The Silent Killer of Sustainability in Hospitality? No Accountability

The Sustainability Gym Membership No One’s Using

You say you want to get greener — but your sustainability strategy has been “in progress”. Maybe even longer than your rooftop bar renovation. If there’s no regulation breathing down your neck, sustainability tends to get the same treatment as that gym membership. You signed up in January with good intentions, but zero follow-through.

When sustainability is optional, it often becomes optional indefinitely.

“One major obstacle is the lack of legal requirements and the perception that sustainability action can wait as we observe how current reporting obligations for large companies are currently being rolled back and reduced.” – Sarah Habsburg-Lothringen

And she’s not wrong. Without mandatory deadlines, internal accountability often disappears faster than hotel slippers on checkout day.

Why “Important but Not Urgent” is Killing Progress

Let’s face it: in hospitality, there’s always something urgent. A broken AC unit. A triple-booked room. That one guest who insists on dairy-free milk but also doesn’t know what oat milk is.

Sustainability? It gets relegated to the “we’ll get to it next quarter” pile. That quarter becomes a year. And soon, you’re back at another green summit pretending your energy reduction goals are totally on track.

If you don’t have systems that make sustainability non-negotiable, you’re basically sabotaging yourself. Hoping good intentions will magically turn into climate wins. (Not to burst your bubble, but they never will.)

The 3-Step Fix: Build Urgency from Within

1. Treat Sustainability Like Revenue

Want to see real magic? Treat your sustainability goals like you do your revenue targets. Treat them with the same seriousness you’d treat a health department inspection. Set quarterly reduction targets, break them down into KPIs. And yeah, review them like your life depends on it. Because in a way, it does.

Make “reduce water usage by 10%” just as serious as “increase RevPAR by 15%.” No one shrugs off revenue goals, and sustainability deserves that same energy.

2. Join a Framework That Holds You Accountable

Not all peer pressure is bad. Especially when you need help staying on track doing something good. Wondering how?

Join a voluntary environmental certification or green benchmarking program. Whether it’s EarthCheck, Green Globe, or a regional program, these frameworks add weight to your internal initiatives.

3. Build In Monthly Reviews

Just like you wouldn’t go months without checking your booking stats, you shouldn’t go months without reviewing your sustainability performance. Set a monthly sustainability meeting. Make it mandatory. Make it count.

Bring data, bring wins, bring the messy fails — all of it. Track, tweak, repeat. This is how real momentum is built.

Your Next Step: Put It on the Calendar

Open your team calendar. Set a recurring “Sustainability Review” for every 30 days. Choose a lead. Pick one measurable goal to track this month. Doesn’t have to be fancy, you just have to start.

Because if sustainability isn’t someone’s job, it becomes nobody’s job. And if it’s not on the calendar, it’s already being postponed.