Pages: 60

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 10

The growth of the hospitality sector and intensity of operations results in considerable impacts on the climate. The carbon footprint of hotels, expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per occupied room varies significantly and is caused by different scopes of emissions. Operational energy required for heating, cooling, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) as well as lighting needs, for example, are categorised and recorded as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. However, a significant share of emissions in the hospitality sector lies within Scope 3. These emissions are difficult to analyse and quantify, as there is no unified system of appraisal. Scope 3 broadly encompasses emissions along the supply chain but also in the management of waste and the embodied carbon in infrastructure and materials such as furniture, fixtures and equipment. In turn, climate change results in various levels of disruption of hospitality and tourism operations, from unstable food production to increased vulnerability of infrastructure due to extreme weather events. Beyond the pressure on the environment and faced with the consequences of the climate emergency, destinations can experience different socio-economic outcomes, but many will face dire consequences. It is a vicious circle which could be broken once stakeholders align their efforts in implementing technologies, environmental initiatives and sustainable consumption nudges in order to reach net-zero operations by 2050.

Pages: 10

The term biodiversity describes the variety of life on our planet at the levels of genes, species and ecosystems. Biodiversity is the basis of ecosystem services, i.e. the services that nature provides for humans. The value of biodiversity and ecosystem services exceeds the value of the global gross national product by a factor of about 2. Humans can replace ecosystem services incompletely, expensively or not at all. The hospitality sector is dependent on biodiversity and at the same time impacts on it – within certain limits the impact might be positive, while the majority rather harms biodiversity and ecosystem services. The hospitality sector can and should take biodiversity considerations into account in all phases of its operations, from planning to operations to deconstruction. This not only increases the quality of stay for customers, but also makes the company as a whole more future-proof.

Pages: 12

With 2.2 billion people globally living without access to safe, clean drinking water, water scarcity continues to be an issue for tourism and hospitality. The tourism industry by its nature places additional pressures on fragile systems. The sheer scale of the industry and the type of experiences the sector offers means that water consumption both direct (golf courses, artificial snow) and indirect (building of high-rise infrastructure) can be high, contributing to problems with water scarcity. A coordinated approach is required to water management, yet globally regions are underperforming in the political will to manage water. As such, hospitality operators are taking the burden thorough both innovative solutions – including freshwater creation, greywater management, water measurement systems and laundry management – and small-scale actions that drive change.

Pages: 12

Mitigating human rights risks presents a complex challenge for any business. The hospitality industry can be more vulnerable than other industries to human rights issues occurring either directly or along its supply chain due to its size and diversity. It is therefore essential that hospitality businesses have robust ethical recruitment and employment processes in place to mitigate the risks and protect their colleagues, the workers in the organisations they do business with and the communities in which they operate. This chapter explores why the industry is at particular risk of potential human rights issues, such as forced labour or sexual exploitation, paying particular attention to migrant workers who provide an essential source of talent and skills for the industry. This is followed by recommendations for what hotels can do to get started, including the development of corporate policies, and due diligence and worker grievance processes. Human rights issues cannot be fully addressed by any single stakeholder working in isolation, and the chapter concludes with some examples of multi-stakeholder cooperation between government, civil society and the hospitality sector.

Pages: 14

The COVID-19 pandemic affected all tourism destinations at the same time. Many regions were simultaneously dealing with forest fires or heavy storms. Pandemics and disasters from major events, including earthquakes and tropical cyclones, and smaller and more localised events, such as landslides and fires, put hotels at risk in every part of the world. In the past, hotels have been reluctant to invest into comprehensive disaster risk management and climate change adaptation planning. However, there is growing evidence that proactive crisis risk management brings benefits. It will not only increase the safety, reputation and profit of hotels, but it can also strengthen community resilience. COVID-19 has required many hotels to quickly develop a disaster management plan under the stress and uncertainties of an evolving pandemic. The pandemic has provided an opportunity for many hoteliers to recognise the importance of a robust disaster management plan and resilience strategy. Following the pandemic, more than ever, there will be opportunities to address resilience and sustainability in a more integrated way. The challenge lies in capturing this interest and, while the topic is complex, not overcomplicating it. During the pandemic, Hotel Resilient has been working with hotels, offering risk analysis, practical implementation strategies based on industry-supported standards and software-supported resilience assessments for hotels.

