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FACTORS INFLUENCING WATER CONSUMPTION IN HOTEL FACILITIES: A

LITERATURE REVIEW

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 The 11th International Research Conference on Management & Finance (IRCMF – 2016)

FACTORS INFLUENCING WATER CONSUMPTION IN HOTEL FACILITIES: A

LITERATURE REVIEW

Rajini, P.A.D.1 and Samarakoon, S.B.R.G.K.2

Abstract
Water is a resource with high ecological and social value, and vital for the survival of
our planet Earth. It determines the quality of living and important for most of the social
and economic activities. As a major sub-sector of the tourism industry, the hotel
sector accounts for a huge amount of water for its daily operations, being an intense
user of water resource. There are number of factors influencing water consumption of
hotel facilities and understanding the impact of such factors is crucial to develop
appropriate water saving strategies. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive
research in this area and therefore, an initiative was taken in this study to fill that
research gap by investigating the literature findings on factors influencing water
consumption in hotel facilities. A comprehensive literature survey and a subsequent
desk study identified twenty nine (29) factors, which could be categorised into three
(03) groups as ‘building /building services related factors’, ‘operational factors’ and
‘occupants related factors’. Giving a serious look at the identified factors and
reviewing the influence of each factor towards water consumption will help the
management of hotels in evaluating trends in water use, making projections of future
demands and ascertaining the impact of any conservation measures and thus
reducing the total resource consumption cost of hotels in considerable levels. Further,
reduced water consumption in hotels will reduce the demand on drinking water
supplies and thus, hoteliers can help towards protecting the environment.

Keywords: Water Crisis; Water Consumption; Hotel Facilities

1. Introduction
With the growing environmental degradation, sustainable development, including the
development of a more sustainable built environment, has become a vital priority today. A
number of factors indicate that the hotel industry has an important responsibility in this process
(Bohdanowicz, 2005). Within the hotel sector, the areas of concern for the environment include
recycling of waste, waste management, clean air, energy and water conservation, environmental
health, maintenance of permits such as building permits and compliance with legislation,
purchasing policy and environmental education (Manesh, 2006).

Freshwater is a strategic resource, essential for sustaining life and achieving sustainable
development (Barata, Martins, Cruz, & Tralhão, 2012). However, economic development and
today’s lifestyles have increased the water consumption and rendered drinking water scarce
(Silva-Afonso & Pimentel-Rodrigues, 2011). According to Budeanu (2007), tourism is a major
contributor of a country’s economy, performed yearly by more than 10% of the world’s

1 1Departmentof Building Economics, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

2MAS Active Trading (Pvt) Ltd. – Nirmaana
Corresponding:E-mail-dame_uom@yahoo.com,
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population. Hotels, being a sub sector of tourism industry consume a huge amount of water for
their daily operations and spend a huge amount of money as their water bills.

According to Deng and Burnett (2000), understanding of determinants of water consumption and
water consumption data can help organisations for their water management. There have been
numerous studies examining the demand and value of water for residential use. However, the
researches which have specifically addressed the factors affecting water consumption in hotel
facilities are very limited (Vagiona & Mylopoulos, 2004). This study therefore, aims at reviewing
the existing literature and investigating the factors influencing water consumption in hotel
facilities. The paper structure begins with a literature review on global water crisis and water
consumption in hotel facilities. The paper then reviews major influential factors on water
consumption in hotels and finally presents the discussion and conclusions of the study.

2. Global water crisis

Human beings are dependent upon natural systems such as air, water and other resources to
fulfil their needs. According to California Urban Water Conservation Council (2001), among all
the other natural resources, water is critical to the creation and sustenance of life on the planet.
As Biswas (2004) pointed out, the need for water is universal and without water, life will simply
cease to exist. Human beings rely on renewable fresh water for drinking, irrigation of crops, and
industrial uses as well as production of fish and waterfowl, transportation, recreation and waste
disposal (California Urban Water Conservation Council, 2001). Hence, water is an indispensable
resource for quality of living and development of various economic sectors (Rodrigues et al.,
2012).

