Regardless of sector, no company can afford to ignore sustainability today; the commercial, moral, and regulatory mandates are just too significant—and potentially costly. Despite this, many companies struggle to advance sustainability within their operations, resulting in tepid actions that amount to little more than greenwashing or worse, greenhushing. Why? In most cases, organizations have a data problem. Specifically, they lack reliable and trustworthy data about their environmental and social impacts and the tools to translate them into the meaningful insights required to convince decision-makers to pursue transformative projects. The adage, “You can’t manage and innovate what you can’t measure,” has...

Hotel sustainability certifications are no longer a specialized distinction but an essential means of meeting market demand. With 73 percent of global tourists preferring to stay in hotels that apply sustainable practices, green certificates increasingly play a key role in influencing consumer choices. Research shows that hotels with sustainability certifications typically receive higher guest satisfaction ratings, as these certifications enhance the perceived quality of the hotel. For this reason, the number of hotels earning certifications like Bioscore, Green Key, EarthCheck and LEED is rapidly expanding, with a 20 percent increase between 2022 and 2023 alone. In this context, hotel operators...

Hello, Green Lodging News readers! My name is Meredith Marin, and I’m thrilled to be writing to you from the crossroads of two things I’m deeply passionate about: hospitality and veganism. As the founder of Vegan Hospitality, I spend my days helping hotels and resorts navigate the ever-evolving needs of vegan guests—one plant-based menu and guest experience at a time. “I’m not interested in plant-based eating or veganism, and frankly vegan guests are difficult to deal with,” you may be thinking. This is where you might stop reading, wondering how this topic even applies to your life or your business....

The hospitality industry is a unique melting pot of cultural diversity, both in terms of the workforce and its customers, with people from all over the world coming together. But while diversity brings great opportunities and is something to celebrate, it also creates significant challenges. Hospitality staff must be intimately aware of cultural differences when dealing with customers and colleagues from different backgrounds. Likewise, while a more culturally diverse workforce can bring fresh perspectives and create unique customer experiences, hotel managers and HR teams must look after their staff carefully to ensure efficient collaboration. In this article, we’ll explore some of...

Looking at the hospitality industry across the U.S., properties are constantly working on ways to improve their water management processes. In many cases, an important part of this puzzle is optimizing water conservation efforts to save money and resources, make progress on sustainability goals and more. With this in mind, we saw properties make positive strides in 2024 towards embracing and implementing water-saving techniques—especially those that leverage technologies like predictive analytics, smart sensors and AI. Overall, this trend will certainly impact how industry players enter 2025. Let’s dive in. Common Challenges and Barriers There have been a few consistent challenges over the years...

The hospitality industry’s green trends are being reflected in an affiliated sector: That of travel sports, one of the fastest growing and prosperous industries. The numbers don’t lie. In 2023, Americans took a record 204.9 million trips related to sporting events, contributing $52.2 billion in direct spending, 757,600 jobs, and $20.1 billion in tax revenues. There are strong indicators that events displaying increased measures of eco-sensitivity are becoming more attractive to traveling families. For that reason, event owners and rights holders are seeking out hotels with eco-friendly practices that include the following: Partnerships with Clean the World, which collects partially used...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is penetrating every segment of the commercial property industry, and the hospitality sector is no exception. With hotels, resorts and businesses in the lodging industry implementing this technology to improve operations and solve persistent challenges, the benefits to owners, operators and staff are becoming evident. One way AI is making a difference for these properties is by improving water management practices. Many establishments in the lodging space now leverage AI to better detect leaks, mitigate water damage and conserve water, all with the goal of providing excellent—and uninterrupted—customer service to their guests. Considering that water damage from broken...

More consumers are prioritizing social values, the environment, and health and wellness in their purchasing decisions than ever before—and travelers are no exception. To stay competitive, hotels not only need to make these values a priority but also ensure that their claims can be substantiated by real actions and evidence. For hoteliers, this often means supporting local economies, reducing environmental footprints, committing to diversity and inclusion, and providing more amenities supporting mental and physical well-being. Procurement operations are key to addressing these demands. What hotels source—and where they source it from—will determine where your hotel stands when it comes to...

Identifying the final dollars in a capital stack is a common challenge for hotel developers. Instead of high-interest rate mezzanine loans, savvy hotel developers are using C-PACE financing (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) as a means to capture financing benefits and be rewarded for building efficient buildings. A historic redevelopment along the Florida coastline recently financed 27 percent of its capital stack with C-PACE financing. A new downtown Las Vegas hotel completed its capital stack with $40 million in C-PACE financing, making it the largest Nevada C-PACE project in history. These hotel developments not only secured the low-cost, non-recourse, fixed-rate,...

NATIONAL REPORT—Embracing sustainability is imperative to hotels as the world adapts to the low-carbon economy. About 90 percent of travelers look for sustainable accommodations, investors want to know a business’s long-term viability, and local and federal governments increasingly require environmental reporting and credible paths to decarbonization. Hotels must respond to this pressure by measuring and reducing their carbon emissions. Environmental sustainability translates to better business performance. Hotels that signed the UNESCO Sustainable Travel Pledge saw a nearly 25 percent increase in week-over-week bookings in 2022, compared to a 15 percent increase for non-pledged hotels. Hotels produce about 1 percent of global carbon emissions annually—the equivalent of nearly 46 million...