66% of guests are absolutely convinced that if we don’t act now to protect the planet, future generations will indeed be threatened.

It is also worth observing that millennials and women are generally more sensitive to sustainable development issues.

• Cut our hotels’ water and energy consumption and CO₂ emissions,
• Sort more of our waste, so we can recycle more,
• Promote a more responsible diet,Fight food waste,
• Support the development of local communities, etc.

We can be even more effective in all these areas if we incite our guests to engage with us.
The opportunities to interact with them will be all the more effective because our guests are well aware of these issues. What is more, digital technology now offers new solutions that will allow us to interact even more with them.

Most of our guests already take action on a daily basis in their own homes.
And a majority would like to continue these responsible gestures when they stay in our hotels.
But we need to make it easy for them to take action: our guests are willing to make a gesture for the planet or for communities, as long as it is not too complicated. They are even happy to pay a bit more!

Our guests are engaged on a daily basis

85% 

of Accor's guests try to avoid food waste at home

82% 

buy energy-efficient appliances

81%

sort their waste

76% 

buy locally manufactured products

Our guests are willing to help us

70%

of our guests are as concerned about sustainable development in the hotel as they are in their own homes

2 out of 3

guests are willing to pay a little more for a hotel that takes responsible action

64%

are willing to receive their invoice by email

61%

are willing to sort their waste at the hotel

57% 

are willing to use their towels and bedsheets for two or three days

> READ OUR SURVEY RESPONSIBLE GUEST SEEKS SUSTAINABLE HOTEL

What we are doing already

Behind every gesture there are a host of positive initiatives.

For years, we have been taking action to encourage our guests to support our sustainable development commitments.

Plant for the Planet is a perfect example of the role they can play in our initiatives.
It was launched in 2009, and incites guests staying for more than one night to reuse their towels.
We use half the savings generated by this simple eco-gesture to finance the planting of trees in countries where we operate in order to develop agroforestry schemes.

In this way, we support small farmers and also reduce our environmental footprint.
Thanks to the support of our guests, we have already launched over 150 schemes in 25 countries and planted 5 million trees.

> FIND OUT MORE ABOUT PLANT FOR THE PLANET

 

LE CLUB ACCORHOTELS

Ever since 2014, Le Club members can spend their loyalty points on a good cause. They can either support one of the Group’s solidarity projects, or finance trees in our plantations.

GUEST JOURNEY

From the hotel car park to the guest room, we communicate and invite our guests to support our initiatives and take responsible action. For example, several hotels encourage their guests to switch to electric cars by offering recharging stations. Thanks to a partnership with Tesla, this figure is on the increase.

MEETING 21

A sustainable meeting offer for companies which was launched in 2015. It features eco-designed meeting rooms and facilities, responsible restaurant and transport services, and more. It also includes Carbon Optimizer, a device to calculate and offset the seminar’s carbon footprint.

What we plan over the next five years

Using digital technology to help achieve a positive footprint

Our guests are willing to interact with us to support sustainable development initiatives, on condition it’s quick and easy.
Digital technology is a highly efficient way to make it easy for them to take action, and our group certainly intends to use it.

Since September 2015, the Accor mobile application offers our guests the opportunity to buy a tree in a few clicks and thus contribute to our Plant for the Planet program. This innovative approach is unprecedented in the tourism sector.

Subsequently, Accor.com will also allow guests to select their hotel based on sustainable development criteria.

It’s just a start. There are endless avenues that can be explored to create a community of engaged guests. We will therefore continue to innovate regularly so we can invite our guests to participate in responsible initiatives.

It’s a fact. If we don’t act now, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans in 2050. As part of our commitment to reduce the Group’s environmental impact, Accor goes further than the competition.

8 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans per year

Plastic is practical: it is light, it resists various elements (water, heat, cold...) and can take various forms. The problem is that plastic is omnipresent and often used for single-use objects. In fact, its production has increased 20-fold since the 1960s and only 5% of this plastic is recycled worldwide, the rest is incinerated, buried or thrown into the wild. It is thus estimated that each of us ingests the equivalent of 1 credit card every week.
 

Today, we have more than 200M single-use plastic products per year in our rooms, meetings, restaurants and leisure areas.

This is why Accor goes further than competition and reveals its new commitment. Beyond the elimination of all plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds already engaged, our Group will eliminate all guest-related single-use plastic items in our nearly 5,000 hotels in 110 countries by end 2022.

Relevant alternatives to single-use plastics are already proposed, for some others, sourcing is in progress with the aim to ensure the same level of guest experience. For each solution proposed to hotels, are considering operational impact, costs and better environmental performance.

An operational guide to help hotels make the transition

In this guide, hotels will find information on main single-use plastics in hotels and ecologic alternatives. For each plastic single-use product, solutions are either identified or in the process of being identified. The toolkit is divided into 4 main parts of a hotel:

- Rooms: alternatives of plastic cups, individual amenities…
- Restaurants & bars: alternatives of plastic straws, individual portions at breakfast…
- Meetings and receptions: alternatives of plastic water bottles, goodies, F&B offer…
- Leisure areas: alternatives of plastic slippers, accessories… 

To go even further on fighting plastic, Accor has committed to join the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization, in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 

This movement draws a line in the sand in the fight against plastic waste and pollution. Governments and businesses, such as Accor, commit to a set of ambitious targets. We will work together to eliminate the plastic items we don’t need; innovate so all plastics we do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled, or composted; and circulate everything we use to keep it in the economy and out of the environment.