As Roy and Tisdell (1999) mentioned, although it may seem that the world is abundantly supplied
with fresh water and the available water is sufficient to satisfy all needs of human population, in
reality, the supply of fresh water is limited. According to Rodrigues et al. (2012), the Earth’s
surface is composed by two-thirds of water, being 97% salt water. Of the remaining 3% of fresh
water, 2.1% are stored in polar ice and only 0.9% is underground in rivers and lakes, and
susceptible of exploitation. Moreover, Rodrigues et al. (2012) mentioned that all the abstracted
water is not effectively used as a significant portion is associated with losses and inefficient use.
It is estimated that losses could represent approximately 40% of the abstracted water. Moreover,
about 2 million tons of waste per day is disposed of within receiving waters and the freshwater
resources are further reduced due to pollution (United Nations World Water Development Report,
2003). Thus, the net quantity of fresh water available for human consumption is very small (Roy
& Tisdell, 1999).

Although the fresh water quantity does not increase on an absolute basis, water demands are
growing every year as a result of the booming world population (Alwi, Manan, & Ujang, 2006). On
the other hand, changing consumer habits and ever-increasing economic activities as well as the
overexploitation of water resources and climate change have been stimulating the water demand
to unprecedented levels (Barata et al., 2012). In last 60 years, water consumption has tripled in
the planet (Rodrigues et al., 2012) and around 50 countries are currently facing moderate or
severe water stress (Living Planet Report, 2008).

As Biswas (2004) pointed out, the current and the foreseeable trends indicate that water
problems of the future will continue to become increasingly more complex. Over the next twenty
years, this will be further extended and the average supply of water worldwide per person is
expected to drop by one third (Rogers, 2004). Apart from that, the water is becoming more

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expensive as a scarce resource (Deng & Burnett, 2000). Rosegrant, Cline, & Cai (2002)
forecasted that the cost of supplying water to both domestic and industrial users will rise
dramatically by 62 % from 1995 to 2025. Further, the results of water problems will become
more intertwined with development sectors like agriculture, energy, industry, transportation, and
communication as well as with social sectors like education, environment, health, and rural or
regional development (Biswas, 2004). Therefore, emerging freshwater scarcity has been
recognized as a global issue of the utmost importance (Smakhtin et al., 2004).

3. Water consumption in hotel facilities

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) (2013), the travel and tourism
industry has outperformed the global economy in 2012 growing faster than manufacturing, retail,
financial services and communications. As the council stated, the industry has grown its total
contribution to GDP by 3% and increased the number of jobs by five million to 260 million.
Further, one in 11 of all jobs in the world are now supported by travel and tourism and more than
10% of all new jobs created in 2012 were from the tourism industry. International hotel industry,
as one of the tourism-characteristic sectors plays a major role in a country’s economy. As per
Bohdanowicz (2005), many of the services provided to hotel guests are highly resource intensive
(energy, water, food and nondurable goods) and also hotels have been found to have the highest
negative impact on the environment of all commercial/ service buildings with the exception of
hospitals. The rapid growth in tourism will have a significant detrimental impact on the
environment, as more and more facilities will need to be provided to cater the increased tourist
arrivals (Tang, 2012).

Hotels and resorts are large users of water (Tang, 2012: Bohdanowicz, 2005). A hotel building
provides a variety of facilities and functions and is normally operated 24 hours a day throughout
the year (Deng & Burnett, 2002). Therefore, a considerable amount of water is required for daily
operation in its various functional areas such as laundry, kitchens and guestrooms, restaurants,
public areas, swimming pools to name few. According to ITP (2008 as cited in Silva-Afonso &
Pimentel-Rodrigues, 2011), the composition of a hotel’s water consumption can be presented as
34% guest rooms, 22% kitchen, 20% public bathrooms, 17% laundry, 1 % Heating, Ventilating
and Air Conditioning (HVAC), 4% steam generation and 2% for swimming pool in Germany. A
tourist's water consumption is higher than a resident's water consumption (Styles et al., 2013). A
European tourist consumes around 300 litres per day compared with a European resident
consumption of 100 – 200 litres per day, averaging approximately 150 litres (Gossling et al.,
2011 as cited in Styles et al., 2013). The average medium to large hotel uses 79,000 litres per
day or 301 litres per room, which is the equivalent of using 29 Olympic pools of water each year
(Smart Water Fund, 2007).