Pages: 124

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 14

This chapter discusses the significance of food, its climate impacts, the scale of food waste in hospitality businesses, its causes and barriers to action. It concludes that net zero claims will be difficult to fulfil without addressing the issue of food and specifically food waste prevention in the industry. Technological solutions are unlikely to emerge in the short term, and effective action will require changes in behaviour among all of those who are involved in the procurement, processing, service, consumption and disposal of food to deliver against these commitments. The information presented in this chapter is derived from learnings that have emerged from multiple research studies and practical consultancy projects commissioned by a range of clients from food service and hotel sectors, which focused on the topic of food and food waste prevention. These have collectively utilised a combination of waste audits, reviews of service standards, observation, interviews with managers, corporate head office staff and individual employees in hotels and hospitality businesses located predominantly in the UK and Europe.

Pages: 10

This chapter aims to explore whether consensus is building among restaurant operators and food and beverage (F&B) managers on which aspects of sustainability they should focus to distinguish themselves as operating sustainably. To answer this question, expert interviews were held. The answers were interpreted in the light of literature on sustainable F&B. The interviewees agree that minimising food waste is the sustainability topic in F&B. On other aspects, however, there appears to be a large variety of focus areas – and a corresponding variety of reasons to choose one or the other. Some hotel chains start with a broader corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme – containing, for instance, an ethical charter that suppliers need to sign – and/or environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria to attract socially responsible investors. Others use minimising the impact on environment as the main criterion. Yet others take the health/wellbeing of their guests, staff and other stakeholders as the starting point, or aim to operate totally regeneratively. Considering this variety, the question can be raised whether and how the different approaches to sustainability in F&B unveiled by this research can be compared. As a first answer to this question, the chapter proposes a framework for benchmarking sustainability in F&B. The provisory conclusion is that the criteria to compare the sustainability efforts of F&B operations should be used on a local, if possible regional, level. National/international benchmarks are hardly possible, given the extremely different circumstances between regions.

Pages: 10

We are increasingly aware of the food we eat, the experiences surrounding the food we eat and the significant effects that our food has on our personal health and the environment, both now and in the future. When predicting what the ‘menu of the future’ will include, we consider the interplay between different levels: the food, the consumer, the immediate consumer's context, as well as the implications on the natural environment. Important developments and trends such as the transition to sustainable protein alternatives, sustainable agriculture alternatives and emerging consumer technologies are discussed, with personal gastronomy as an encompassing umbrella. Together, these elements result in a framework that shows that personalised gastronomy is created through the interplay between these multiple levels.

Pages: 13

The COVID-19 pandemic offered an opportunity to put a topic under the spotlight that was undervalued and largely associated with diet and weight loss for the luxury segment: wellbeing. This term is now evolving in its full definition, encompassing all actions that contribute to mental, physical and emotional health. The aim of this chapter is to define how promoting human wellbeing in the hospitality industry is beneficial also for sustainability and wellbeing of our planet. In this chapter, we emphasise that the two dimensions need to be addressed in synchronicity: it is impossible to have healthy people on a sick planet. Throughout this chapter, we postulate that wellbeing can be addressed at different stages of the hospitality life cycle, as well as at various touchpoints across properties, tying together the wellbeing of guests, employees, communities and the environment.

