The State of Sustainable Hotel Management in Europe

The State of Sustainable Hotel Management in EuropeA practical research report for European hoteliers looking to reduce the environmental footprint of their business

Table of ContentsGoing beyond a linen program 3

Meet the experts 4

The current state 5

The challenges 7

Sustainable hotel management tools & practices 9

Energy 10

Water 11

Waste 13

Conclusion 14

About Smartvatten 15

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I t’s no secret that sustainable, energy efficient tools and practices can help hotels save millions every year. However, to realize those savings

and become recognized as an environmentally sustainable business, you must do much more than run a towel and linen program.

With thousands of alternative solutions and a limited budget, you’re up against a difficult task: How to choose the tools and practices with the biggest environmental impact?

To help you compare and contrast the alternatives, we first asked 40 European hoteliers to complete a brief online survey about their current sustainability initiatives and future plans. Next, we convinced three in-dustry thought leaders to share their advice on choosing the right tools and practices.

With the results of the online survey and the three interviews as our primary sources, we set out to answer the following questions:

• What do European hoteliers consider as their biggest challenges when it comes to environmentally sustainable hotel management?

• What are the most commonly employed tools and practices for manag-ing electricity, water, and waste in European hotels?

• Are there any rising sustainability trends that European hotel manag-ers should be aware of?

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy reading this report. Should you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Going beyond a linen program

Matti NevalaCMOSMARTVATTEN

matti.nevala@smartvatten.com+358 45 650 5720

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Meet the experts

Domingo Rodríguez-OrtizDIRECTOR, HOTEL INGLATERRA, SPAIN

Domingo Rodríguez-Ortiz is the Director of Hotel Inglaterra in Seville, Spain. Founded in 1857, Hotel Inglaterra is one of the oldest and most prestigious hotels in Spain, with a long-standing tradition for serving not only its highly esteemed guests but also the environment.

Juha MähönenMANAGING DIRECTOR, HOTEL HAIKKO MANOR & SPA, PORVOO, FINLANDEHMA NATIONAL DELEGATE NORDIC, BALTIC & RUSSIA

Juha Mähönen is the Managing Director of the prestigious Hotel Haikko Manor & Spa in Porvoo, Finland and Councilor and National Delegate for Nordic, Baltic & Russia in European Hotel Managers Association EHMA. Every year since 2012, EHMA has recognized one General Man-ager with a sustainability award celebrating environmentally sustaina-ble hospitality actions.

Francisco Corrêa de BarrosGENERAL MANAGER, PALÁCIO ESTORIL HOTEL GOLF & SPA, PORTUGAL

Francisco Corrêa de Barros is the General Manager of Hotel Palácio Estoril in Portugal, a world famous luxury hotel known for its lush golf courses and relaxing spa treatments. Since the 1930’s, the hotel has wel-comed guests from around the world to enjoy the picturesque sceneries of Estoril, a coastal town right outside of Lisbon.

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The current stateTo get a better understanding of the role environmental sustainabili-

ty plays in the European hotel industry and warrant the production of this research report, we started our online survey with a simple ques-tion: “In your opinion, how important is environmental sustainability to the hotel industry?”

Though we were expecting a majority of the respondents to recog-nize the topic’s significance, we were surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response. In fact, 95% of the respondents rated environmental sustainability as either very important (64%) or important (31%).

This sentiment was also strongly supported by all three of the ex-perts we interviewed.

“We strongly believe that we have to invest in sustainability. It’s the only way.”DOMINGO RODRÍGUEZ-ORTIZ, HOTEL INGLATERRA

“I always say that sustainability is part of the ultimate luxury. Back in the day hotel guests may have associated sustainability with discom-fort but today, staying at a 5-star hotel is often an environmentally friendly choice, which can make the experience even better.”JUHA MÄHÖNEN, HOTEL HAIKKO MANOR & SPA / EHMA

VERY IMPORTANT (64%) IMPORTANT (31%)How important

is environmental sustainability to the

hotel industry?

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To better understand the current state of sustainable hotel management practices in Europe, the survey continued with a self-assessment ques-tion, asking the respondents to rate their hotels’ current sustainability practices on a scale from 1 (very undeveloped) to 5 (very advanced). To our surprise, only 31% of the respondents rated their current sustainabili-ty practices as ‘very advanced’.

These results left us with two unwavering conclusions:

1. Most European hotel managers feel like they could be doing more to promote environmental sustainability.

2. Something is preventing them from taking action.

With these insights as our compass, we set out to find out what Euro-pean hoteliers consider as the biggest barriers to adopting sustainable management practices.

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The challenges

While energy efficient hotel management practices present huge cost saving opportunities, our survey respondents and industry

experts also pointed out that there are some typical barriers that can slow down the pace of adoption. In this chapter, we’ll take a quick look at some of the biggest challenges that are preventing European hotel managers from taking action.