Reduced water consumption can help towards protecting the environment. Alexander (2002) (as
cited in Kim, 2005) related the water conservation to social responsibility. As per the researcher,
for one single standard hotel room in the Philippines, water consumption is about 396 gallons per
day and this amount of water can support fourteen people at their current standard of living.
Further, sustainability is increasingly becoming one of the most relevant issues to hoteliers in the
21st century as costs continue to rise, demand becomes increasingly sensitive and the pressure
on being economically, socially and environmentally responsible grows (Bader, 2005). Therefore,
conserving water should be an important priority for hotels.

As Deng and Burnett (2002) explained, apart from the environmental and social benefits,
improved water use and direct water saving can also make a noticeable difference to a hotel’s
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bottom line. Hotel industry generates high water and water bills to provide a quality service for its
guests. As per the Smart Water Fund (2007), hotels can spend more than $200,000 for water
each year excluding the cost of electricity for heating water or cooling tower chemicals. As
industrial water cost is increasing day by day, reduction of hotel water consumption will lead to
reduce a hotel’s operating cost from a significant amount.

4. Determinants of water consumption in hotel facilities

Across the world, water scarcity is triggering growing concern and an acceleration of efforts to
solve the water problems (Cohen, Ortez, & Pinkstaff, 2009). Therefore, identification of the
determinants of water consumption of hotel facilities is essential for a better understanding of
water conservation.

4.1 Research methods

As it was previously mentioned, a relatively less attention has been given for studying the factors
influencing water consumption in hotel facilities. Therefore, a comprehensive literature review and a
desk study was conducted to review the factors influencing hotel water consumption. Data sources
include published journal articles, conference proceedings, government and non-governmental
organizations’ reports, etc. The literature survey was conducted using all combinations of the search
terms: water crisis, sustainable use of water, water management, water conservation, etc. The papers
were screened by reading of titles, abstracts, or full papers. Among a large number of available
publications on water consumption, publications which directly address the factors influencing water
consumption were hardly found. However, in identifying the factors, only the publications which have
specifically addressed water consumption/management in hotel facilities were considered. Following
section discusses the findings of the study.

4.2. Discussion and analysis of findings

A total of twenty nine (29) factors could be identified from fourteen (14) key literature sources on hotel
water consumption. The identified factors with the authors have been given in Table 1. The identified
factors were categorized into three (03) major influential factors which have been most frequently
addressed in literature. They are ‘building and building services related factors’, ‘operational factors’
and ‘occupants related factors’. Given the ambiguity surrounding the terminology used by the different
authors, the best judgment has been used in grouping the sub factors. A review of identified factors
has been given below.

4.2.1. Building and building services related factors

In the hotel industry, water consumption is influenced by several factors such as the type and size of
the hotel facility (Bohdanowicz, 2006). A large property is often associated with large number of guest
floors, irrigated landscaped areas and various recreational activities which consume large amount of
water (Charara, Cashman, Bonnell, & Gehr, 2011). According to O’neill, Siegelbaum & the RICE
Group (2002), in Washington, the average total water consumption of a smaller hotel was 150
gpd/room (gallons per day per room) while the water consumption of a large hotel was 260 gpd/room.
Further, Vagiona and Mylopoulos (2004) stated that a 10% increase in the number of rooms will lead
to a 9.98% increase in total water consumption in a hotel. Year of construction of building also affects
the water consumption of a hotel (Deng, 2002). According to a research carried out in Washington,
the average total water consumption of a newer hotel was 145 gpd /room while the water
consumption of an older hotel was 235 gpd/ room (O’neill et al., 2002). Thus, older, luxury hotels
typically use the greatest quantity of water per room O’Neill et al. (2002).
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Table 1: Factors Influencing Water Consumption in Hotel Facilities

Meade and Gonzalez-Morel, 1998)

Bohdanowicz and Martinac (2006)

Vagiona and Mylopoulos, (2004)

Elizondo and Lofthouse (2010)

Vermeir and Verbeke (2006)
Deng and Burnett (2002)

