In businesses across the HORECA value chain in general, but especially in the hotel industry, sustainability activities are considered to be an important tool for customer loyalty. Thus, it is no coincidence that the industry also focuses on employee motivation in energy efficiency, as an evaluation conducted as part of the EnergyEfficiency4HORECA project revealed.
Among the SMEs involved in the project, 84 took part in the latest evaluation. When asked about the energy efficiency measures they had implemented, employee motivation came out on top (19 %), followed by lighting measures (17 %), investments in energy management systems (15 %), ventilation (8 %) and heating (7 %). In terms of investments in renewable energies, photovoltaics came out on top with 11%.
Among the measures planned for the next three years, lighting (45 %) and energy management initiatives (42 %) are far ahead, followed by investments in renewable energies (36 %), building automation (30 %) and building insulation (27 %). Less frequently mentioned areas include cooling and transport (both 19 %), ventilation (17 %) and heating (14 %).
At the top of the list of planned measures is also employee motivation is also: 50% of participating companies plan to implement activities in this area, and not without reason: alongside all technical measures, the “human factor” plays a key role. Employee behaviour can make a decisive contribution to avoiding unnecessary energy consumption. In addition, communicating one’s own sustainability activities is an essential tool for customer loyalty in the tourism industry – which is why the Austrian Energy Institute for Businesses (EIW) has also made motivation the focus of the train of trainer-workshop for the EE4HORECA project partners.
One core message of the workshop: several studies have shown that if guests and staff should be motivated to do more for the environment and save energy, appeals to reason (like saving money or appealing to environmental and social responsibility) are by far not as successful as the human longing to be part of a community (“Most of Your fellow guests did it that way”) or even a role model (“Tell others about how you act“). As a practical example, the request that guests use towels more than once for environmental reasons has been followed most frequently not in the peer group where there was a focus on the environmental or social benefit. The surprisingly most positive feedback was within the peer group where the signpost said: Three quarters of guests already use their towels more than once.
