Plastic Pledges and Initiatives

Some of the world´s top hotel chains are showing goodwill and taking some measures to reduce plastic usage whilst other large hotel chains remain seemingly unconcerned. Many tourism industry players have taken ‘plastic pledges’ and committed to eliminating some plastic items e.g., replacing single-use shampoo bottles with refillable containers or banning plastic straws from their bars. Sadly, efforts remain largely focused on front-facing guest areas: bars, restaurants, and hotel rooms, whilst plastic used elsewhere such as for kitchen deliveries or in cleaning are not targeted by plastic reduction measures.

with bulk-sized ones across its 843,000 rooms. 22 The transition was due to be completed in 2021.

Hilton which has more than 950,000 rooms globally, announced a transition from single-use to bulk toiletries by 2022, implemented a global ban on plastic straws, cocktail picks and stir sticks, and removed plastic water bottles from all meetings and events at managed hotels in Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa. 23

Hyatt’s global chain of 900 hotels encompassing 220,000 rooms committed to bulk-sized toiletries and reducing single-use water bottles by June 2021. 24 The company owns more than 20 brands, including Park Hyatt, Thompson Hotels and the Andaz.

Iberostar is a Spanish-owned company with over 110 hotels primarily in Europe but also other parts of the world. In 2018, the company pledged that it would eliminate single-use plastics from all its hotel rooms by 2019. 25

Accor Hotels, which owns over 40 brands and 5,000 properties including Ibis, Novotel, the Fairmont and Mondrian, announced in early 2020 the removal of single-use plastic from its 340,000 guest rooms by the end of 2022. 20

Marriott said it expected to remove personal toiletries from most of its more than 1 million guest rooms by December 2020. 21 The chain, which also owns Ritz-Carlton and W Hotels, said it expects to reduce its plastic disposal by 30% annually.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which also owns Kimpton Hotels and Crowne Plaza, is in the process of replacing individual plastic toiletries

EDITION Hotels, which owns a collection of luxury hotels across the world, launched an initiative in 2019 – Stay Plastic Free – which is a call to action for the hospitality industry to reduce single-use plastic. 26 The hotel pledged to become 90% single-use plastic free by the end of 2019 and 100% single-use plastic free by the end of 2020.

Travelyst is a not-for-profit sustainable travel organization set up by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. It joins together in collaboration some of the biggest travel brands including Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Google, Skyscanner, Travelport, Trip.com Group, Tripadvisor and Visa, to create sustainability solutions for the travel industry. These brands are working together to create transparent reporting systems to help accommodation providers share sustainability credentials with customers – including on efforts to reduce plastic 27