Industry Background And Overview

Welcome to the Hospitality Topic Hub, a guide to basic pollution prevention and sustainability information with links to additional on-line resources. The hospitality industry is large and varied, complex, and is expected to grow significantly in the next five years. With this anticipated growth and greater scrutiny from a more well-informed public, the implementation of green practices has become that much more important.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) recently released its 2008 Lodging Survey, one of the most comprehensive industry-wide surveys of its kind. The survey revealed notable trends in all segments of U.S. hotels, but for the first time in it history, the survey asked properties to report on their environmental initiatives. Funded by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation (AH&LEF), the research analyzed feedback from 217 participating U.S. hotel properties. Some of the highlights of that survey include the following:

• Sixty-eight percent of properties reported using energy-efficient lighting;

• Environmental Design (LEED) standards into their properties in the next 12 months; Twenty percent noted they have already incorporated LEED elements during the past 12 months;

• Eighty-eight percent of respondents properties had a linen reuse program for guests who stayed multiple nights; 83.5 percent offered a towel reuse program;

• Nearly half (43.4 percent) of responding properties had programmable on/off timers or sensors used for lighting in low traffic/occupancy, though only 16 percent used occupancy sensor control for guestroom thermostats

• The majority (82.3 percent) of properties surveyed trained maintenance staff on conservation and energy procedures

• Environmental benefits and building guest loyalty tied for the biggest motivating factors to for the implementation of green practices and ;

• Respondents noted that having enough capital to invest and achieving ROI are the top two biggest barriers to implementing eco-friendly initiatives

To see a more detailed summary of the survey results, click here

This resource was developed to help the technical assistance provider and/or hotel properties access best-management-practice (BMP) information in a variety of hospitality operations. More specifically, this resource has information on:

• Water Conservation

• Energy Conservation

• Environmental Preferable Purchasing

• Greening Meetings And Conferences

• Housekeeping

• Integrated Pest Management

• Kitchens

• Landscaping

• Office Supply

All references to environmental and best-management-practice documents and processes that have been peer-reviewed for accuracy.