BERLIN — Developing hotels to be as environmentally friendly as possible and then operating them sustainably is top of mind for hoteliers throughout Europe.
Tim Wheeldon, managing director of Zeal Hotels, said across Europe hoteliers see the importance of environmental and carbon net-zero in every aspect of a hotel’s development, operations, financing and exits.
Zeal Hotels just opened the 142-room Voco Zeal Exeter Science Park in southwest England, a partnership with IHG Hotels & Resorts that Wheeldon said will drive further innovations around sustainability and hotel construction and operations.
“We now have legally binding contracts with governments, 170 or 190, however many it is, whereby we have to net-zero carbon by 2050. That is an enormous challenge. The biggest challenge of the lot is existing hotels,” Wheeldon said in a video interview at the International Hospitality Investment Forum EMEA.
Developing and operating hotels with less of a carbon footprint continues to be challenging.
“Eighty percent of hotels in 2050 are already here now,” he said. “We’ve supposedly taken the easy route in starting from scratch and building from new.”
Wheeldon said the issue is not going away.
“It is with us,” he said. “And we need to face it.”
Recent rollbacks of climate policies — notably in the U.S. — won't lead to a reduction in capital invested in such development and operations, Wheeldon said. Potential profitability and guest demand will be the forces that compel investment in sustainable hotels, he added.
“The American investment, which has been earmarked for [environmental, social and governance] assets, has possibly got to go now outside of America. Where does it go?” Wheeldon said.
For more of Wheeldon’s insights, watch the video embedded above.