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A Review of Green Hotel Statistics
Statistics about hotels going green are often presented as surveys where the question was asked about what green actions are taken. This survey is of what environmental issues hotels consider important as they go green and progress to a sustainable business. The top four green actions for hotels on EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com are participating in a green program, fresh air, energy conservation and water conservation.
EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotel.com has a wealth of information about what hotels actually do to be green or sustainable. I've had a few people ask me questions about how many hotels take specific green actions. The question has come often enough and the results have been interesting enough I thought I'd share what my small sampling (3,600) tells me about how hotels "go green".
Which are the easiest great actions to take, and which are the hardest? Participating in a green program is probably the easiest green action or gesture to make while gray water recycling is probably the hardest, usually because of local ordinances against it. To illustrate that point 3,012 of the listed hotels participate in a green program and only 244 have a gray water system.
Interestingly, the green initiatives between those two don't arrenge themselves by what I think are the easiest to the hardest green actions. Action seems to vary according to what seems "PC" for the hotel's price point, what the franchise allows, and ambivalence about how far to go or how much effort to exert in being green. I'm sure greenwashing plays a part in what and how much some hotels do to act green.
Here's the breakdown by green initiative action item and occurrence or participation.
| Participate in green program | 3012 |
| Fresh air | 2447 |
| Energy conservation | 2300 |
| Water conservation | 2110 |
| Durable service items | 1954 |
| Educate staff to green | 1787 |
| promote green in PR | 1525 |
| hotel recycling bins | 1454 |
| maintenance for conservation | 1436 |
| educate guests to green | 1326 |
| towel reuse | 1209 |
| environmental cleaning | 1126 |
| sheet reuse | 1145 |
| eco-friendly food | 934 |
| organic food | 799 |
| cotton sheets/towels | 709 |
| recyclable disposables | 655 |
| donating to charity | 647 |
| composting | 597 |
| newspaper program | 487 |
| compostable disposables | 480 |
| bulk soaps and amenities | 478 |
| guestroom recycling bins | 475 |
| allergies | 449 |
| xeric garden | 402 |
| alternative energy | 392 |
| gray water recycling | 244 |
But why only about half of the listed hotels promote their green programs on their websites baffles me. Only 1,525 hotels mention even in the slightest way they have a green philosophy, much less go into any detail about what green actions they take. With the trend of going green I'd think more hotels would elaborate about exactly what they do that's sustainable.
My challenge to green hotels is to make a bold statement on your website about what your green philosophy is and what your specific green actions are. If you are going to be green, truly green and sustainable, tell the world about it. If you don't take a public stance on your environmentally friendly initiatives maybe you aren't committed to being green.
An even bigger challenge is for more hotels to take more green initiatives and to become truly sustainable in their thoughts and operations, as represented by their actions. And the hotels that are taking green initiatives are hereby challenged to do more than they presently are. That's the way we'll green the hospitality industry.
Posted by Kit
