still place significant value on it. Take “guest satisfaction” or “brand value” as two prime examples of difficult to measure, yet extremely significant KPIs. As such, a few key items for performance measurement clearly emerged under the sustainability umbrella for hotels—energy, water, waste and GHG emissions. KPIs around these four items can and are used to evaluate the performance of a hotel. Sustainability is becoming embedded in performance measurement as standard key performance indicators (KPIs) and is transitioning from a best practice to a cost-of-doing business by customers and investors, and even being mandated by regulators. READ MORE

The awkward feeling we all have in the pits of our stomachs that something is fundamentally wrong with the way we run our planet is slowly moving up to our brains and increasingly we're realizing that we all need to become part of the solution, instead of continuing to contribute to the problems of an unsustainable world. Welcome to Anthropocene; this oil-fired age where mankind has, during the last 150 years or so, initiated unstoppable systemic changes, changes which are already affecting us. Weather catastrophes as a result of climate change are on the increase; rates of cancer are higher than ever before and let's not forget the negative effects on our collective reproductive ability, caused by the uncontrolled spread of hormone-disrupting and persistent chemicals. READ MORE

Initially suspected to be a passing fad, the sustainability movement now appears to be firmly entrenched in our customers' expectations and is increasingly embedded in hospitality management. Since this is a highly visible element of business today, the question that hospitality programs have is how can we better prepare our students to meet the hospitality industry's needs for future managers who can meet the need to provide sustainable business operations and service? READ MORE

Every hotel on the planet has an energy story. A hotel's energy story is what anyone who cares about things related to energy use can observe by looking at that hotel's use of energy, and its attitude to energy related issues. Hotel decision-makers have a choice - they can ignore the hotel's energy story and hope for the best, or they can manage it. READ MORE

It is no big secret that 'going green' and sustainable practices within the hotel and lodging industry are slowly becoming more appealing and are now often a determining factor for travelers when they are selecting accommodation. In this day and age, acquiring a reputation for being an eradicator of the environment can truly be your demise. Hotels operating with green initiatives in place are on the right track and can undoubtedly have an advantage over their competitors. There are great social and economic benefits to be gained by implementing green initiatives, as well as the obvious benefits to the environment. These green programs, when applied and practiced correctly can be mutually beneficial and quite lucrative. READ MORE