How To Be A Sustainable Hotel: Go Greener

What is sustainability in hospitality?

While conducting business, we must be aware that the future is still in the creation process, and we are a part of it. Eco-friendly practices and ethical hotel management, encompassing social and economic considerations, are the fundamental pillars of sustainability in hospitality. The tourism industry, including hotels, transportation companies, and other related sectors, is a significant source of carbon emissions.  

Therefore, sustainable hotels reduce the environmental impact through combining green practices with sustainable management practices, such as: 

• carbon footprint and waste reduction, 
• water and energy conservation, 
• cooperation with local businesses, 
• adoption of recycling programs, 
• improvement in working conditions, etc. 

Energy-efficient, eco-friendly, and nature-positive operations in hotel management are essential for minimizing environmental impact. Due to the significant impact of hotels on the environment, environmental sustainability remains a crucial aspect of the hospitality industry.  

However, sustainability practices encompass a broader field than just nature, as they involve the environment, the economy, and society. When adopting a sustainable tourism perspective, it is essential to take steps related to inclusivity, work-life balance, health, and the well-being of your staff. 

Improving sustainability in the hospitality industry encompasses a range of aspects, including water and energy use, cleaning products, food, recycling, and partnerships with business partners.

Best sustainable practices for being an eco-friendly hotel

The environment is calling us all to adopt a greener lifestyle. Even if it is a broad topic, there are specific practices that can create a positive environmental impact. With a focus on acting in harmony with the ecosystem, you can make an Energy Star hotel. Tiny changes in your operations and management can have a significant impact on the world.  

These practices will also enhance the guest experience and lead to cost savings as you improve your business. 

1. Use energy-saving technologies

Installing energy-saving technologies will save energy in the long run, which helps you reduce the amount on the bills. In this way, you will contribute to sustaining the world's energy sources and reduce your energy costs. For example, you can move to energy-star-rated heating and cooling systems.

You can install solar panels and switch to energy-efficient LED light bulbs. Some sensors automatically detect light levels to adjust the bulb brightness, similar to the brightness control on a smartphone screen. Especially using more daylight and installing sensors in common areas and outdoor spaces are quick solutions for saving energy. 

2. Automate the guest rooms' systems

Providing key cards to activate certain energy systems when hotel guests are not in the room is a great solution to conserve energy. You can allow them to use the electricity even when they are away and ensure that the lights are off by organizing the system accordingly.  

You can install  

• Smart showers to limit the water use, which enables you to set a time and alert the user before the time is over
• Thermostats to control the heating and AC, which allow you to set a maximum and minimum temperature
• Toilet tank diverters can save about three-quarters of a gallon of water per flush

Additionally, consider training employees on how to reduce energy use. This training can cover simple solutions, such as turning off lights, to conducting their role with a green approach. You can also guide them to use the technologies energy-efficiently.

3. Put reminders for the guests

Small but efficient notes will remind your guests to turn off the lights when not needed. These notes should be friendly and encouraging rather than giving orders. Let them know you are working on being eco-friendly and ask for their help. In this way, you can even attract loyal guests, considering the statistics that show the importance they place on nature.

Another quick tip is to choose not to wash the towels and linens every day. Instead, inform the guests of your intention and change towels and linens every three days. You can inform them that they can request a cleaning service if they need it sooner. So you will not damage the guest experience.

4. Offer eco-friendly guest services

Utilize digital facilities to manage paperless bookings and operations. For example, you can keep the passport and ID card photos in a digital folder, and if you want to share guides to inform them of what goes on around, you can use digital brochures and send them to their email. That will help you save paper. 

You can encourage people to use public transportation by providing them with a reusable card or offering shared shuttles. Organizing shared airport or city shuttles can also enhance your services while promoting sustainability. In this way, they will use fewer single-passenger taxis or car rentals. 

5. Recycle and compost

Recycling is widespread, and even at home, people have started recycling their waste. If you are a hotelier looking for ways to encourage staff and guests to recycle, make it easy. Place recycling bins for newspapers, paper, glass, aluminum, cardboard, metal, and plastic throughout the area, and let people help you without requiring a lot of effort.  