Financial constraintsPerhaps unsurprisingly, the one thing that kept arising from the survey data as well as the expert interviews was money. With limited budgets and overwhelmingly high expectations from different stakeholder groups, hotel managers are feeling the pressure to allocate their resources wisely.

“Our biggest challenge is financial. We’re already doing a lot, but we could always do more if we had the funds for it.”DOMINGO RODRÍGUEZ-ORTIZ, HOTEL INGLATERRA

Spoilt for choiceSeveral survey respondents reported that the seemingly unlimited num-ber of options can slow down the decision making process. With research and comparison taking a lion’s share of their time, some hotel managers felt like they could only really focus on a few initiatives at a time.

Local doesn’t always equal best qualityWhen it comes to food, locally produced ingredients offer a simple op-portunity to make an energy efficient choice that doesn’t cost a penny. However, in quality conscious luxury hotels and their 5-star restaurants, this preference for locally sourced ingredients can be tricky.

“The big issue for us is maintaining quality while making sustainable choices. We use local ingredients as much as we can, but if the local octopus is chewy, we can’t sell it because our guests wouldn’t like it.”FRANCISCO CORRÊA DE BARROS, PALÁCIO ESTORIL HOTEL GOLF & SPA

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Getting guests onboard

Judging from the survey responses, many European hotel managers seem to struggle with guest commitment. These hoteliers must decide whether they want to change the minds of their guests, or simply focus on behind-the-scenes activities instead. As one of our experts pointed out, there is a silver lining to the second approach:

“Many initiatives visible to the guests are only the tip of the iceberg. Long-term investments like renewable energy and wastewater treat-ment programs could have a much bigger impact than any towel and linen program.”JUHA MÄHÖNEN, HOTEL HAIKKO MANOR & SPA / EHMA

Ensuring employee buy-inAnother important stakeholder group that hotel managers need to convince are the hotel employees. Without their continued support and daily efforts to minimize the negative environmental impact of the busi-ness, many of the management team’s sustainability initiatives would fall short.

“You have to convince the whole staff that sustainability is important. Changing people’s attitudes is not always easy, but it can make a huge difference.”FRANCISCO CORRÊA DE BARROS, PALÁCIO ESTORIL HOTEL GOLF & SPA

Now that you have a better understanding of the kinds of challenges your peers are facing, it’s time to move on to the solutions. In the next chapter, we’ll present the most popular tools and practices that European hoteliers have adopted to manage the environmental impact of their business.

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Sustainable hotel manage-ment tools & practicesTo help you compare and contrast your hotel’s sustainability initiatives with the practices your peers have adopted, we asked 40 European hoteliers to list all the tools and practices that they are already using as well as all the ones that they’re planning on implementing within the next 12 months.

In this chapter, we’ll present our findings across three categories: energy, water, and waste.

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Energy

The clear winner of the first category was energy efficient lighting, which was not-so-closely followed by energy efficient electric devices, as well as motion and timer-controlled lighting. Overall, the results suggest that reducing electricity consumption is a top priority to most European hotel managers – a sentiment supported by one our experts.

“3 years ago we decided to make the switch from traditional light bulbs to to micro LED lights. Since then, our energy consumption has dropped by 30-35%, which has, of course, resulted in huge savings in our energy bill.”DOMINGO RODRÍGUEZ-ORTIZ, HOTEL INGLATERRA

The 12-month forecast: energy

When it comes to future investment areas, the survey data suggests that automatic energy consumption monitoring will be on many European hotels’ agenda within the next 12 months. This is, of course, good news for the industry at large, since consistent measurement is the key to achiev-ing – and keeping track of – the incremental improvements that typical-ly follow smaller changes.

Top 3 investment areas in energy

1. Automatic energy consumption monitoring2. Energy efficient light bulbs3. Lighting with motion detectors or timers

75% ENERGY EFFICIENT LIGHT BULBS

54% ENERGY EFFICIENT ELECTRIC DEVICES

51% LIGHTING WITH MOTION DETECTORS OR TIMERS

41% ECO-CERTIFIED AND/OR RENEWABLE ENERGY

41% STRONG PREFERENCE FOR ORGANIC OR FAIR-TRADE FOOD AND DRINK PRODUCTS

39% AUTOMATIC ENERGY CONSUMPTION MONITORING

21% CARBON EMISSION MEASUREMENT TOOL

36% MANUAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION MONITORING

Which tools and practices are European hotels currently using to manage their energy consumption?

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Water

According to an estimate by the International Tourism Partnership (ITP), a single occupied room can consume up to 1,500 litres of water in a matter of 24 hours. This level of water consumption is particularly problematic in popular European tourist destinations like Rome and Porto that are al-ready facing severe consequences of water scarcity. That’s why sustaina-ble water management is now more important than ever before.