Smart Water Fund, 2007

Cobacho et al. (2005)

Charara, et al, 2011)

Styles et al. (2013)

O’Neill et al. (2002)

Eurostat (2009)
Deng (2002)

Tang (2012)
Building and Building Services Related Factors
Total hotel floor area/size of the hotel
Age of the building and building services

Multiplicity of water-using appliances

Usage of efficient water fittings
Operational Factors
Hotel running activities
Class of the hotel
Presence and characteristics of water-
intensive facilities/services
Efficiency and configuration of hotel
facilities and services
Maintenance activities
Number of guests/ occupancy rate
Number of employees
In-house/ onsite laundry load
Number of food covers made
Adoption and implementation of
environmental and water management
programmes
Occupants Related Factors
Practices of occupants
Habits
Guests’ needs
Personal preferences
Personal concerns on comfort and
convenience
Personal health concerns and
cleanliness
Ethnicity and religion
Economy
Attitudes
Environmental concerns of occupants
Situational and psychological
circumstances
Culture
Individual responses to social and
institutional norms
Awareness on water consumption
Education level

4.2.2. Operational factors

The operational nature of the hotel business, working 365 days per year, expects more natural
resources consumption than other sectors do (Kim, 2005). There are normally several major
water end-uses in a hotel, such as the guest floors, kitchens, laundry and gardens to name few.

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As Deng and Burnett (2002) explained, water use in each end-use is likely to be influenced by its
major operational activities. For example, water use on the guest floors is influenced by hotel
occupancy, and that in kitchens by the number of food covers made. There are a number of
reasons for higher water consumption in hotel sector, including the hotel running activities such
as daily room cleaning, daily laundry, and maintenance of swimming pools, maintenance of
grounds (irrigation), etc. (Styles et al., 2013). Moreover, water intensive nature of services
provided by the hotel also leads to huge water consumption (Bohdanowicz & Martinac, 2006;
Cobacho Arregui, Parra, Cabrera Jr., 2005; Vagiona & Mylopoulos, 2004; Deng & Burnett, 2002;
Deng, 2002; O’Neill, et al., 2002).

According to Vagiona and Mylopoulos (2004), the class of the hotel reflects not only the absolute
size of the hotel but also the service level. Further, more employees per guest are employed as
the class rises and therefore class of the hotel is also positively influencing the water
consumption of a hotel facility. For example, aaccording to O’neill et al. (2002), in Washington,
the average total water consumption of an economy based hotel was 94 gpd/room, while the
water consumption of a mid-range hotel and a luxury hotel were 153 gpd/room and 254
gpd/room respectively.

However, efficient use of water in water intensive operations will result in reducing the hotel
water consumption and saving water Charara et al. (2011). Leaks are an example for inefficient
practice and may be significant contributor to hotel water consumption based on the time taken
to rectify those leaks (O’Neill et al., 2002). As mentioned, poorly maintained toilets such as toilets
with leaking flapper valves, overflowing tanks or defective flush mechanisms can waste a
significant amount of water. For example, in Jamaica, 40 % of the total water consumed by a 35-
room hotel was traced to 3 leaking toilets. While the cost of these leaks amounted to $1,300 per
month, they could have been easily repaired in 30 minutes with $10 worth of materials (Meade &
Gonzalez-Morel, 1998). Corrective and preventative maintenance practices also enable a hotel
to reduce the unnecessary wastage of water and reduce its total water consumption. Thus,
maintenance activities also affect the total water consumption of a hotel facility.

In most of hotels and accommodation services, the majority of water is used in guest rooms
which typically consume between 40 to 56 % of the total water consumption of a hotel (Smart
Water Fund, 2007). A major influential factor which determines the water consumption in guest
floor as well as the total hotel water consumption is number of guests (Tang, 2012; Charara, et
al., 2011; Vagiona & Mylopoulos, 2004; Deng & Burnett, 2002). The occupancy levels vary
significantly from time to time over a year and more water is consumed when there are more
guests in the hotel. According Meade & Gonzalez-Morel (1998), water consumption of a hotel
varies widely with changes in occupancy because of the high water base load consumed by the
staff in support operations. Further, Charara, et al. (2011) pointed out number of employees as a
determinant of water consumption in a hotel as the employees of hotels who spend their working
days on the property inevitably consume a huge amount of water as they go about their tasks.
Therefore, as the owners of the hotel are responsible for the staff, working in it, they can educate
the employees about water conservation and to use water more efficiently in water consumptive
activities (Vagiona & Mylopoulos, 2004).