Reducing the impacts of the products and equipment used in our hotels is vital if we are to offer our guests an eco-friendlier experience and better meet their expectations.

This is an environmental issue. We must use products that are made of recyclable materials, are more energy and water efficient, etc. However, it is also a health issue. Paints, furniture and cleaning products can, for example, give off chemical fumes that are detrimental to indoor air quality.

To paint a clearer picture

1 in 2 

guests appreciates the use of eco-friendly bathroom products, towels, bedsheets, paint and flooring in the hotels

61 % 

of guests appreciate the use of low-consumption equipment

What we are doing already

We are responsible down to our choice of products

In 2015, 98% of our hotels were already using at least one ecolabel product for floor coverings, paints or cleaning products.
94% purchased certified sustainable paper.

Novotel lead the way by taking eco-friendly action to another level, especially with the "Live N Dream", Novotel’s 100% sustainable bed.
In 2014, Novotel created "Live N Dream", the bed system that resulted from an eco-design scheme that also addressed other sustainable development concerns. To date, about 14,000 beds have been introduced in some fifteen countries, mostly in Europe.
 

Environmental concerns

With innovative pillows and duvets filled with bedding fibers made from 100% recycled PET; materials chosen for their low environmental impact (a bed base made with wood from sustainably managed forests); less packaging material and end-of-life product recycling solutions.

 

Social concerns

With the involvement of ergonomists to create a design that limits the risk of musculoskeletal disorders for housekeeping staff; training videos to teach them the right bed-making gestures and postures and how to use the hydraulic Levly® bed-lifting system.

 

Societal concerns

...with the selection of certified suppliers.

What we plan over the next five years

Let’s raise our environmental standards

To ensure that an environmentally responsible approach is adopted on a large scale, we have defined the sustainable development criteria for ten key product families in our business:

• soaps, shampoos and shower gels,
• cleaning products,
• single-use products (toilet paper, bin liners, plastic cups, etc.),
• guest gifts,
• beds, mattresses, duvets and pillows,
• bedsheets and towels,
• paints,
• floor coverings,
• furniture,
• printing paper.

Accor’s business experts (marketing, procurement, sustainable development, design, etc.) discussed these criteria before submitting them to external specialists and our suppliers for an outside viewpoint and the assurance that they were both relevant and feasible. These criteria could evolve over time to account for the growing expectations and demands of our guests and increasingly strict regulations.

The criteria identified include:

• banning some chemical substances,
• using recycled materials,
• applying ecolabels that guarantee the product’s environmental friendliness,
• using deforestation-free wood and paper,
• reducing packaging,
• integrating eco-designed fittings.

Whether they are involving our guests in a longer term experience, or implementing responsible initiatives, our hotels are at the heart of the Planet 21 program.

They are where most of our action in favor of positive hospitality commences and takes place.To assist them with this initiative and engage them in a continuous improvement process, we use benchmark systems and monitoring devices.

What we are doing already

An internal system to improve our hotels’ performance.

We adopted an internal system in the first season of Planet 21 (2011-2015). Our hotels obtained Bronze, then Silver, Gold and Platinum statuses according to how advanced they were in implementing concrete initiatives.

To address the needs of guests who want to choose a responsible hotel, we showcase the hotels that are the most committed to sustainable development.On our website, AccorHotels.com, a pictogram distinguishes the hotels that have reached Gold or Platinum status and/or have obtained external environmental certification.

Accor is the TripAdvisor GreenLeaders Program front-runner in Europe

The GreenLeaders label allows TripAdvisor users to identify eco-friendly hotels. In Europe, nearly 1,000 Accor establishments have obtained this label.
That makes us by far the leading hotel group in the ranking, since our closest rival has less than 200 GreenLeaders hotels.
This external recognition endorses our Group’s firm commitment to sustainable development.

What we plan over the next five years

16 mandatory actions to follow the same virtuous path.

Planet 21’s new commitments for 2020 impose new demands on our hotels. They will have to reassess themselves based on the new roadmap, Planet 21 in Action, and its Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum ranking. Planet 21 In Action allows each hotel to embark on a continual improvement process at its own pace.

We have laid out a roadmap for our hotels: Planet 21 in Action. It is structured around actions in the Group’s six areas of commitment: employees, guests, partners, communities, food & beverage, and buildings.

Planet 21 In Action, 16 mandatory actions

This roadmap comprises 16 mandatory actions that the hotels must implement by 2020.

PARTNERS

• Designate a person in charge of PLANET 21
• Train staff on respecting the values and ethical rules of the GroupTrain staff on eco-friendly behaviour specific to their jobs

GUESTS

• By default, reuse sheets for stays longer than one night
• Offer eco-friendly welcome products (bath gel, soap, shampoo)
• Display key Planet 21 messages in the hotel
• Use ecolabel cleaning products

BUILDINGS

• Measure and analyse water and energy consumption on a monthly basis. Act if there are any malfunctions
• Meet the water flow standards for all showers, taps and toilets
• Ensure waste water is treated
• Use energy-efficient light bulbs
• Recycle hazardous waste in adapted facilities
• Recycle 2 types of waste: paper, glass, cardboard or plastic
  
  

FOOD

• Ban the use of overfished species

COMMUNITIES

• Participate to the "Plant for the Planet" program
• Roll out the WATCH program on protecting children

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ROADMAP FOR OUR HOTELS