The 12-month forecast: water

We were particularly happy to spot leak detection devices high up among our respondents’ list of short-term investment priorities. While it’s true that eco-friendly appliances and water flow restrictors can limit daily water consumption considerably, perhaps the most significant savings come from leak prevention.

After all, even a small leak can cause structural damage to the build-ing, which can easily cost hundreds of thousands of euros to fix. Worse yet, the resulting construction work could decrease room availability and cause a subsequent drop in profitability.

“We recently implemented Smartvatten to track our water consumption around the clock. The system sends us automatic alerts when it detects leaks, which in turn helps us prevent damages.”FRANCISCO CORRÊA DE BARROS, PALÁCIO ESTORIL HOTEL GOLF & SPA

85% TOWEL AND LINEN PROGRAM

72% ECO-FRIENDLY DISHWASHERS AND LAUNDRY SYSTEMS

56% LOW FLOW OR DUAL FLUSH TOILETS

54% WATER FLOW RESTRICTORS OR TAP AERATORS

44% WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROGRAM

46% AUTOMATIC WATER CONSUMPTION MONITORING

15% LEAK DETECTION DEVICE

36% MANUAL WATER CONSUMPTION MONITORING

Which tools and practices are European hotels currently using to manage their water consumption?

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Top 3 investment areas in water

1. Eco-friendly dishwashers and laundry systems2. Leak detection device3. Water flow restrictors or tap aerators

While the majority of future investments were focused on reducing en-ergy and water consumption, one of our experts was in the process of taking energy management a step further.

“By the end of 2018 we will have installed solar panels. Going forward, they’ll produce 40% of the hot water that we use in our property.”DOMINGO RODRÍGUEZ-ORTIZ, HOTEL INGLATERRA

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Waste

When it comes to waste reduction and recycling, almost three quarters of the hotels surveyed had already introduced waste management and/or recycling programs. Furthermore, many of our respondents reported that they had made small improvements like switching from disposable cups to real ones and from single-dose shampoo bottles to refillable dispens-ers. This makes perfect sense since initiatives like this won’t cost a thing but they will reduce the amount of waste considerably.

“We try to recycle paper and use less and less plastic. We only have re-cyclable bottles in the minibars and we rarely print anything anymore.”FRANCISCO CORRÊA DE BARROS, PALÁCIO ESTORIL HOTEL GOLF & SPA

The 12-month forecast: waste

With eco-label cleaning products and detergents at the top of the short-term investments list, it appears that European hotel managers are quick-ly waking up to the harmful environmental effects of traditional cleaning products.

Top 3 investment areas in waste

1. Eco-label cleaning products and detergents2. Limited use of disposable cups, plates etc.3. Waste management & recycling program

72% WASTE MANAGEMENT & RECYCLING PROGRAM

59% ECO-LABEL CLEANING PRODUCTS AND DETERGENTS

59% LIMITED USE OF DISPOSABLE CUPS, PLATES, ETC.

46% LIMITED USE OF SINGLE-DOSE PACKAGES FOR FOOD & TOILETRIES

Which tools and practices are European hotels currently using to manage waste?

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Conclusion

As the sheer number of tools and practices covered in the previous chapter suggests, sustainable hotel management doesn’t have to be

difficult or even all that expensive. Going back to the challenges listed in Chapter 4, we wanted to leave

you with a simple recipe for overcoming most of them. Simply follow these 5 easy steps, and you’ll be on your way to more sustainable hotel management in no time:1. Start measuring. If you’re not already keeping track of how much

electricity and water your business is consuming or how much waste you’re generating, now is a good time to start. With a clear idea of the current state, you’ll be able to make a more informed decision about what to do next.

2. Set goals with the team. Work together with your team to set ambi-tious, yet achievable goals. By involving the hotel staff early on, they’re much more likely to commit to the agreed initiatives.

3. Secure budget. The good news is that most sustainability efforts are good for not only the environment but also your wallet. Although some larger initiatives can cost a lot up front, it’s good to remember that they’re often the ones that will save you the most money over time.

4. Choose the right tools and practices. When assessing alternative tools and practices, remember to keep the comparison in the context of your business. No matter how nice benchmark data is, the physical location of your hotel, local infrastructure, and the age of the building can have a huge impact on the success of each initiative.

5. Communicate often. Now that you know exactly what you’re working towards as a team, it’s time to make progress visible to all the stake-holders – guests included. By offering frequent updates about the ad-vances in your chosen initiatives, environmentally conscious guests are more likely to find you and your long-term sustainability invest-ments will start paying back sooner.

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About SmartvattenSmartvatten is the smart way to monitor water consumption, catch plumbing leaks, and increase the operational efficiency of your hotel business. With a camera to keep track of your main water meter and a cloud-based service to analyze consumption patterns around the clock, you can rest easy knowing that your water bill won’t get out of hand and that the system will alert you immediately if it detects a leak.

Read more smartvatten.com/remote-monitoring