The historic city of San Antonio, Texas, played host to the Mainstreaming Net Positive Hospitality Summit for the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance this week, convening members and partners to share exciting updates, reflect on achievements and map out action for 2025.
As the Alliance’s first major event in North America, this three-day summit was part of The Hospitality Show at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, in partnership with the American Hotel and Lodging Association and Questex. This summit marks a new era for the Alliance, which recently rebranded as the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance to emphasise its global impact.
Throughout the event, the Alliance led critical discussions around Net Positive Hospitality, spotlighting its top three priority areas: Unified Standards, the World Academy for Sustainable Hospitality, and the Net Positive Hospitality Impact Fund.
“This Summit truly illustrated the Alliance’s transformation from strategy to action,” remarked Glenn Mandziuk, CEO of the Alliance. “Our efforts this year have laid the groundwork for a 2025 focused on meaningful, measurable sustainability outcomes. The Summit emphasised key actions, from amenity packages to energy, water, and finance, solidifying our industry’s commitment to Net Positive impact.”
Sessions on ‘2025 and Beyond’ explored how best to leverage data for sustainability metrics, from decarbonisation targets to compliance and certification and the final day included a panel of global industry experts who discussed the pressing challenges faced globally within the sector.
A lively discussion on EU green claims by Baptiste Carriere-pradal, Co-Founder and Director of 2B Policy, saw a highly engaged audience delve into the ramifications of differing regulations from region to region and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council presented on global trends in sustainability regulations, including environmental impacts, DEI and community engagement.
The groundbreaking World Academy of Sustainable Hospitality showcased the pioneering future-oriented training that offers certified programs to empower hotel professionals in driving true systems change towards Net Positive Hospitality.
On the final day, the Senior Advisory Council (SAC) convened to review strategic priorities, underscoring the importance of collaboration and innovation in achieving a Net Positive future.
To close, the Alliance hosted a Low Carbon Pioneer Drinks Reception at the InterContinental San Antonio Riverwalk, celebrating IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Low Carbon Pioneers project. Sponsored by IHG, the reception featured a presentation by Julienne Smith, Chief Development Officer, IHG Hotels & Resorts, highlighting the energy-efficient hotels participating in this initiative, which operate without on-site fossil fuel combustion and are powered by renewable energy.
The Summit set a powerful trajectory for the global hospitality industry, with renewed commitments to drive sustainable change across the sector.
