The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the largest hotel association in the United States, and Procure Impact, a first-of-its kind B2B marketplace for products that support overlooked communities, today announced a major milestone in the implementation of their Dignity of Work Pledge.
Denali, the nation’s leading and largest recycler of organic materials, today announced a collaboration with the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre to recycle food waste and offer certified zero-food-waste meetings, conferences, and conventions. Through this partnership, the Hilton Lincoln Centre, operated by Aimbridge Hospitality, a leading, global hotel management company and the world’s largest third-party hotel operator, will leverage Denali’s depackaging capabilities to efficiently separate plastic, cardboard, and other packaging from food and drinks to easily recycle food waste that would otherwise have gone to landfills. The resulting clean stream of organics feeds the circular economy locally as it is used to make compost that nourishes North Texas farms and gardens.
To support residents who have been displaced from their homes by Hurricane Helene, Airbnb.org is working with the Florida United Methodist Conference (FLUMC) and 211 contact centers in Florida and North Carolina to offer free, temporary housing. Stays are completely free for guests and are funded by Airbnb.org and the generosity of Airbnb hosts—many of whom offer their home for free or at a discount through Airbnb.org.
IHG Hotels & Resorts and the GBTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), brought together some of travel’s biggest sustainability leaders yesterday during 2024 Climate Week NYC to spark dialogue about the decarbonization of business travel. In collaboration with co-hosts IDEO, Accenture, American Express Global Business Travel, Delta Air Lines and Hertz, the event challenged attendees to explore tensions and collaborative approaches inherent in balancing the necessity of business travel with the imperative to reduce carbon emissions.
The Hospitality Show, the industry’s leading technology and operations event produced by Questex and The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), announced a slate of sustainability programming and initiatives for this year’s event, including the co-location of the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s Autumn Summit at The Show, which will be held in San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 28-30, 2024, at the Henry B. González Convention Center.
The UNLV William F. Harrah College of Hospitality announces a $1 million philanthropic gift from Marco Benvenuti to establish the Marco Benvenuti Excellence Endowment. The gift represents the culmination of years of support from the local entrepreneur and 2002 graduate.
New York state will be mandating hotels to forgo small bottles containing "hospitality care" products such as shampoo and lotions.
Innisfree Hotels prides itself on being an Employer of Choice in the communities across the Southeastern U.S. where it owns and manages properties. One of the ways it stands out is through an inclusive partnership with Project SEARCH, a nationwide program that prepares young people with significant disabilities for success in competitive integrated employment.
Sustainable hospitality is highly complex to deliver, so the prospects of using Responsible Artificial Intelligence are exciting and results are already strong.
My experience with the usage of AI is related to "Intelligent Scales" used to monitor food waste in the kitchens. This technology is combining scales and a camera that can analyse the content of the bin and help to make a choice when it comes to categorize the type of food waste, for example: trimmings, french fries, ...
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].
While AI and technology are often heralded as transformative tools in the push for sustainability, especially in sectors like hospitality, it is crucial to recognise their limitations. AI can optimise energy usage, streamline operations, and provide valuable insights, but it does not physically insulate walls or address the skills gap necessary to design, develop, and construct hotels and buildings sustainably. Implementing sustainability measures, such as installing energy-efficient insulation and reducing embodied carbon, relies heavily on skilled labour and new construction practices. These physical and human elements are indispensable and cannot be replaced by AI.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly a powerful tool when paired with the right resources. In recent years, AI has significantly enhanced data collection, analysis, pattern recognition, logistics optimization, and operational efficiency across various industries.
AI is not a panacea for all our sustainability challenges but a powerful tool whose efficacy relies heavily on the blend of technological integration and human-centric strategies.
Hospitality largely relies on legacy technology to operate and remains very slow in adopting more useful, more user friendly and faster replacement/ enhancement solutions. AI is moving forward very rapidly and Hospitality must get on board quickly before finding itself behind.
The Role of AI in Net Positive Hospitality The World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance champions Net Positive Hospitality, where AI emerges not as a panacea but as a potent catalyst for sustainable transformation. The synergy of AI, traditional technologies, and human-centric strategies is paramount.
AI is just a tool just like any tool it's up to how people use it. It has potential usage in Energy Efficiency and Management. For example, optimising the distribution of electricity and managing demand. In climate predictions where it can help determine weather patterns.
Before the application of AI and ML in hospitality facilities, operations could only be controlled manually, utilizing control mechanisms and pre-set schedules, which only promoted wastage. Waste management has become less efficient due to challenges in segregating waste and monitoring the waste stream, hence more landfills and less recycling. In addition, concepts related to sustainability and providing attentive and personalized guest care were less efficient. The hospitality industry is adopting a technological innovation that will transform sustainability for hotels and resorts.
Organizational structures and job titles grow and evolve the same as every other facet of running a business and adapting to the times. Two decades ago, we may have written about the dawn of online room sales and how hotels would be wise to carve out a ‘social media manager’ role which was quite novel at the time. Today it’s all but anathema to not have a team member solely devoted to this area or specific responsibilities assigned to the marketing director, depending on the size of the company.
Our global food systems need an overhaul. We are wasting food at every stage of the food cycle and a large proportion of the food we are growing is arguably not good for us or the planet – the waste of resources is magnified if the food we do produce minimal nutritional value in the first place.
The key question – not What, How
The reality is that the majority of professionals do not measure food waste. So not having the data is the first issue. The second issue is, once you have the data and understand the amount of waste you actually produce, how do you reduce it?
One of the biggest challenges we face is the very idea of hospitality. There is still a (strong) perception that to be hospitable means to be generous. That by giving more we are adding value, delivering a better experience, serving better.
Intuition tells us that what holds us back is the combination of all three aspects: our individual decisions, managers, and leaders. However, based on experience working with a restaurant chain in Brazil my short answer will be that organizations and their leaders are best positioned to lead a shifting course with the necessary speed if desired.