Hotels generate a considerable amount of laundry, comprising bed sheets, pillow cases, duvet
covers, towels, tablecloths and napkins, and staff uniforms. The provision of clean, crease-free
bedclothes is a particularly important quality control point for accommodation establishments. As
Vagiona and Mylopoulos (2004) mentioned, hotels that have in-house washing machines and
laundries often represent a major percentage of total water use. The amount of water used in
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laundry operations can account for up to 20 % of the total volume of water consumed by a hotel,
and is mainly influenced by the type of equipment available and the level of training of the
laundry staff (Meade & Gonzalez-Morel, 1998). Hence, in-house laundry load has been widely
accepted as a major influential factor of water consumption in a hotel facility by a number of
researchers (Vagiona & Mylopoulos, 2004; Deng & Burnett, 2002; Deng, 2002; O’Neill et al.,
2002).

A hotel building provides a variety of facilities and functions. In addition to the preparation of food
for in-house guests, kitchen staff has to make food covers for restaurants in hotels which are
open to both in-house guests and the general public. As a huge number of food covers are
prepared per day for both in-house as well as outside guests, amount food covers made in the
kitchen also has a great impact on a hotel’s water consumption (Bohdanowicz & Martinac, 2006;
Vagiona & Mylopoulos, 2004). As per Deng & Burnett (2002), water consumption in kitchens may
also depend on the type of equipment used to prepare those food covers.

As Seneviratne (2007) pointed out, though it is said that the world’s water is in a crisis, it is more
a crisis of management of water rather than a water crisis. Therefore, the solutions to water
problems depend not only on water availability, but also on many other factors including the
processes through which water is managed, competence and capacities of the institutions that
manage them (Biswas, 2004). According to O’Neill et al. (2012), water management applies not
only to the equipment and physical processes that use water, but also the human and corporate
influences on water use. According to the researchers, water management can be categorized
as loss reduction (leak detection in faucets and pipes), equipment and process water reduction,
water reuse (closed loop systems) and demand reduction (through programs and incentives). A
study carried out by Tang (2012) indicated that an effective water management program can
significantly reduce the water consumption in hotels. Further, good water management can
reduce water consumption by over 50 % and leakage prevention alone can reduce abstraction
rates by over 30 %. In addition, the adoption of environmental management programmes plays a
great role in managing the daily water consumption (Tang, 2012).

4.2.3. Occupants related factors

As Janda (2011) mentioned, building users such as guests and staff play a critical role in built
environment, but it is poorly understood and often overlooked. As Vagiona and Mylopoulos
(2004) mentioned, although water consumption in guest rooms is to some extent related to hotel
occupancy, it is extremely difficult to predict exact water consumption. Even under similar
occupancy, water consumption in guest rooms might not be similar as it might be related to many
different factors related to individual behaviour. Further, occupants’ attitudes and behaviour has
been identified as a major factor that determines the water consumption in a hotel by a number
of researchers (Tixier, 2008; Budeanu, 2007; Bohdanowicz & Martinac, 2003; Bohdanowicz,
2005; Bohdanowicz, Churie-Kallhauge, & Martinac , 2001).

According to Elizondo & Lofthouse (2010), human behaviour often consists of several routines
and habits which are developed individually over time in order to feel in control and achieve a
balance in the environment. Routines develop from childhood, with the influence of the family
and the environment (Gram Hanssen, 2008 as cited in Elizondo & Lofthouse, 2010), evolving
with the ever changing circumstances in daily life (Medd & Shove, 2005 as cited in Elizondo &
Lofthouse, 2010). According to the literature findings, 15 occupants’ related factors that influence
the water consumption of hotel facilities could be identified.