Pages: 10

The importance of health and safety in the hospitality catering and tourism (HCT) businesses cannot be understated. Travellers visit destinations with the expectation that their stays will be safe and accident-free. To avoid liabilities, most hospitality and tourism businesses invest a significant amount of effort in their health and safety programmes through preventative programmes with special emphasis on hygiene. Many health and safety standards are governed by international and national laws while others are guided by tour operator standards. The US Occupational Health and Safety Act provides some level of safety coverage for hospitality and tourism workers. Health and safety in tourism and hospitality have implications for hotel guests, visitors and staff alike. There are also several implications for the environment and natural resources based on the type of chemicals used, amount of energy and water consumed, and their potential impact on flora and fauna. This chapter will examine the nexus between the establishment of a robust health and safety system and a good sustainability programme. Considerations for environmental conservation will focus on energy conservation, water conservation, waste management, biodiversity conservation and community development. The value and criteria for environmental certification programmes utilising concepts in health and safety will also be outlined in this chapter as they play a critical role in the establishment of indicators to measure and monitor sustainability at large.

Pages: 12

Guest incentivisation has been widely used by many hotels and accommodation providers to attempt to alter guest behaviour for pro-environmental purposes, but is there space for improvement? We undertake an assessment of different methods of guest engagement and satisfaction and believe there is ample ability for innovation in incentivising guests. Typically, guests are asked to save by being tempted with fiscal and extrinsic rewards or convinced through limited explanation of the impact of savings. This may be because the hotel industry does not think that guests have strong enough pro-environmental values, and thus do not offer better-targeted motivations that align with what the guests actually desire, or do not have a sufficiently substantive story to share with guests. Intrinsic motivation, such as connection to a larger cause and setting norms to persuade guests, is a much more powerful and meaningful method to incentivise guests and achieve positive change. Sustainability success can be the reward. We argue that gamification offers a very fruitful and more sustainable way to engage staff and guests – without a focus on extrinsic rewards and their costs. Using gamification and positive psychology, and restricting the use of extrinsic rewards, has the effect of increasing guest engagement in sustainability practices, as well as providing a means to showcase the accommodation's own sustainability progress.

Pages: 8

Climate change is a global issue that affects communities, lives, businesses and economies all over the world. The hotel industry accounts for 1% of global emissions and its share is set to increase. Hospitality, like other industries, has a responsibility to manage its impact on our planet. Research by the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (2017) found that a 66% reduction in carbon emissions per room is needed by 2030, rising to 90% by 2050. This highlights the urgency of bold action. Improving energy efficiency and renewable energy plays an important role in achieving this; however, carbon offsets are also required to achieve this target. As a low-hanging fruit, hotels should introduce a carbon emission fee upon guests’ check-in, which Soneva has successfully implemented for all guest stays since 2008. The money raised funds the Soneva Foundation, which invests in a portfolio of carbon-mitigating projects, offsetting both direct and indirect emissions, including guest air travel. There have even been excess offsets, which has allowed external companies to offset their emissions, resulting in more funds raised for the Soneva Foundation to invest in further carbon-mitigating projects.

Pages: 10

Labels and certifications focusing on sustainability (often referred to as ‘eco-labels’) can provide public and private organisations and consumers with a clearer picture of where to go in the market for products and services that meet desired environmental and social criteria. Given the trust that guests put in hotels in terms of their health and wellbeing, sustainable products play a particularly important role in hospitality. Making third-party certifications mandatory, however, has its benefits and its drawbacks. In this chapter, we assess decision-making factors in hospitality purchasing and discuss the benefits of using certified products and suppliers. We then provide the case for and against making certified products mandatory with the support of examples from within and beyond the hospitality industry. Finally, we propose a Responsible Procurement Decision Diagram to help hotels determine where and how to prioritise their efforts when selecting suppliers. Whether opting for certified products or not, the purchasing process of any hotel should be oriented toward responsible procurement practices. Using decision frameworks like the one provided in this chapter, hotels can empower employees in procurement functions to meet standards that contribute to a more sustainable world.

