UK: Whitbread, owner of one of the UK’s largest hotel companies Premier Inn, has announced it will cut water consumption by 20 per cent per guest by 2030.
A trial of water-saving technology is taking place at a number of hotels and has revealed the potential to cut the group’s gas consumption and related carbon emissions by 5 per cent, following a reduction in water use of just over 20 per cent.
Whitbread, which joined the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance at the end of last year, has been pushing its sustainability goals with its Force for Good sustainability programme. The programme has a goal for Whitbread to be Net Zero by 2040.
To cut water consumption the group will roll out water-saving technology across its entire UK portfolio (more than 845 hotels) prioritising those in areas at higher risk of water stress.
These are areas where the Environment Agency (EA) declares a drought. Last July was the driest on record since 1935 and the EA declared eight of its 14 areas across the UK as drought areas.
This will be achieved by the installation of upgraded WC valves, water-efficient showerheads, and flow restrictors on taps.
Rosana Elias, head of sustainability, Whitbread, said: “Reducing water use and gas consumption not only benefits the environment but makes perfect business sense. Not only are we looking at potential significant savings on our water and gas bills, but our hotels will be less impacted by the water restrictions placed on drought-stricken regions which we are seeing with increasing regularity, most recently in 2022.”
With the majority of Whitbread’s water consumption classed as domestic (any water used by guests at Whitbread hotels is water that they will not be using at home) the new target is directly comparable to the UK government’s goal to cut household water consumption by 20 per cent by 2037. The hotel group wants to achieve this target by 2030 for hotels operated by Whitbread.
More information on Whitbread’s Force For Good strategy can be found here.
Image supplied by Whitbread.