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Individual practices of guests and staff (Charara et al., 2011), habits (Elizondo & Lofthouse,
2010) and needs (Cobacho et al., 2005); guest’s personal preferences (Vagiona & Mylopoulos.,
2004) determine the amount of water consumed by each occupant. According to Cobacho et al.
(2005), a significant part of water consumption in a hotel is demanded by the needs of guests in
their rooms. Further, People’s choices concerning water usage are attached to many individual
drivers such as comfort, convenience, cleanness, ethnicity, religion and economy (Elizondo &
Lofthouse, 2010). As stated by Tixier (2008) (as cited in Wood & Halpenny, 2001), issues of
sustainability do not figure in visitors’ decision making as they do not generally feel responsible
for the environment in a holiday destination. For example, holidaymakers have a pleasure
approach to the shower/bath and generally use more water than they would normally use
(Eurostat, 2009).

Behavioural intentions, also referred to as attitudes, are also one of the aspects of actual
behaviour (Elizondo & Lofthouse, 2010). Further, situational and psychological circumstances
also play a role and they all interrelate and act to finally produce one’s actions. Hence, these
factors also influence the water consumption in a hotel facility. According to Bohdanowicz &
Martinac (2006), water use in a hotel is also determined by the culture of individuals. The use of
water through countries varies because of different climates, cultures, habits, economies and
natural conditions (Vagiona & Mylopoulos, 2004).

Further, as mentioned by Bohdanowicz & Martinac (2006), awareness of resource consumption

greatly affects the amount of water consumed by an individual. Most of the time in today’s
rushing life, people are not fully aware of the amounts of water consumed (Randolph & Patrick,
2008 as cited in Elizondo & Lofthouse, 2010), nor in which activities they consume the most
(Elizondo & Lofthouse, 2010). Therefore, Awareness raising and education are the main tools
which should be used to overcome the information deficit and correct people’s behaviours
(Janda, 2011). According to Elizondo and Lofthouse (2010), environmental concerns of
occupants have a great impact on reducing water consumption in a hotel facility. Therefore, the
willingness and ability of hotel management to advocate and implement state-of-art
environmentally responsible behaviour and practices is thus crucial to reduce the huge
consumption of water in hotel facilities

5. Conclusions and future research agenda

Freshwater is a strategic resource, essential for sustaining life and achieving sustainable
development. However, due to populations growing levels and standards of living have led to a
high demand for water resources transforming the water into a scarce recourse with great
economic importance. Being a major sub-sector of tourism industry and having a several major
water users, hotel sector accounts for significant amount resource consumption as well as for a
substantial portion of the environmental impacts it generates. The operational nature of hotel
industry itself requires a huge amount of water for its day to day operations. A proper
understanding on identified factors will enable the hoteliers to address the water consumption
factors effectively and to reduce the water consumption in hotel facilities in a significant level.

Water consumption and water use efficiency in hotels have been discussed by number of
researchers in different countries; that is, Jamaica (Meade & Gonzalez-Morel, 1998); Hong Kong
(Deng & Burnett, 2002); Barbados (Charara et al., 2011). However, according to the literature
findings (refer table 1), it could be noted that more attention has been given only to address the
operational factors as determinants of water consumption. Though literature findings show that
buildings and building services have a great impact on water consumption in hotel facilities
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(Bohdanowicz, 2006; Charara et al., 2011; O’Neill et al., 2002), a relatively less attention has
been given in studying water conservation through management of building and building services
related factors.

Further, as suggested by O’Neill et al. (2002), conservation opportunities are related to both
equipment measures involving replacement or significant upgrades to existing equipment, as well
as individual and behavioural measures related to equipment maintenance and to
employee/guest education. Although water efficient equipment and water saving measures
contribute to cost savings, it is important to remember that people are the most effective water
conservationists, particularly the staff of the hotel (Tang, 2012). Many commercial water
conservation studies have focused primarily on equipment measures only. However, behavioural
measures also should be given an attention in order to motivate the occupants to behave in a
sustainable manner so that the hotel water consumption can be minimised.

Hence, the article motivates an agenda for future research that advocates a critical review of
building/ building services related factors and occupants’ related factors which could be identified
through this study and evaluation of the impact of those factors on water consumption in hotel
facilities.

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