Cornell Hospitality Research Summit 2012: Toward Sustainable Hotel and Restaurant Operations
The international hotel and restaurant industry has been working toward sustainability in operations, and industry executives are making every effort to report their sustainability results, partly in response to requests from customers and governments. One resource for this effort is the Global Reporting Initiative, which involves numerous industries. Because hotels occupy a central point in many supply chains, hotel operators are looking up and down the supply chain in connection with sustainability reporting. In this regard, sustainability has become a business driver, and guests are aware of hotels? sustainability efforts. However, the only sustainability-related element in the actual purchase decision is a ?healthy room,? according to research by Expedia and MindClick. Even as guests expect hotels to be sustainable, they are also uncertain about environmental claims, on the concern that hotels may be ?greenwashing,? or exaggerating their sustainability efforts. One way for hotels to overcome that concern is to take advantage of internationally recognized certifications, including LEED, ISO 14001, and Travelocity?s Green Hotel directory. A particular challenge in sustainability reporting is that benchmarks are difficult to determine. Thus, research is under way to establish appropriate benchmarks. Since a one-number standard is nearly impossible to determine, several benchmarks based on monthly data may be the most applicable approach. Carbon reporting seems to be one item of particular interest. SABRE, for instance, has developed a CO2 reporting standard that varies by country. As an industry supplier, EcoLab also works to support hotel and restaurant sustainability, particularly focusing on water issues. One issue that particularly affects restaurants is the use of packaging for carryout and drivethrough operations. One study found that restaurant customers responded to packaging was recyclable in terms of the size and nature of their? orders.