Most players in the hotel industry are well aware that their industry has been “going green” for quite some time. In fact, this change has been occurring throughout North America; involves all types of properties, from sole ownership locations to major chains; and includes facilities new and old, large and small.
According to a study* recently released by McGraw Hill Construction regarding green operations in retail, hotel, and hospitality properties, 28 percent of hotel properties reported putting an emphasis on green and sustainable strategies in 2011. By 2013, that number had jumped to 48 percent, and is expected to rise even further, to 62 percent, by 2014.
Green strategies include reducing energy and water use; recycling and managing waste; improving indoor air quality; transferring to green cleaning products and practices; and, when constructing new facilities or remodeling existing ones, building and designing with green principles in mind.
More notable, however, are the benefits these properties are deriving from embracing green strategies. According to the study, the key benefits of building and operating a green hotel property include:
• reductions in annual operating costs (51 percent of reporting hotels);
• declines in energy use and related costs (67 percent);
• increases in actual asset value of properties (71 percent); and
• satisfactory return on investment in incorporating green building and operating strategies (85 percent).
These findings are virtually the opposite of what many hotel owners would have suspected in previous decades. Hotel owners and managers alike once believed that while there might be benefits to making such changes, going green was likely to negatively impact the bottom line. This is clearly no longer the case.
Worker Health & Customer Satisfaction
Hotel owners and managers will also be interested to learn that green operations impact worker health and well-being, as well as customer satisfaction. A very high number—83 percent of the hotel owners—reported that incorporating green building features (superior air quality, natural light, construction materials with limited off-gassing, etc.) into their properties, as well as green building maintenance (such as green cleaning), have a positive impact on worker health and well-being. This may be the result of transferring to environmentally preferable cleaning chemicals and products, as they have a reduced impact on health, indoor air quality, and the environment.
Nearly 70 percent of the hotel operators indicated that green buildings and maintenance activities also have a positive impact on customer satisfaction and their business operations. The study offered the following three reasons for this:
• Many hotel guests prefer green hotels because they want to stay in facilities that maintain the same green and sustainable standards they now have in place in their own homes and workplaces.
• The guests surveyed believe that there is a link between “green and the perception of higher quality”; in other words, customers see green hotels as “better” hotels, and even in some cases as more luxurious hotels.
• Green standards are linked in some consumers’ minds with better health.
Becoming Green
The survey also questioned responders about how hotel properties make the change to green practices. As might be expected, many owners and managers began this transition by searching the Internet for information and visiting online publications that cover green hotel operations. Many hotel owners also found contacting leading trade organizations and visiting tradeshows to be helpful.
A large percentage of responders also reported turning to their suppliers and vendors for guidance. While the Internet and trade organizations/tradeshows may provide valuable information, suppliers and vendors are personally involved with their hotel customers, and are therefore familiar with their customers’ properties, needs, and operational challenges.
To further assist in this process, some facility maintenance distributors now use Web-based analytical tools that help guide both distributors and customers in making knowledge-based green buying decisions. An example of one of these tools is the eLev8 process, which actually walks clients and distributors through the products currently being used in the hotel and then suggests green alternatives based on the property’s sustainability goals. This helps eliminate the trial-and-error that can happen when making decisions based on, for instance, Internet research alone.
Ultimately, the McGraw Hill study confirmed that there is a business case to be made for going green. The benefits of doing so are now unquestionable. Although hotels will likely not be able to differentiate themselves from other properties in the future simply by being green, not being green may prove to have a significant negative impact. Guests have come to expect green practices in their hotels, and without them, hotel properties could be left in the dust.
Robert Kravitz is a frequent writer on green, sustainability, hotel hospitality, and other facility-related issues. He can be reached at rkravitz@rcn.com.
*The study involved 79 retail business owners, 30 hotel property owners, and 22 restaurant owners. It also involved 152 building contractors that worked on hotel projects, 178 retail contractors, and 145 contractors that worked on restaurants.
