How much water do guests use in hotels?
We work with hotels to help guests use water more consciously during their stay. Participating hotels donate clean drinking water to communities facing water scarcity, turning every stay into impact close to home and far away.
In our analysis of water-use at partner hotels, water use per guest per night dropped by an average of 7.5% in 2024 compared to the same months in 2023.
A major cost: water in hotels
Anyone who’s worked in a hotel knows that daily operations require large amounts of water. Hotel water consumption and the heating required is a significant operational cost and environmental concern.
Research published in the journal Tourism Management puts water use in European hotels at around 300 litres per guest per night, with large differences depending on the type and luxury level of the hotel. For comparison: European households use 124 litres per person per day on average.
Made Blue Foundation helps: saving water in hotels
The same research identifies a frontrunner benchmark of 140 litres per guest per night for the European hospitality sector: a concrete goal for every hotel to work towards.
Through The Gift of Water programme, we help participating hotels encourage their guests to be more mindful of their water use, with communication materials placed at points of use.
For every occupied room per night, the hotel donates 100 litres of clean drinking water to our water projects.
Examples of hotels and their water use before and after joining The Gift of Water programme including the impact in litres of clean drinking water in developing countries per year.
The results: every hotel used less water
We compared the water consumption of nine partner hotels in 2024 with the same months in 2023. The result: every single hotel used less water per guest per night after involving their guests through our communication materials. Savings ranged from 2% to over 19%, with an average of 7.5%. That shows hotels can go further, simply by involving their guests.
The table above shows the results per hotel, including the litres of clean drinking water each hotel contributes to our water projects per year.
Average water use in litres per guest per night with seasonal influences and 140 litres being the frontrunners benchmark as compared to the industry average of 300 litres per night. Data from participating hotels up until October 2024.
Within reach of the frontrunner benchmark
Two of the hotels, Holiday Inn and Novotel, now use less than 130 litres per guest per night. That’s already below the frontrunner benchmark of 140 litres. Proof that this target is within reach.
Across all participating hotels, average use stayed below the 2023 level in every month, while following the same seasonal pattern.
We’re proud of what our partner hotels have achieved so far, and eager to help many more hotels do the same.
Saving for a rainy day
Hotels don’t only save on (hot) water in the bathroom. When guests staying several nights choose not to have their towels and bed linen changed every day, hotels also save on laundry and labour costs.
Hotels participating in The Gift of Water have reported average annual savings of €12,000 for a 147-room property, demonstrating the tangible benefits of reducing water consumption.
More than savings: impact and recognition
On top of saving water and costs, participating hotels support an important cause: clean drinking water for communities facing water scarcity. A 147-room hotel with an occupancy rate of 75% contributes around 4 million litres of drinking water a year to our water projects, based on a donation of 100 litres per occupied room per night.
Participating in our programme also shows a visible commitment to sustainability, with guests directly involved. That can help hotels meet criteria of sustainability labels such as Green Globe, Green Key, Green Tourism and the EU Ecolabel.
Want to go further with water-saving techniques?
The many ambassadors of the Made Blue Foundation include companies such as Luniwave, Blycolin, i-team and CWS who can help your hotel save even more water. For example: water-saving shower heads, smart cleaning (machines), sustainable textiles, interactive IoT shower sensors and sensor taps.
We would be happy to connect you!
The gift of water
Your hotel guests consume a significant amount of water, resulting in operational and environmental costs.
Save water, save money, and impress your guests whilst making a huge impact for the 696,000,000 people that still lack access to safe water at home.