Introduction
Unit of Study: Sustainable Hospitality and Tourism
Intended Learners: Senior High School – TVL/Hospitality learners
Learning Goal: Students will understand how hotels can practice sustainability while maintaining quality guest service.
Imagine that you are part of a hotel management team. Your hotel wants to become more environmentally friendly while still providing excellent service to its guests. Your task is to explore different sustainable practices used by hotels and create a simple sustainability plan for your own hotel.
Through this WebQuest, you will learn how proper waste management, energy and water conservation, and responsible use of resources can help hotels become more sustainable.
Task
Your task is to create a Sustainable Hotel Plan for a fictional hotel.
Your plan should include:
- A name and short description of your hotel.
- At least three sustainable practices that your hotel will implement.
- An explanation of how each practice can help the hotel and the environment.
- A simple action plan showing how the hotel will implement these practices.
- A short reflection about why sustainability is important in the hospitality industry.
Final Product: A one-page sustainability plan or digital presentation that can be presented to the class.
Process
Follow these steps:
Step 1 – Explore
Research sustainable practices used by hotels and other hospitality businesses.
Step 2 – Identify
Choose at least three practices related to areas such as:
- Waste reduction and recycling
- Water conservation
- Energy conservation
- Reduction of single-use plastics
- Sustainable food practices
Step 3 – Analyze
Explain how each practice can benefit the hotel, guests, employees, and environment.
Step 4 – Plan
Create your own Sustainable Hotel Plan. Include the name of your hotel, the practices you selected, and how you will implement them.
Step 5 – Create
Present your plan using Canva, PowerPoint, Google Slides, or another available tool.
Step 6 – Reflect
Write 3–5 sentences answering:
What did I learn about sustainability, and how can sustainable practices improve the hospitality industry?
Step 7 – Present
Share your completed plan with your classmates.
Evaluation
Evaluation – Rubric
| Criteria | Excellent (4) | Good (3) | Fair (2) | Needs Improvement (1) |
| Content | Complete and accurate | Mostly complete | Some information missing | Limited information |
| Sustainable Practices | 3+ relevant practices clearly explained | 3 practices identified | 2 practices identified | 1 or fewer practices |
| Creativity | Very creative and engaging | Creative | Some Creativity | Little creativity |
| Organization | Clear and well-organized | Mostly organized | Somewhat organized | Difficult to follow |
| Reflection | Clear and thoughtful | Good reflection | Basic reflection | Incomplete reflection |
Total: 20 points
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have completed the Sustainable Hotel WebQuest. Through this activity, you explored how hotels can reduce waste, conserve resources, and provide responsible hospitality services.
Sustainability is an important part of the hospitality industry because hotels use significant amounts of water, energy, food, and other resources. By applying sustainable practices, hospitality professionals can help protect the environment while continuing to provide quality service to guests.
Think about your own community: What sustainable practice could hotels in your area start implementing today?