 Green Growth in the Hospitality Industry
By John DiRico
DECEMBER
14, 2007
With homeowners across America implementing more environmentally friendly processes and equipment in their homes, it was only a matter of time until the hospitality industry began to realign their design interests in an effort to accommodate the growing demand from the consumer. Eco-friendly hotels are growing rapidly in popularity. In fact, there are forty four states nationally recognized by the Green Hotels Association for having hotels in their respective states that satisfy the organization’s criteria in order to be considered “green.”
Despite its growing recognition, perhaps the term “green” is still a bit vague to the general public. For a hotel to be considered green, several standards are widely accepted. A hotel is regarded as environmentally friendly if its management is willing to institute programs that save water, use less energy, produce less solid waste, and emphasize using everyday items more times than once before discarding, to name a few strategic design options. The outcome from a project of this magnitude will not only translate into money saved by the hotel and customer alike through reducing energy expenses and limiting waste, but will also fulfill the eco-friendly organization’s ultimate goal of preserving our earth through utilizing less resources or implementing more efficient technologies.
Ecotourism is widely regarded as a viable travel method and the accommodations are those that emphasize energy conservation, ecological responsibility, and bettering the local community. Green hospitality ventures have evolved a great deal from the early beginnings. Throughout the past decade, hotels have made more efforts to satisfy the demands of a growing environmental concern among the general public. Innovative individuals working to satisfy the needs of a changing hotel customer base through designing various ecological preservation tactics will ultimately need to align their project’s objectives with that of a governing body which sets the standards.
In the past, there were no criteria set by a regulating body which would certify a hotel as “green,” or rather, environmentally friendly. While the most common method to confirm the credibility of a hotel’s green initiatives is still through the independent opinions of organizations like the Green Hotels Association and word of mouth, there are a growing number of government regulated organizations voicing their opinions as well. One such group is the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). In fact, in June 2007, the first hotel in the United States was “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold” certified by the USGBC. This is quite an accomplishment for the hospitality industry and many in the field assert that this prestigious award will serve as a momentum builder to further encourage eco-friendly development projects as well as make the projects more attainable with standards in place for a builder to meet or potentially exceed.
 Another agency which conducts ecotourism research is the International Tourism Partnership. This group was recently featured in an article in the May 2007 issue of GreenHotelier magazine which covers the increase in eco-awareness with city hotels in Europe. Of particular interest in this report are the unique advantages described for an environmentally friendly European city hotel. These hotels are more likely to obtain easy access to new environmental technologies and enhance their green credentials in the process through the convenient city location with many amenities nearby. On the contrary, the same circumstances can not be allotted to their more rural counterparts. Simply put, the methods involved with providing energy efficiencies, means for transportation, water conservation, and sourcing of food is far more convenient for a hotel that is situated in a community with all the basic needs within its close reach rather than one that is not.
Despite the success of implementing environmentally friendly hotels thus far, the realization of green hotels will continue to create splinters for the industry. Implementing effective and legitimate environmental programs in the hospitality industry is an expensive and arduous task. Not to mention, the very notion of creating a green hotel works against the general objective to satisfy the overwhelming needs for mass tourism, all in an effort to maximize each hotel’s financial well-being. Furthermore, the impact of legislation and governing agencies are still in their infancy considering the potential for how great an impact green hospitality services can have on the world.
The problem facing innovators for the future of the industry will be to make environmentally conscious hotel development projects a widely supported medium for travelers. We are left to ponder whether or not the green hotel will merely be a niche market for its target customers consisting of the affluent and the socially responsible, or if it will become an extensively supported movement that will reinvent the way in which we think about booking our next hotel destination.
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