What hotels can take away from retail’s improved sustainable procurement

The hospitality industry is embracing sustainability like never before; last year, Radisson Hotel Group became the latest major hospitality company to commit to net zero emissions by 2050, following in the footsteps of Marriott International. Wyndham Hotel Group and Wynn Resorts have made their own carbon reduction pledges. Meanwhile, boutique sustainable hotels continue to pop up all over the world, and major hotel groups are taking their cues from them, as last spring, Hilton opened its first net-zero hotel, which uses solar panels to generate electricity for its common areas, laundry room and restaurant.

This trend is welcome news for travellers, 81% of whom say sustainable travel is important and 70% of whom say they’re more likely to select more sustainable accommodations, according to the latest Sustainable Travel Report from Booking.com. 

The need for change in the industry is clear, because each year hotels are responsible for roughly 363 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. This is about 1% of the world’s total emissions. For hotels to keep pace with the Paris climate agreement’s targets, they’ll need to bring those numbers down fast, cutting emissions by at least half by 2030. Doing that will require not only reducing their direct emissions, but also their Scope 3 emissions, including those created by their supply chains, as hotels consider sustainable procurement strategies.

As one of the largest service industries, hospitality relies on an extremely complex supply chain for all its physical products, from beds, linens and towels to hand soap and the food served in their kitchens. Due to the vast quantities of goods developed, sourced and shipped every day for the hospitality industry, digital platforms are increasingly helping large and small operators become more efficient and sustainable. A multi-enterprise supply chain platform can help hotels more responsibly manage their supplier base and measure and monitor the environmental, and social footprint of the materials they source.

Brands and retailers increasingly have turned to these platforms, because they can help them develop products faster and more cost effectively while creating transparency into their supply chains. Hotels are starting to follow in their footsteps, as they can benefit from the same efficiencies of digitalisation. The transparency multi-enterprise platforms create allows hotels to trace the origins of their goods down to the material level and to document the chain of custody for products they source. These insights are critical to help hotels understand their environmental footprint, including how much water they use and carbon they emit, and for communicating their sustainability commitment to consumers who are wary of greenwashing.

This documentation is increasingly necessary to meet the requirements of ever-tightening global ESG regulations, including the United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA). Under this consequential law, which was implemented last year, US Customs and Border Protection has the power to detain and seize the importation of any goods or materials mined or manufactured wholly or in part from China’s Xinjiang region. That region produces roughly one-fifth of the world’s cotton, and much of it is feared to be tainted by forced labour.

A multi-enterprise platform can help hotels avoid sourcing linens and towels that have been made with unethical cotton, and ensure that they only source from accredited, responsible suppliers. Such platforms can even interface with certification partners, making it easy for sourcing offices to cross check their suppliers against sustainability databases from non-profit organisations like amfori and Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), which monitor social compliance.

This technology simplifies a hotel’s procurement operations by automating the onboarding process for vendors and ensuring that all new suppliers have read and consented to the company’s terms. This way, from the very earliest stages of working with a supplier, there’s total transparency about a hotel’s ESG standards and expectations. This software reduces risks that come from managing large and complex supply chains, enforcing a company’s social and environmental standards by preventing merchandisers from booking orders with non-compliant suppliers. 

Hotels need these safeguards in order to meet travellers’ expectations that they operate sustainably. This kind of documentation is key to backing up a hotel’s sustainability claims, especially for hotels looking to differentiate themselves on sustainability and distance themselves from the greenwashing that’s still too common in the industry.

Like retail, the hospitality industry must better understand its ESG footprint and adopt proven sustainable procurement practices. A multi-enterprise platform is an essential partner in that pursuit, allowing hotel procurement teams to collect and manage the data they need to reduce their environmental footprint and to report on their ESG progress. 

This data is key not only for reporting to investors and governments, but also to travellers who say they want more access to sustainability information than hotels have made available to them. For hotels looking to demonstrate a real commitment to sustainability, this transparency can be a powerful differentiator.