View AI and Sustainable Hospitality: Boon or Bane?

AI for sustainability: an oxymoron?

AI is ushering in a new era of innovation and efficiency within the hospitality industry by enhancing utility consumption and waste management, ensuring regulatory compliance, and promoting eco-friendly behaviors among guests[1]. These benefits appeal to managers for their cost-effectiveness and competitiveness[2], while environmental advantages, like reducing food waste[3], are clear. Yet even the most adamant proponent of AI recognizes the challenges of data privacy, ethics, and the risk of over-reliance on technology [4]. Often overlooked are the energy demands of AI, such as AI-powered chatbots consuming the energy equivalent of 33,000 homes. Additionally, demand for new data centers to support AI is rising, with their own significant environmental and social issues[5]. 

Malu Boerwinkel
View by Malu Boerwinkel, MSc, Lecturer- Researcher Sustainability, Hotel Management School Maastricht

To ensure AI is sustainable, early reporting on resource use and sustainability goals is crucial. Collaboration with AI experts, scientists, and communities is needed, and organizations should provide yearly reports to understand costs and monitor sustainability[6]. But even with these measures in place, skepticism remains of this tech-solutionist view of AI as an answer to pressing global challenges[7]. We must question if these technological solutions are truly necessary and are worth the trade-offs, or if there are alternative paths to achieve genuine climate solutions and actual sustainability.

Sources:

  1. King Baber, (2023) H. A. Maximizing Hospitality Industry Efficiency: AI Applications for Sustainability and Customer Satisfaction.
  2. Singh, R., Gehlot, A., Akram, S. V., Thakur, A. K., Gupta, L. R., Priyadarshi, N., & Twala, B. (2024). Integration of advanced digital technologies in the hospitality industry: A technological approach towards sustainability. Sustainable Engineering and Innovation, 6(1), 37-56.
  3. Milton, T. (2024). Artificial Intelligence Transforming Hotel Gastronomy: An In-depth Review of AI-driven Innovations in Menu Design, Food Preparation, and Customer Interaction, with a Focus on Sustainability and Future Trends in the Hospitality Industry. International Journal for Multidimensional Research Perspectives, 2(3), 47-61.
  4. Gundeti, R., Vuppala, K., & Kasireddy, V. (2024). The Future of AI and Environmental Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities. Exploring Ethical Dimensions of Environmental Sustainability and Use of AI, 346-371.
  5. Crawford, K. (2024). Generative AI"s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret. Nature, 626(8000), 693. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00478-x
  6. Vora, T. J., Thomas, K., Ferré-Mateu, A., Lopes, C., & Giustina, M. (2024, June 21). The sustainability questions policymakers should be asking about AI. Atlantic Council. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/geotech-cues/the-sustainability-questions-policymakers-should-be-asking-about-ai/
  7. Schütze, P. (2024, April). The Problem of Sustainable AI | Weizenbaum Journal of the Digital Society. https://ojs.weizenbaum-institut.de/index.php/wjds/article/view/4_1_4/119

 

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Malu Boerwinkel
Malu Boerwinkel
MSc, Lecturer- Researcher Sustainability, Hotel Management School Maastricht

Malu Boerwinkel is a lecturer-researcher at Hotel Management School Maastricht, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences (HMSM), specialized in international business, hospitality and sustainability.

Hotel Management School Maastricht
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The Hotel Management School Maastricht has a rich tradition. We’ve now been supplying the international hotel industry with talented professionals for more than 70 years. In fact, our graduates hold management positions in many different countries worldwide. They are our ambassadors and ensure that Hotel Management School Maastricht’s reputation is maintained all over the world.

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