Question 1

What is a sustainability strategy

Accepted Answer

A sustainability strategy is a documented, long-term plan that defines an organization’s sustainability priorities, targets, and the actions needed to reach them, typically covering environmental, social, and governance dimensions and aligned with the business’s overall direction. For hotels, it is the foundation that determines which certifications, building investments, and reporting commitments actually make sense — without it, sustainability work tends to become a series of disconnected initiatives rather than a coherent direction. Related service: Sustainability Strategy Related terms: Sustainability Management System, Sustainability Roadmap, Materiality

Question 2

What is a sustainability management system?

Accepted Answer

A sustainability management system is the structured set of processes, responsibilities, and documentation an organization uses to plan, implement, monitor, and improve its sustainability performance on an ongoing basis, rather than managing it through one-off projects. ISO 14001 is the most widely recognized formal standard for such a system, but the underlying logic — plan, act, check, improve — also underpins HOLITRA’s own Hospitality Sustainability System. Related service: Sustainability Strategy Related terms: Sustainability Strategy, ISO 14001, PDCA, HOLITRA Hospitality Sustainability System

Question 3

What is sustainable tourism?

Accepted Answer

Sustainable tourism is tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts, typically addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities at the same time, as defined by the UN World Tourism Organization and operationalized through the GSTC Criteria. It is the foundational concept underlying every certification, regulation, and management practice covered in this glossary — the outcome all of them are designed to support. Related service: Sustainability Strategy Related terms: GSTC, Sustainability Roadmap, Materiality, Net Zero

Question 4

What is a sustainability roadmap?

Accepted Answer

A sustainability roadmap is a time-phased action plan that translates a sustainability strategy into concrete, sequenced steps — typically organized across short-, medium-, and long-term horizons — specifying what will be done, by whom, and by when. For hotels, a roadmap usually sequences quick operational wins ahead of capital-intensive building upgrades, and times certification or reporting milestones against realistic budget cycles. Related service: Sustainability Strategy Related terms: Sustainability Strategy, Sustainability KPIs, Continuous Improvement

Question 5

What is materiality?

Accepted Answer

Materiality is the principle used to determine which sustainability topics are significant enough for an organization to prioritize, manage, and report on, out of the very wide range of issues that could theoretically be relevant. In an EU regulatory context this is formalized as double materiality (defined in detail under the Reporting domain, since it is a specific CSRD/ESRS requirement); outside formal reporting, hotels use the same logic informally — deciding, for example, that water scarcity matters more to their strategy than a topic with little real impact on their operations or stakeholders. Related service: Sustainability Strategy Related terms: Double Materiality, Sustainability Strategy, ESG

Question 6

What is Net Zero?

Accepted Answer

Net zero describes a state in which an organization’s greenhouse gas emissions across all relevant scopes are balanced to zero, achieved primarily through deep emission reductions with only limited reliance on offsets for residual emissions, typically aligned with long-term targets such as 2050 under frameworks like SBTi. It differs from carbon neutral by covering all greenhouse gases rather than CO2 alone, and by requiring genuine reduction pathways rather than offsetting as the primary mechanism. Related service: Sustainability Strategy Related terms: Carbon Neutral, Climate Neutral, SBTi, Scope 1, 2 & 3 Emissions

Question 7

What is SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative)?

Accepted Answer

SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative) is an organization that validates corporate emissions-reduction targets against the level of decarbonization required to limit global warming in line with the Paris Agreement, typically through its Corporate Net-Zero Standard, that requires companies to set near-term and long-term targets covering Scope 1, 2, and (where material) Scope 3 emissions. Adoption is growing in hospitality, with groups such as Marriott, Accor, and Comwell Hotels among those with SBTi-validated targets. Related service: Sustainability Strategy Related terms: Net Zero, Carbon Neutral, Scope 1, 2 & 3 Emissions

Hospitality Sustainability Glossary: Standards, Certifications & ESG Terms

Categories

Sustainability strategy

Hospitality Standards & Certifications

Green buildings Standards & Certifications

Hotel operations

ESG & reporting

Continuous improvement

HOLITRA Concepts

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