Accor, the French group behind Ibis, Novotel, Sofitel and Raffles, has rolled out a fresh sustainability roadmap called Hosting Change, covering its 2026-2030 period. With more than 5,800 hotels in 110 countries and over 45 brands, the company is trying to prove something simple: hotels that use less energy and water, waste less food and treat staff well also run more profitably.
The strategy groups its efforts into four areas — operations, guest experience, talent and the wider ecosystem — while letting each brand and region prioritise what matters locally. Examples already in action include Mövenpick Petra in Jordan swapping bathtubs for walk-in showers in 90% of its rooms to save water, and Raffles Bali running a dual-source water system that returns 97% of the water it draws back to the land.
The numbers behind the business case are worth noting. Energy and water make up roughly 7% of a hotel's annual operating costs, and Accor cut its water intensity by 5.2% in 2025. More than 73% of its biggest corporate clients now demand ESG criteria when booking hotels, so owners have a commercial reason to keep up. Coline Pont, who rejoined Accor in 2025 as chief sustainability officer with a seat on the Group Management Board, puts it plainly: sustainability objectives and business objectives reinforce each other rather than compete.
For guests, the changes show up in the stay itself. Accor has removed more than 50 types of single-use plastics since starting the phase-out in 2019, and found the local, thoughtful replacements often improved the experience rather than cheapening it. Food is the next frontier — it accounts for 17% of the group's carbon footprint, and the target is 35% plant-forward dishes by 2030, with the emphasis on dishes you'd order because they taste good, not because they're virtuous.
There's a social side too. Accor's School for Change has been training staff to fold sustainability into everyday decisions since 2022, women hold 41% of roles above vice president level, and a Social Mobility program aims to certify 20,000 people through NGO partnerships by 2030. A standout commitment: 1,000 hotels will open their doors as safe shelter for people fleeing gender-based violence by 2030.
Why should a traveller care? Skift Research found accommodation is the trip category where US travellers are most willing to pay more for a sustainable option. Whether or not you shop that way, the practical upshot is that green targets at this scale tend to translate into quieter, lower-impact hotels with better food and better-treated staff — and by 2030, Pont wants guests choosing an Ibis or a Sofitel partly because of it. Accor also plans to share what works with the wider industry, piloting 100 resource-saving solutions across its network and presenting results at the UN Water Conference and COP31.
Reported by Skift.
