In line with government targets around the world, major hotel groups have pledged to become net zero companies by 2050. At net zero, a company still generates carbon dioxide, but offsets an equal amount via reforestation and green schemes. Many hotel brands partner with carbon offsetting organisations that highlight their technological credentials.
Calculating carbon emissions for hotels mostly involves assessing the carbon footprint of the buildings themselves and their energy use. This means measuring gas for cooking and heating (scope 1); electricity coming from the grid into the building (scope 2); and emissions from the activities of employees, guests and suppliers (scope 3).
Offsetting and APIs
Once measured, hotel owners and operators can take actions to reduce emissions as well as join offsetting schemes. Melia Hotels, a brand with 374 hotels in 40 countries, has partnered with ClimateTrade and integrated the ClimateTrade API, adding a carbon offsetting function to its rewards programme. Guests can see the carbon footprint of their stay when making a booking and have the option to offset it by contributing to a selection of sustainable projects.
Hilton has partnered with South Pole, another a carbon offsetting platform, to balance out unavoidable emissions from corporate clients hosting meeting and events. The various offset schemes include wind power projects in India and the US, and safe water supply in Rwanda.
Tristan Gadsby, CEO of hospitality technology provider Alliants, which became a carbon neutral company in 2022, said: “Decarbonisation programmes are just one aspect of being a responsible employer of choice, but increasingly, hotel owners who prioritise accredited sustainability schemes are likely to see benefits such as better finance terms, competitive insurance premiums and higher asset values.”
Carbon offsetting organisations claim that the benefits of using their APIs include the automated calculation of emissions and the booking of carbon offset orders, representing a time-saving solution with little-to-no human intervention required. ClimateTrade says it uses Blockchain technology to provide its customers with full transparency of the carbon offset projects they choose.
PMS provider Mews has made an integration with Hotels for Trees available to its hotel clients. Hotels for Trees is a non-profit foundation that plants a tree every time a guest chooses to skip their daily housekeeping service. This reduces hotel operating costs, and the corresponding savings are used to plant trees.
Silvia Danila Moggia, owner of Oasi Hotel in Levante, Italy, has been using the integration. “Our housekeeping team handle everything via the app,” she said. “We reduced laundry and cleaning product costs and our team have more time to clean other rooms and common areas. Even as a small boutique hotel, we were able to plant 622 trees in seven months, something we’re very proud of.”
Reducing consumption
When it comes to reducing energy consumption within hotels, the adoption of building management systems (BMS) has increased. The Hilton Glasgow uses a BMS that is linked to occupancy sensors throughout the building that modify temperatures. General manager Calum Ross said: “With the right oversight, it does all the heavy lifting for you. If you’ve got big spaces, like our grand ballroom, they are taking a lot of heat so that’s where more of the expense is rather than the bedrooms.”
David Tarsh, strategy and communications advisor, Energy and Environment Alliance, added that hotel energy use is not as dependent on guests as one might think. “Around 50% to 60% of a hotel’s energy is required to run the hotel even with no guests, and this became very apparent during COVID,” he said. “There are all kinds of systems that the hotel must run. You need basic heating otherwise you get mould everywhere.”
Hotels can set the heating and cooling parameters to prevent guests from using excessive air-con or heating, but Tarsh noted that there is a balance to strike between energy efficiency and comfort.
“What you don’t want is to create a lousy guest experience,” said Tarsh. “Certain brand standards will require the room to be at a certain temperature when the guest arrives. Sure, no one wants to be wasteful, but you’ve also got to be conscious that the guests have paid their money for a nice experience and if they get anything less, they won’t be coming back.”
Impact of keyless entry
Over the last twenty years, it has been common practice for branded hotels, especially in Europe, to have energy-saving slots in bedrooms which basically act as a master on-off switch. Only by putting the plastic room key into the slot will the guest be able to switch on the lights and appliances.
Will the rollout of mobile keys change this practice? Andrew Evans, CEO, Keystep Solutions, said: “The solution has been to give mobile key users a plastic key or leave one in the room, however we have now produced an energy-saving switch that is activated at the same time the guest opens their door with a mobile key. It still has a slot for a plastic card as some guests may still prefer a key card.”
The widely used energy-saving slot is not new and it does have drawbacks: it only saves electricity usage, not heating and cooling, and a guest with two keys might simply leave one in the slot throughout their stay.
Like the BMS deployed at the Glasgow Hilton, more sophisticated sensor-based energy-saving systems are now available which are not dependant on the actions of the guest.
Ultimately, hotel companies will want to eliminate the use of plastic key cards. Bamboo is a more expensive biodegradable alternative offered by suppliers such as Salto Systems.
In a Greenview and WTTC survey of 27,000 hotels in 54 countries, almost all of them had implemented energy efficiency measures. Popular measures include the installation of smart grid and smart building technologies, and high-efficiency equipment and appliances. The top countries for these practices are Switzerland, Spain and Greece. The same survey found that over 40% of hotels measure their carbon emissions, mostly on a quarterly basis. The top countries for measuring and reducing carbon emissions are Taiwan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.