As reported on Green Lodging News this past week, Greenview just released its Green Lodging Trends Report (GLTR). It is news for many reasons, but the two main ones are its size and its sole focus on sustainability best practices. The 83-page report is based on data received from about 27,000 hotels across 54 countries. The report was first launched in 2016 and published from 2016 to 2018. Covid disrupted publication of the report, but Greenview continued its work. The result: The 2022 GLTR dataset is six times greater than the 2018 GLTR dataset.
I posted two articles on the report this past week. The first article was an announcement about the report. The second article includes highlights from the 10 sections of the report. Data was collected on 75 best sustainability practices from 22 participating companies and from individuals who participated through The Greenview Portal.
Each chapter provides a summary of findings with deeper analytics and visual charts per best practice. All best practices are further grouped into four categories based on the adoption rates calculated: Common practices (75 percent and above); Established practices (50 percent to 74 percent); Emerging practices (25 percent to 49 percent); and Innovative practices (Less than 25 percent).
The best practices incorporate the Hotel Sustainability Basics Initiative (“The Basics”), developed by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) together with its partners. They also aligned with some of the key criteria included in the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
Benchmark Your Own Hotel
A key upside to participating in the report: Hotels are entitled to receive a benchmarking report that includes a comparison of performance against peers by geographic location, service type, hotel type and STR chain scale segment.
In the report there are best practice rankings by country. For example, the Netherlands tops the country rankings for having a sustainability team on property. To give the findings context, what I would like to have seen in the report is a breakdown of number of participants by country. How can one know what Netherlands being on top really means if one does not know how many hotels are being considered? While one can certainly make conclusions about trends based on the sheer number of hotels participating, the numeric breakdown of participants would have been nice.
I mention the number of hotels participating in a country for another good reason—the U.S. and its absence in the rankings of the countries by sustainable best practices. The U.S. appears on just four out of the 19 rankings in the report, even though there are about 17,000 U.S. hotels in the dataset. I asked Grace Kang, Managing Partner at Greenview, about U.S. positioning in the rankings and she said, “It might be because a large portion of the economy hotels are based in the U.S.” Economy hotels tend to lag behind hotels in higher segments in implementation of sustainability best practices. (The U.S. did finish No. 2 among the top 15 countries using native or drought-tolerant plants for landscaping to reduce irrigation needs. That was its highest ranking in the four rankings it made.) When reviewing any survey, always look for the stories behind the data for clarification of the data’s meaning.
Overall, the report is the digestion of an incredible amount of data and a snapshot of the global hotel industry’s progress, or lack thereof. Be sure to take a close look at this industry-leading report.
Who is Your Sustainability Champion?
Green Lodging News is always looking to profile sustainability champions in our Personnel Profile section. If you would like to nominate someone for this section of Green Lodging News, contact me at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
Looking for Guest Columnists
Every two weeks Green Lodging News posts a new guest column on its website. (Click here for examples.) The guest column also appears in the weekly e-newsletter. Green Lodging News is currently in need of industry experts to contribute occasional guest columns. Experts may include consultants, architects, designers, suppliers, and those who own or operate green lodging establishments. Columns may be articles that take a stance on a particular subject or be strictly educational in nature. Columnists benefit by having their photo included along with a one paragraph description of their company. Interested in writing a column? Contact Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
Get in the Green Suppliers Spotlight!
Green Lodging News, lodging’s leading environmental news source, publishes Green Suppliers Spotlight, an e-blast to 19,341 subscribers that features the lodging industry’s leading green products and services. The e-blast features multiple vendors—unlike the current Green Supplier Spotlight that allows one supplier to “own” the Green Lodging News subscriber list for one e-blast. (Click here for a Green Suppliers Spotlight sample.)
Green Suppliers Spotlight is published weekly on Thursdays to general managers, owners, management companies, directors of sustainability, directors of engineering, facilities managers and many others who are either in purchasing positions or who influence purchasing decisions. Suppliers of green products and services throughout North America and beyond are invited to participate in the e-blast. (Minimum two suppliers per e-blast.) Green Suppliers Spotlight was created to give vendors an opportunity to reach a high number of industry purchasers at a very low cost—as low as $200 per e-mail. (Click here for rate sheet.)
Those advertising in Green Suppliers Spotlight can include up to 100 words, one image, contact information and multiple links to their website in their ad. At the end of each week, a report will be sent to each supplier with information on delivered e-mails, opens and click-throughs.
Planning Advertising for the Remainder of 2022, or 2023?
Green Lodging News is accepting reservations for advertising spots for the final quarter of 2022 and into 2023. Many excellent spots are available on our website and in the weekly e-mail newsletter. Many Green Supplier Spotlight dates are also available. Interested in receiving a 2022 or 2023 media kit? Be sure to contact me as soon as possible at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com. Media kits can also be accessed by clicking here. Thank you to all those companies that consistently support Green Lodging News.
Newsletter & Green Supplier Spotlight Circulation
The circulation of our weekly e-newsletter and Green Supplier Spotlight currently stands at 19,341. Thank you to our new subscribers for signing up. Be sure to encourage your colleagues to do the same. There are “subscribe” links on the Green Lodging News home page. You may also e-mail greenlodgingnews@gmail.com to be added to our list.
Green Lodging News & Social Media
Green Lodging News now has 1,728 Twitter followers. Thank you to all of those who follow our tweets. In addition to following us on Twitter, be sure to bookmark the Green Lodging News Blog in your browser. More importantly, participate with your comments. Green Lodging News is also on Facebook. Be sure to “Like” us there. Green Lodging News now has more than 1,300 Facebook followers.
As always, I can be reached at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
