Sustainability has become increasingly important to consumers, with 60 per cent of consumers rating it as one of the most important factors when considering purchasing a product or service. One-third of customers are willing to pay higher prices for goods and services deemed sustainable. Very soon, sustainability will be the expectation and not the exception should companies wish to continue attracting customers.
Emerging technologies are essential for businesses to ensure that they remain profitable and sustainable in the future. Hospitality businesses must especially think ahead as they are only now once again seeing a profit after Covid-19 restrictions saw thousands close.
IoT is one such technology that facilitates access to actionable data that drives sustainable innovation. This technology can be implemented within the hospitality industry to minimise food waste, increase energy efficiency, and conserve water use.
Integrating such technologies is increasingly important to achieving environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. ESG criteria hold businesses to a set of standards, and IoT can help monitor and lessen risks within every business.
Let’s take a look at how IoT can work for your business to take steps towards sustainability whilst staying competitive.
Three Ways Businesses Can Use IoT
- Smart building management
Using IoT devices, a smart building becomes an ‘intelligent ecosystem’ relying on real-time data to control, monitor, manage, and optimise systems. This creates a more comfortable environment, better workplace safety, and more energy savings. For example, heating and cooling systems can be controlled though wireless dashboards which at scale can lead to significantly lower electricity usage and far greater efficiency.
- Minimised food waste
Food waste is a great place to start reducing your environmental impact, in fact, about 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food. Food waste leads to an unnecessary environmental impact, both through the lifecycle and wasted resources used to produce and transport unused food and the further disposal process. Intelligent cameras are an innovative way to gather and analyse data that helps regulate ingredient purchasing to what is needed.
- Occupancy sensors
Introducing occupancy sensors allows a hotel to decrease the amount of energy used by automating room temperature settings and also monitoring guest usage for future energy efficiency improvements.
Focusing on net-zero for hospitality industries
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, hotels account for about 1 per cent of global emissions, a number that is predicted to increase as the demand for travel rises. In order to remain below a 2-degree rise in temperature, as per the Paris Climate Accords, the hospitality industry must reduce emissions by 66 per cent by 2030.
Net-zero buildings are an actionable approach, beyond the refillable shampoo dispensers, to something that will enable hotels to significantly reduce emissions. Implementing sustainable actions and reducing carbon emissions to zero can be used for all present and future hospitality businesses.
Indeed, many large hotel brands have set company-wide net-zero goals, including Marriott, Hilton, and Accor. As the industry continues to feel pressure to reduce emissions from both governing bodies and consumers, many businesses will need to find becoming more sustainable will increase their competitive advantage and increase their reputation among customers.
How IoT technology can help businesses become more sustainable
One of the leading sources of energy waste for hotels is a result of inefficient room management. New technology even allows hotels to reduce energy expenses through increased energy efficiency. Automated room allocation processes are integrated within the hotel’s current property management systems (PMS) to create energy-efficient room allocation based on arrival and departure times.
Green-tech innovations and net-zero methodology are key to reducing the hospitality industry’s emissions while creating smarter and more sustainable businesses by using initiatives such as occupancy sensors, smart hotel management and other technological advancements.
