About Us

Hotel Energy Solutions (HES) is a UNWTO-initiated project in collaboration with a team of United Nations and EU leading agencies in Tourism and Energy. The project delivers information, technical support & training to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism and accommodation sector across the EU 27 to increase their energy efficiency and renewable energy usage.

HES responds to climate imperatives in line with EU targets and the Davos Process 2007, which stipulate the required actions for the tourism sector:

  • adapting tourism businesses and destinations to changing climate conditions
  • mitigating greenhouse gas emissions
  • supporting investments in energy efficiency and usage of renewable energy resources and technologies.

The hotel sector is one of the tourism industry’s largest drivers of employment and economic revenue but at the same time it is one of the most energy-intensive. In fact, hotels and other types of accommodation account for 2% of the 5% global CO2 emitted by the tourism sector.

The project’s focus on SMEs is particularly important, as the utilization of out-dated technologies, lack of human and financial resources and a limited awareness and knowledge on greener alternatives may all be contributing to decreasing their competitiveness. In addition, SMEs are usually less proactive about the environment in comparison to larger hotel chains.

Helping the sector respond to the challenges of climate change is thereby necessary.

The project seeks to bridge the existent gap between available Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy technologies and their actual use in SMEs.

In response to the challenge of climate change, HES provides an online mitigation toolkit: the HES e-toolkit to help hotels reduce their carbon footprint and operations costs, thus increasing business profits. The project demonstrates how:

  • SMEs can be more competitive by cutting on energy.
  • Destinations can shape their policies to increase sustainability.
  • Technology Providers can create new business by targeting and servicing hotels.