Skip to main content Skip to footer
Travel Experience

Destination sustainability

April 23, 2023 5-Minuten Zeit

RESEARCH REPORT

In brief

  • The American Hotel & Lodging Association and Accenture launched a survey about the environmental initiatives the hospitality industry is implementing.
  • The results reveal opportunities for the industry to demonstrate leadership in sustainability.
  • The survey indicates heightened awareness around the sustainability imperative, and many opportunities for hoteliers to bolster their strategies.
  • One of the fundamental barriers is that many hotel owners simply don’t know where to begin.
  • We outline a step-by-step plan to jumpstart the sustainability strategy and put hotel owners on the path to continuous reinvention.

Hotels have a critical role in creating a more sustainable future. How well are they doing today?

Given the global, cross-industry imperative to improve all aspects of sustainability, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and Accenture launched a survey that focuses on what environmental initiatives the hospitality industry is implementing.

Recent Accenture research shows that companies are facing a permanent state of change at a pace never seen before, and rapidly shifting consumer preferences and climate change are among the key drivers of this change.

As hotels continue to evolve how they do business coming out of the pandemic amid so much change, there is an imperative for a strategy that Accenture calls Total Enterprise Reinvention. Companies following this strategy (Reinventors) reinvent over time every part of their companies company, centered around a digital core and new ways of working that establish a culture and capability for continuous reinvention. Doing so, they can set a new performance frontier for themselves and their industry.

Accenture believes that we’re at the early phases of this wave of change, and the next three years will be characterized by Total Enterprise Reinvention. This makes it an ideal time for hotels to make sustainability part of their continuous reinvention, embedding it into everything they do to deliver long-term, sustainable value for stakeholders beyond financials.

Awareness is one thing

Action is another

The survey responses indicate that while there is heightened awareness around the sustainability imperative, largely due to increased focus on the issue from internal and external stakeholders, there are many opportunities for hoteliers to bolster their sustainability strategies.

90%

of respondents acknowledge that there has been more pressure over the past few years to reduce hotels’ impact on the environment.

62%

have completed a benchmark against competitors. However, only half recognized that the results impacted their sustainability strategy.

40%

say that their sustainability strategy is missing key elements for implementation including budget, initiative details and resource allocation.

Every destination has a starting point

The survey findings suggest that hotel owners are in a difficult position when it comes to their sustainability investments. They recognize their importance and feel the pressure to act. But many things are standing in the way of developing a targeted and resourced strategy they can implement successfully.

The key to progress is to make decisions and set priorities with realistic expectations. Hotels can make meaningful change by building momentum from smaller, more manageable programs that involve achievable behavior change.

Start now to reach the destination

As hotels set their sustainability priorities and invest in capabilities to deliver on them, it’s critical to simultaneously drive top-down and bottom-up cultural change.

There is also work to do outside of the organization. Hotels should take the lead on making guests part of their sustainability journeys. In the business travel space, hotels can form corporate partnerships around shared sustainability commitments.

While the sustainability challenge is different for every hotel depending on its real estate footprint, size, location and many other factors, change doesn’t have to happen at once. It just has to start. Reinvention is continuous and should be the central strategy for the hotel industry going forward. Positive changes can build on each other, taking this industry further on the journey of a lifetime—the journey to a more sustainable future.

Related capabilities

Travel consulting

Future growth in the travel industry calls for bold action and a courageous mindset.

Sustainable travel

Mapping the road ahead: How travel companies can act effectively to achieve a sustainable recovery.

Sustainability services

We help our clients reinvent their businesses at scale, creating business value and sustainable impact for all stakeholders.