“A massive decarbonisation of the hotel sector is needed”

What are the levers that are currently encouraging hotel operators to reduce the environmental impact of their assets?

Sophie Gautier: First of all, we can see that environmental regulations are becoming stricter at European level, as well as in France. Hotels have to comply with a number of requirements, including energy audits, a tertiary sector decree requiring them to reduce consumption, and carbon taxes.

Jean-Baptiste Raphanaud: Some of these regulations have been refined over the years to make them more effective. They now make it possible to envisage the implementation of decarbonisation strategies over the long term. This is the case with the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and its translation into French law. In order to assess buildings, it now requires their actual performance to be measured, rather than their theoretical performance as was the case just a few years ago.

Sophie Gautier: As well as the regulatory aspect, the hotel sector is also being encouraged to make a commitment by a wide range of players. Investors and the banking sector are increasingly keen to see their assets decarbonised. End customers are also pushing for this.

Customers who, at the same time, want to maintain the same level of comfort…

Sophie Gautier: This is one of the equations that the hotel industry is trying to solve, by reconciling sobriety and comfort. Some customers – Americans in particular – want their rooms to be air-conditioned to a relatively low temperature. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be at that temperature 24 hours a day. So we need to put in place intelligent systems that both satisfy the customer and take environmental considerations into account.

How is the French hotel sector responding to these environmental demands?

Jean-Baptiste Raphanaud: The French hotel sector has in its DNA a fairly high level of expectations (in terms of day-to-day cleanliness, responding to customer requests, etc.). Added to this, its ability to make a long-term commitment can be put to good use in the energy and environmental transition that the sector needs to make.

The concept of sobriety is also relatively well integrated in France. It is a cultural fact that can be seen in the day-to-day practices of hotel staff. They appear to be more involved than in other countries such as Germany, the UK or destinations in Southern Europe.

Another advantage: if France has to adapt to demanding regulations, it can rely on the presence of players like Covivio, who are keen to take a leadership role on environmental issues. This is an environmental issue that other countries will have to deal with to a greater extent. 

What practical steps can be taken to develop an eco-responsible hotel portfolio?

Jean-Baptiste Raphanaud: There is a particularly wide range of actions we can take to move towards environmental transition. It obviously involves the energy strategy: finding ways to make energy savings, through intelligent systems but also by mobilising our teams on a daily basis. We are obviously thinking of measures to encourage the decarbonisation of hotels, starting with the elimination of fossil fuel sources in favour of heat pumps.

This also means implementing a circular economy approach and meeting a number of challenges: how can we ensure that rooms last longer? How can we introduce designs that emit less CO₂ while providing a better customer experience?

There are also levers for action in the property maintenance sector, for example in the management of refrigerants used in heat pumps, which must be handled with care: they are now traced as closely as possible. Similarly, initiatives are being taken in the catering sector, in particular to reduce food waste – with a target of -50% by 2030.

Decarbonising hotels is a central element of this strategy. How can it be implemented?

Jean-Baptiste Raphanaud: We face a major challenge in this area: in view of the regulatory deadlines in the coming decades, we need to carry out this decarbonisation on a massive scale, across a large number of assets. This implies forward planning which, in addition to a dynamic of continuous efforts within the hotels, must include ‘stages’ such as the installation of a heat pump or the renovation of the building. By 2030, these efforts will make it possible to achieve the targets set by Covivio for its hotels in Europe, namely a 70% reduction in CO₂ emissions (in carbon intensity per m²) compared with 2010.

Sophie Gautier: This also means regularly testing solutions that reduce our environmental footprint, with a view to future large-scale deployment at our properties. At the Meininger hotel at Porte de Vincennes in Paris, for example, we have tested a system that uses the heat from waste water from showers to pre-heat domestic hot water. This reduces gas consumption, which is only used as a back-up to bring the water up to temperature.

Jean-Baptiste Raphanaud: The period after 2030 will be a new stage in the decarbonisation process. The challenge is how to meet the objectives of the CRREM (Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor) framework. This tool, financed by the European Union, defines a trajectory for reducing greenhouse gas emissions up to 2050. This will be a new challenge that can only be met with the arrival on the market of a new generation of industrial solutions (heat pumps, insulation, building intelligence systems, etc.) that are even more efficient than those on offer today.

Does the importance of decarbonisation mean that asset management tasks are changing?

Sophie Gautier  In recent years, the issue of decarbonisation has been integrated into Covivio’s core business as an asset manager. It is now one of the essential factors we take into account when we look at renovating our hotels. It’s a strategic issue that no longer just concerns specialists in environmental issues, but everyone. In fact, training courses have been organised for our teams so that every asset manager can take charge of this issue and work to get things moving.