Sustainability Best Practices for Hotels
The GSTC Sustainable Hotels Course is designed for hospitality and accommodation professionals, and provides practical insights into sustainability practices for hotels.
- Deepen your understanding of sustainability for hotels.
- Learn to apply the globally recognized standard of sustainability
- Find practical insights based on real-life cases and lessons
Delivered as an on-demand self-paced online course, the GSTC Sustainable Hotels Course features expert presentations, useful resources, and real-life industry examples and lessons on applying sustainability best practices.
This course is for you, if you …
- Want to improve your performance by learning practical how-to’s on sustainability.
- Are looking for real-life examples and actionable tips on sustainability solutions.
- Need a flexible and convenient learning option that fits your busy schedule.
- Want to systematically and efficiently approach your sustainability journey by aligning with the globally recognized standard of sustainability best practices (GSTC Industry Criteria).
What does the course cover?
The training follows the GSTC Industry Criteria with the Performance Indicators for Hotels, providing best practices for sustainable hotel management.
- Lessons on each section of the GSTC Industry Criteria, with examples relevant to hotels.
- Expert tips and resources introducing key solutions around current issues and trends.
- Tools to help you practice applying the Criteria to your own situations.
- Opportunities to learn from GSTC experts and fellow hospitality professionals from around the world.
This course is offered as an on-demand course. Registration is processed through the GSTC.
For questions or booking support, please feel free to email us at support@trainingaid.org.
The GSTC Sustainable Hotels Course is designed for hospitality and accommodation professionals, and provides practical insights into sustainability practices for hotels.
The training follows the GSTC Industry Criteria with the Performance Indicators for Hotels, providing best practices for sustainable hotel management.
Building a Solid Foundation
- GSTC-I A1 (Sustainability management system)
- GSTC-I A7 (Building & infrastructure)
Stakeholder Engagement
- GSTC-I A4 (Staff engagement)
- GSTC-I A5 (Customer experience)
- GSTC-I A10 (Destination engagement)
Marketing & Communications
- GSTC-I A3 (Reporting & communication)
- GSTC-I A6 (Accurate promotion)
Local Economic Opportunities:
- GSTC-I B2 (Local employment)
- GSTC-I B3 (Local purchasing)
- GSTC-I B4 (Local entrepreneurs)
Do No Harm
- GSTC-IN B5 (Exploitation and harassment)
- GSTC-I B8 (Community services)
- GSTC-I B9 (Local livelihoods)
Do The Most Good
- GSTC-I B1 (Community support)
- GSTC-I B6 (Equal opportunity)
- GSTC-I B7 (Decent work)
Protection of Cultural Resources
- GSTC-I C2 (Protecting cultural heritage)
- GSTC-I C4 (Artefacts)
Presenting Cultural Heritage
- GSTC-I C3 (Presenting culture and heritage)
- GSTC-I C1 (Cultural interactions)
Conserving Resources
- GSTC-I D1.2 (Efficient purchasing)
- GSTC-I D1.3 (Energy conservation)
- GSTC-I D1.4 (Water conservation)
Reducing Pollution
- GSTC-I D 2.1 (Greenhouse gas emissions)
- GSTC-I D 2.3 (Wastewater)
- GSTC-I D 2.4 (Solid Waste)
Conserving Biodiversity
- GSTC-I 3.1 (Biodiversity conservation)
- GSTC-I 3.4 (Wildlife interactions)
About the GSTC: Global Authority on Sustainable Tourism
The GSTC is an independent and neutral organization, legally registered in the USA as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that represents a diverse and global membership, including NGO’s, national and provincial governments, leading travel companies, hotels, tour operators, individuals and communities – all striving to achieve best practices in sustainable tourism.
As the global expert in standards for sustainable tourism, the GSTC pursues the goals of:
- Promoting sustainable tourism knowledge and practices;
- Facilitating the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles; and
- Building demand for sustainable travel.
At the core of this work is the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, the guiding principles and minimum requirements that any tourism business or destination should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources, while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for conservation and poverty alleviation. The GSTC was founded in 2007 by the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Foundation, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), among others.
I’ve participated in the course to get a comprehensive overview of destination sustainability criteria. Much more than this, the course gave me the up-to-date analysis of current trends, and a huge number of relevant cases from the destinations, the industry networks and the service providers. I strongly recommend to attend the course.
The topics covered were relevant and up-to-date. Sustainable tourism was not new to me, but I learned so much. I really loved how you managed to build and maintain a community, especially in the breakout sessions.
This course has been very relevant and provides in-depth knowledge of GSTC criteria for sustainable practices for destinations as well as the travel industry [with] plenty of real life examples and share links to plenty of reading material throughout the course. … As we move forward during these difficult COVID times, learning our lessons on the damage to nature, it becomes all the more important for industry professionals to get trained and step up efforts to embrace sustainability in all aspects of tourism. Hence, I recommend this course to all industry professionals.
The overview of standards, coupled with best practice and real world examples has been very beneficial for my work in destination management and responsible tourism development. The ability to meet likeminded industry colleagues, who are working in this arena was also highly valuable.
My course facilitator and teacher (Ayako and Antje) went above and beyond to answer our questions and provide us with additional resources. The course content (the GSTC Criteria) was delivered in an understandable and organized way. Learning the GSTC Criteria and how it applies to our own projects, businesses, and destinations is integral to anyone wanting to do any kind of work in the future centered around travel. I appreciated that the course was delivered in an interactive way over Zoom, and not just something we watched on YouTube. For me, being able to interact with fellow students from around the world, was a big plus. Was well worth it, and I highly recommend the course!