However, recycling is not enough to achieve a green lifestyle nowadays. It would also be beneficial to consider composting as a sustainable initiative. For example, you can reuse food waste by composting. To apply this to your green agenda, consider creating the necessary infrastructure and training your staff. Additionally, various technological installations will optimize the recycling and composting process. 

6. Minimize the waste

Hotels generate various types of waste, and therefore, they have numerous opportunities to minimize their waste. As a hotelier, you can start by eliminating disposable products in your hotel's rooms, restaurants, and cafes. Using glass or metal straws, reusable napkins, and crystal cups not only looks more elegant but also helps save the world.  Never let plastic into your hotel, and reduce both supply costs and the amount of waste you create. 

Another practice of green hotels is to avoid using single-use shampoo and body wash bottles, as well as instant coffee packages, in the room. Choose refillable glass containers.

A simple solution to decrease the consumption of bottled water: you can provide drinking water stations at some spots in your hotel so that the guests can refill their bottles. Also, this ensures happy guests.

7. Change your menu and food supply

Reorganizing the menu can save a significant amount of waste and energy. For example, you can add more vegetarian and vegan options to the menu to reduce the amount of meat, which is a significant contributor to environmental degradation. Additionally, water conservation on a global scale is closely tied to meat consumption.  

Additionally, the number of vegetarians and vegans is increasing, and some of them may be your guests. They will be happy to share that you have vegan options in their network. That's an excellent opportunity to gain new guests. 

Choose locally-grown food or organic food to cook. Local food means that you won't have to worry about long transportation times for the food, and you give your guests the chance to enjoy local cuisine at home! Lower operating costs also come with healthy food options on your menu. Great for your hotel management and your guests.

You can also look for the labels of USDA Certified Organic, Food Alliance Certified, Rainforest Alliance Certified, Protected Harvest Certified, and Fair Trade Certified when you cooperate with the food supply brands.

8. Eliminate the use of toxic products use

Hotels can also prevent environmental damage with smart purchasing choices. Ensure that you buy biodegradable cleaning, laundry, and dishwashing products to keep your place clean. You don't need to compromise your hotel standards by eliminating toxic products. Today, it's pretty easy to find eco-friendly and high-quality cleaning products. 

You can apply the same approach to shampoo, soap, and other products you provide in guest rooms. You can even prefer providing refillable dispensers. 

This will also create a healthy working environment for your cleaning team, contributing to sustainability initiatives. 

9. Create an eco-friendly garden

Interestingly, not all gardens are eco-friendly. Use biodegradable products against insects and learn how to attract bees, butterflies, and birds. Certain plants are more attractive to the creatures that maintain the ecosystem. Also, learn about the native plants in your region. Then, you can plant them to make your garden beautiful and sustainable.

Among the green initiatives, you can also prefer sustainable watering applications. Work with professionals who will care for the garden with minimum water usage. There are certain times and amounts of water to water the plants that save gallons of water regularly. Win-win.

You can also use your compost to help your flowers flourish. For example, eggshells and coffee grounds feed your plants.

10. Move your onboarding and training online

When hiring new people to work with you, or you want to train your employees, choose online meetings and education tools. In this way, rent, transportation, operations, maintenance, and management costs will be lower, along with the carbon footprint.  

You can also reuse your training material more than once with online education, which means less work for each training. Another win-win!

If you really need face-to-face events, you can choose outdoor and daytime events to minimize energy consumption.

Bonus: Avoid greenwashing

Go really green if you want to mention your eco-friendly initiatives. Hotels that are not-so-green, but use the topic as marketing content, may end up with a bad reputation. Finally, your guests will see what goes on in your property once they arrive. 

Energy management and sustainable practices are easy to apply, and these applications are great for hotel marketing. On the other hand, greenwashing can harm your digital reputation by leading to negative reviews on Google. You don't have to promise zero waste to mention your efforts for sustainable tourism; however, if you are not into it, choose not to mention the topic.

The bottom line

Green initiatives will help you support ecotourism. The hotel industry is open to many creative ideas to offer a great guest experience while supporting global climate action. Reorganize the systems to reduce water consumption, use of toxic pesticides, and plastic waste, while encouraging recycling, composting, and local supply chains. 

Small changes will make a big difference in the long term to save our planet. They will also have excellent conversion rates by helping you gain loyal guests, who will be happy to recommend your place in their networks.