Pages: 11

Hotels around the world are consuming millions of single-use plastic products every year, and at the same time, destinations are becoming increasingly blighted by plastic pollution. As awareness of the negative impacts continues to grow, many players within the tourism industry are keen to remove single-use plastic products from their operations, but aiming to go completely plastic-free may not be as desirable as it sounds. Alternatives to plastic are coming on to the market at a pace so vast that public-sector infrastructure cannot keep up. In many cases, this results in plastic recycling streams being contaminated with new and mixed materials. Other environmental and/or social impacts associated with alternatives are often hidden elsewhere in the supply chain, so as we are solving one problem, we can unintentionally create others. The tendency to switch from single-use plastic to other single-use alternatives in the hospitality sector continues to drive a linear economy, doing little to reduce overall waste or increase the acceptance of circular solutions among tourism businesses and tourists. Hotels that are successful in making truly sustainable changes have several approaches in common. This chapter discusses the challenges, the potential solutions and provides inspiration from those leading by example.

Pages: 9

The chapter's objective is to investigate whether employees should be rewarded for committing to sustainability endeavours. The chapter examines the crucial role of human resources professionals and the impact of the perception of employees of an organisation's sustainable development endeavours. The COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions have shown that organisations can still do a considerable amount regarding sustainability initiatives. Even though the research on the rewarding of commitment to sustainability endeavours has been scarce, available literature has shown that many factors influence employee engagement in sustainability endeavours. While most scholars agree that employees should be rewarded for their commitment to sustainability, many argue the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Before setting a reward strategy, HR professionals should understand their employees’ values and consider the many motivators. Even if the link between intrinsic motivation and engaging in corporate social responsibility is evident, organisations should still ensure that employees are offered good working conditions, a fair salary and competitive monetary rewards. This chapter is therefore beneficial for both HR professionals and educational applications.

Pages: 12

Facing significant talent shortages, many hospitality organisations struggle to attract, develop and retain talent, and ultimately are not able to develop sustainable talent pipelines. In this chapter, we consider how organisations in the hospitality industry can introduce sustainable practices to manage talent. The chapter first presents an overview of the meaning of talent and talent management. We then introduce sustainability in the context of talent management and present three aspects that relate to a sustainable approach: (1) diverse and creative talent, (2) employer branding and employee value proposition, and (3) coopetition as an alternative to the competitive narrative in the hospitality industry. We conclude that sustainable approaches to talent management can aid talent attraction and retention. However, they must meet the organisational needs and employee needs alike, and therefore we advocate a differentiated approach that allows for strategic differentiation while equally providing learning, development and growth for all employees. The hospitality industry needs to become better at addressing foundational issues such as compensation, working conditions and career paths, while at the same time exploring more innovative approaches to managing talent in the future.

Pages: 145

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 10

Green teams can use their collective intelligence to understand and redress the impact of tourism and hospitality on people and the planet, by balancing the perspectives of relevant stakeholders. The success of green teams cannot depend on intrinsic motivation or the green citizenship of individuals. Teams need executive sponsorship, purposeful staffing and dedicated resources. Motivated by a supportive culture, they can build interdisciplinary ideas and create sustainable solutions. The proposed methodology unlocks the potential of green teams by leveraging the hands-on mentality, expert knowledge and strong networks typical of tourism and hospitality professionals.

Pages: 11

Responsible consumption and procurement is synergistic with sustainable operations and a necessary aspect of achieving any sustainability initiative in the hospitality industry. Social and environmental standards and certifications make responsible procurement accessible and standardised around the world. Standards and certifications establish global accountability and provide an easy tool to train teams to identify best practices regardless of expertise in relevant fields. Requiring suppliers to comply with approved standards will lead to consistent and long-term sustainable operations. The supplies used on a daily basis by businesses contribute to the health and wellbeing of patrons and staff. Every purchase is a choice and over time can have a substantial impact on the environment as well as the business operations. Every choice matters in that the products and services a business chooses to support can help shift the market towards the regenerative future.

