The hospitality sector is becoming keenly aware of the benefits associated with implementing sustainability initiatives and optimizing its operations to encourage the tourism industry to conserve and protect natural resources, while at the same time maintaining guest expectations. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that affect or influence the performance of specific practices to reduce waste, improve energy efficiency, conserve water, and improve air quality. This paper reports the environmental and economic performance as well as the social behavioral impacts of sustainability initiatives implemented by participating hotels. Examples illustrate policies and products that a lodging property can implement to generate environmental and economic benefits. Case studies provide insight into successful implementation of sustainability practices as well as future initiatives needed to maximize the positive impacts. A major takeaway was that many options are easily implementable in the hospitality sector. However, two issues work against meeting planned goals: 1) buy-in from management and 2) understanding the inter-relationships between operations and green lodging goals.
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