ITHACA, N.Y.—For the fourth year in a row, Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) has released the latest benchmarks from an ongoing international sustainability data index for the global hotel industry. The report, “Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2017: Energy, Water, and Carbon,” in collaboration with a dozen global hotel firms, analyzes data provided for nearly 13,000 properties. Increasing the data set by 80 percent and adding further segmentation from the previous index, the report is available from the CHR at no charge.
The results are presented in the CHSB2017 Index with a range of benchmarks for energy consumption, water consumption, and carbon emissions for hotels by segments and geographic locations. CHSB data also serve as the central database for hotel sustainability benchmarks.
“As the industry launches our carbon and water goals, this common platform to benchmark our impact compared to our competitive set has and will continue to help us all improve,” said Denise Naguib, Vice President of Sustainability & Supplier Diversity at Marriott International.
Recent applications of the data set include DEFRA’s integration for scope 3 business travel, Arbor Day Foundation’s online carbon offsetting program, the Greenprint Performance Report’s hotel section, and extrapolation for the industry’s global footprint together with the International Tourism Partnership.
Will Help Industry Drive Progress
“Data analysis and benchmarking have been extremely important to Hyatt’s sustainability efforts over the years,” said Brigitta Witt, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility for Hyatt Hotels Corp. “The industry-wide benchmarking through CHSB increases the insights we can gain through data. CHSB’s continued expansion has been important in achieving even more meaningful performance assessments that will help the industry to drive progress.”
Data for this benchmarking report were provided by Brighton Management, Hilton Worldwide, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Marriott International, Park Hotel Group, Saunders Hotel Group, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, and Wyndham Worldwide.
Hotel companies are invited to join the movement and participate in the 2018 edition of the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index (CHSB), submitting 2016 data sets for energy and water use. The upcoming edition will add enhancements including seasonal resorts, with Club Med confirming participation to support this enhancement.