Pages: 10

In recent years, the topic of sustainable development and environmental wellbeing has received much media attention, which has sparked several initiatives that attempt to find new ways to embed sustainable changes in our lives. However, much is left to define a systematic approach to ingrain sustainability as a core element in the hospitality industry. This chapter discusses the return on investment of hospitality assets from a sustainable perspective, using the triple bottom line approach and demonstrates how it can be efficiently outlined for owners, investors and operators alike. Doing so, we demonstrate the crucial role of operators in enforcing sustainability at every stage of the hotel asset's life cycle, from construction to operations and disposal. Illustrated with concrete examples, this chapter provides investors, developers and operators with a framework and structure to implement a coordinated sustainability strategy focused on the longevity of the asset and crossing the timeframes of each stakeholder.

Pages: 18

Tracking sustainability initiatives is the initial step on the path to implementing a sustainability strategy and being able to confidently produce a sustainability report. However, the problem must first be quantified. Consequently, it is important to understand why businesses in the hospitality industry, and beyond, should report and which key sustainability metrics should be tracked and reported. This chapter aims to answer both questions and provides details on why comprehensive, and data-led sustainability reporting is seen as a benefit as it addresses (1) legislative compliance, (2) the delivery of key global climate goals, (3)investor requirements for increasing ESG demands, (4) improved performance, (5) changing consumer demand, (6) the attraction and retention of the best staff, (7) the improvement of supplier relationships and (8) the strengthening of public relations avoidance of greenwashing. The chapter also gives clear guidelines on which type of metrics and data to collect, and the quality and detail required to provide the necessary transparency and compliance for credible, solid sustainability reporting, and presents the case of Con-Serve™.

Pages: 17

For far too long we have held on to the thinking that marketing sustainability should be an add-on to generic communication strategies for the hospitality industry. This could not be further from the truth. Recent surveys report consumer desire to know more about sustainable travel so they can make more conscious, guilt-free decisions, even when on holiday. While some customers are prepared to pay more for sustainable alternatives, there are more who will choose a sustainable option when all other elements of the offer are equal. We need to accelerate the speed at which the industry is embracing awareness of using persuasive communication to appeal to consumer motivations to generate behavioural change. This means guiding consumers on how to use our buildings and how to enjoy our destinations responsibly. It means engaging staff, so they feel pride and connection with their jobs and employers. It means sharing data-driven results that prove that consistent results are possible when led by commitment, clarity and strategic action. Ultimately, it means taking responsibility to guide and educate those around us even as we learn and improve our own knowledge about running and marketing a sustainable hospitality business.

Pages: 9

This discussion focuses on three key questions about how the communication of sustainability to customers should be undertaken. It considers why companies communicate sustainability practices and policies to customers, who are the targeted customer groups that communication efforts can be directed to and how communications can be most effective. Communicating about sustainability to customers requires an understanding of what aspects of sustainability are being communicated and to whom. The efforts covered in this discussion focus on sustainability related to environmental impacts created by the hospitality industry and how to mitigate them. Given that the hospitality industry is global in reach and impact, a range of issues and questions need to be addressed about developing the way in which to design communications. It is necessary to consider to whom the communication is being directed: corporate management (strategy), managerial (operational) or customers (stakeholders). Of importance is also what forms of information transfer will be applied to communication efforts. This discussion reviews six of the largest lodging companies in the world and different ways in which corporate websites communicate efforts to reduce and report sustainability-related efforts. The results of a survey of Generation Y and Millennial hospitality students presents ideas on ways to communicate sustainability efforts and actions in hotel properties.

Pages: 11

Sustainability is a key concept for companies. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospitality industry has generated sustainable experiences from a double perspective – that is, to increase its commitment to society and to generate greater engagement with consumers. This chapter identifies some aspects of CSR/sustainability strategies in this industry, through a case study. In general, hotels are including the criteria of the United Nations through the different Sustainable Development Goals to create positive impacts in the main areas of the business: environmental, economic and social issues. The authors of the chapter explore the business model of a hotel and the main areas of the business to engage guests in a sustainability experience through an in-depth interview with the Director of the Galapagos Foundation, who is one of the two partners of a sustainable hotel in the Galapagos Islands and chef and co-owner of the restaurant MUYU. This hotel business model allows us to explore multiple paths in this sector to establish a balance in the many axes of future initiatives in response to environmental issues.

