Sustainability Reporting

New global standards for hospitality ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) reporting are expected to take effect in 2026, requiring hotels above a size threshold to disclose energy consumption, water usage, waste diversion, and carbon emissions in a standardised format. The standards, developed by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council in coordination with the EU and UNWTO, aim to create comparability across properties and jurisdictions for the first time.

The operational burden of compliance is significant. Most hotels do not currently track the data points that will be required, and the technology infrastructure to capture, verify, and report this data is not yet widely deployed. Hotel groups that begin implementation in 2025 will have a 12-18 month advantage over peers who delay.

Beyond compliance, there is a commercial angle: sustainability reporting is increasingly being factored into corporate travel policies, OTA search rankings, and investor due diligence. Hotels with verifiable ESG data are likely to command a rate premium in the corporate segment and may gain preferential placement on sustainability-filtered booking channels.