Pages: 15

To move from the traditional mechanistic approach to sustainability toward regeneration, we need to rethink tourism and its stakeholders’ roles in drawing a new sense of community and environmental health and wellbeing. This requires an inside-out approach: crossing the ‘ontological threshold’ by evolving our mindsets and worldviews, acknowledging the interconnectedness of all life and the embedded systems in which we live, and developing new leadership skills and qualities. From this expanded consciousness and using living-system thinking, a new inclusive and collaborative approach emerges for the development of tourism destinations guided by the regenerative development principles. We can then engage with the broader community of stakeholders to co-design travel experiences that enable a deeper reconnection with ourselves, others and the world. This will ultimately foster a sense of care that we need in order to ignite our will and agency to protect all life on Earth. Each and every actor in the value chain is a critical stakeholder, plays a role in the shaping of the tourism industry and contributes to flourishing communities and natural environments.

Pages: 9

E-mobility and the growth of electric vehicle transportation systems represent a fast-moving change in the transportation and tourism systems. As these systems change, hoteliers have an opportunity to support these environmental initiatives while meeting the needs of their travelling consumers. This chapter examines the policy and market-based drivers of the transition to e-mobility as well as the opportunities and challenges facing hospitality companies as they incorporate EV charging amenities into their service offerings.

Pages: 15

Hotel construction and maintenance involves a significant carbon footprint from the necessary raw materials through the building process all the way to daily operations and ultimately potential demolition. The negative impacts are well researched, including resource depletion, greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss, with an increasing call for mitigation measures and adaptation to the Anthropocene. Sustainable hotel design aims to develop and implement architectural solutions that ensure the prosperity and coexistence of society, the environment and business. This implies a transformation of the current hotel building stock into a safe and low-impact haven for guests and employees. The integration of nature-based solutions (NbS) in hotel building infrastructures can be cost-effective while providing environmental, social and economic benefits and becoming hubs of resilience. Complementary to NbS, the implementation of biophilic design in hotel buildings fosters a greater connection between building occupants and the natural environment, positively affecting the physiological and psychological wellbeing of both guests and employees. This chapter analyses the mitigation of negative environmental impacts while addressing resilience challenges through NbS implementation. The direct impact of natural features in design is also explored. The impact of nature in both environmental and psychological regeneration is evident in the benefits of sustainable hotel design providing key points for industry rethinking.

Pages: 11

In recent years, purpose has emerged as a prominent attribute of the hospitality industry. Guests desire meaningful experiences that give them a sense of purpose often through a contribution to society, and the same society is looking at business to demonstrate purpose beyond profit-making. Through the concept of ethically meaningful customer experiences (EMCE), the hospitality industry is well placed to transform from its current role as a provider of corporate social responsibility initiatives into a source of holistic societal value without jeopardising its business goals. However, such transformation requires evaluation and evidence before the industry can claim to create value. Approaching the topic through a historic lens, this chapter develops an evaluation framework for purposeful hospitality business.

Pages: 3

Recovery, resilience and bouncing back are keywords that are used in discussions surrounding the hospitality industry's economic prospects. However uncertain the economic future may be, major crises of earth systems remain unabated to date. Resiliency and sustainability share similarities. Most notably, both concepts refer to the response to instabilities over time and the state of a system or an organisation. Resiliency takes a shorter-term approach and is based on developing and maintaining existing processes rather than focusing on specific goals. One can see the opportunity to bridge the two concepts in developing, implementing and scaling solutions to greater societal challenges. Crises, as damaging as they may be, trigger opportunities in product, service and systems innovation. General knowledge is essential to understanding how businesses function and which levers are linked to which sustainability goals. Actionable knowledge, however, is key to transform business operations by using the proper levers to meet any sustainability goals.