Why Is It So Difficult to Get Data? Hotels Have the Information. So Where Is It?

After nearly 30 years in the international hotel industry, implementing sustainability programmes, developing certification frameworks and conducting hundreds of hotel audits worldwide, there is one problem I continue to encounter: obtaining correct and reliable data from hotels is unnecessarily complicated. I am not talking about sophisticated carbon accounting or complex sustainability reporting. I am talking about basic operational information. How much electricity did the hotel consume last month? How many cubic metres of water were used? How much waste was generated? What did these resources cost, and how does consumption compare with previous periods?

These should be straightforward questions for a professionally managed hotel. Yet obtaining reliable answers can take weeks, sometimes months. Even when the information finally arrives, it is not always correct.

Why is information that should already exist so difficult to obtain?

Finance Has the Information. Or Does It?

Every hotel has financial controls. Invoices are received, suppliers are paid, expenditure is allocated, monthly accounts are closed, and profit and loss statements are prepared. Financial Controllers and General Managers review operating performance, compare expenditure against budgets and discuss variances during management meetings. This is normal hotel management.

So why does everything become complicated when somebody requests electricity, gas, water or waste consumption data? Frequently, Sustainability refers the request to Finance, Finance refers it to Engineering, Engineering refers it to the supplier, and eventually somebody produces a spreadsheet containing figures that may or may not correspond with the original documentation.

I have encountered this situation repeatedly, including in well-established international hotel organisations. The problem is not necessarily that the information does not exist. It is that nobody has established a reliable process to collect, verify and share it.

There is also an important distinction. Finance knows what the hotel has spent. That does not necessarily mean it knows what the hotel has consumed.

An electricity invoice contains financial and consumption information, but these are not interchangeable. Expenditure depends on tariffs, taxes, fixed charges and adjustments. Consumption is measured in kilowatt-hours. The same principle applies to gas and water. If Finance only records the monetary value in its accounting system, the physical consumption information remains in the invoice, often inaccessible to those responsible for sustainability performance.

And that is where the problem begins.

Financial Accounting Is Not Resource Management

Financial reporting is designed to control expenditure, allocate costs and support financial decisions. Sustainability performance monitoring requires information about physical resource consumption, operational conditions and environmental impacts. Both systems should complement each other, but they are not the same.

A reduction in electricity expenditure does not necessarily mean the hotel has improved its energy efficiency. It may simply reflect lower tariffs, reduced occupancy or a billing adjustment. Equally, expenditure may increase because tariffs have risen, even when actual consumption has decreased. Without separating costs from consumption, management cannot reliably determine what has improved. The situation becomes more complicated when hotels compare performance between periods or properties. Indicators such as energy consumption per occupied room or water consumption per guest night can provide useful information, but only when the underlying figures, reporting boundaries and calculation methods are consistent.

A hotel can have excellent financial reporting and still have inadequate control over its resource consumption.

And when this happens, sustainability becomes a separate administrative exercise rather than an integral part of hotel management.

Accruals, Estimates and the Problem of Actual Consumption

Another issue I frequently encounter is the difference between accounting periods and actual consumption periods. Hotels regularly use accrual accounting to recognise expenditure in the appropriate financial period, even when supplier invoices have not yet arrived. This is a normal accounting practice. However, an estimated financial expense is not necessarily a measurement of actual resource consumption.

Imagine that an electricity invoice has not arrived. Finance records an estimated expense, closes the accounts and presents the monthly financial results. The amount is subsequently adjusted when the invoice is received. Financially, this may be entirely appropriate. But what happens when these estimates are used for sustainability reporting?

The hotel may report consumption that has never actually been measured. Invoices may cover different periods, estimates may be carried forward, and adjustments may only become visible months later. By the end of the year, the figures may no longer correspond with the actual consumption records.

I have audited hotels where reported figures did not match the supporting invoices, where monthly totals could not be reconciled with annual consumption, or where financial estimates had been treated as actual resource consumption.

An accounting estimate is not automatically evidence of environmental performance.

This is not criticism of accrual accounting. It is criticism of using financial estimates as consumption data without understanding the difference. If estimates are necessary, they must be identified, justified and subsequently reconciled against actual measurements. Otherwise, management risks making decisions based on information that does not accurately represent the hotel’s performance.

When the Auditor Arrives, the Problems Become Visible

As an international Lead Auditor and certification framework developer, I regularly encounter hotels that believe their sustainability information is complete and correct. They present spreadsheets with monthly figures, annual totals and performance indicators. Everything appears organised.

Until we request the supporting evidence.

An auditor needs to establish whether reported information is accurate, complete, consistent and traceable to its source. Electricity figures should correspond with invoices, meter readings or other reliable records. Water consumption should be supported by appropriate measurements. Waste quantities should be consistent with collection records, weighing documentation or justified calculation methods. The reporting period, measurement units and organisational boundaries must also be clear.

This is where discrepancies appear. Missing months, duplicated invoices, incorrect units, estimated figures presented as actual consumption, or facilities included in the wrong reporting boundary. In hotels with residences, leased premises or independently operated outlets, the problem can become particularly significant. These are not minor administrative details. They affect the reliability of the hotel’s reported performance and may lead to incorrect conclusions.

A figure in a spreadsheet is not evidence simply because somebody entered it there.

The purpose of an audit is not to create difficulties for the hotel. It is to verify whether the information can be trusted. But why should these problems only become visible during an external audit? Why are they not identified through normal management controls? If hotel management cannot verify its own consumption figures, how can it confidently calculate savings, justify investments or communicate environmental achievements?

Sustainability Cannot Operate Separately from Finance and Operations

In my experience, one of the main weaknesses is insufficient coordination between Finance, Engineering, Operations and Sustainability. Sustainability Officers are expected to prepare reports, monitor performance, calculate emissions and demonstrate improvements. Yet they frequently have no direct access to utility invoices, meter readings, purchasing records or waste collection information. They depend on other departments, often without clearly defined responsibilities or reporting deadlines. Finance concentrates on expenditure. Engineering manages equipment and maintenance. Purchasing manages suppliers. Sustainability prepares environmental reports. Each department may be performing its individual responsibilities correctly, while the hotel fails to establish a reliable overview of resource consumption.

This is not simply a sustainability problem. It is a management systems problem.

A properly managed hotel should establish who collects the information, who verifies it, who explains significant variations and who is responsible for reporting. Finance should provide the relevant invoices and expenditure records. Engineering should verify consumption and investigate unusual patterns. Purchasing should provide supplier information, while operational departments should explain changes in activity. Sustainability should coordinate the information, assess performance and identify improvement opportunities.

The objective is not to create additional bureaucracy or another reporting platform. It is to connect existing departments and information sources through clear responsibilities and effective controls.

And this process should function every month, not only when an auditor is expected.

Without Reliable Data, There Is No Reliable Improvement

Sustainability management is fundamentally linked to operational efficiency. We need to understand how much a hotel consumes, where resources are used, why consumption occurs and what financial consequences are associated with that consumption. Without a reliable baseline, it is difficult to identify inefficiencies, establish realistic targets or demonstrate whether improvements have delivered the expected results.

Consider a hotel investing in water-saving equipment. If the original consumption figures are unreliable, how can management demonstrate the savings? How can the Financial Controller verify the return on investment? How can the General Manager justify the expenditure to the owners?

The same applies to energy efficiency, waste reduction and carbon emissions.

Reliable data allows management to distinguish between genuine operational improvements and variations caused by occupancy, weather, tariffs or changes in operating conditions. It also helps identify problems early. An unexpected increase in water consumption may indicate a leak. Unusual electricity consumption may reveal equipment operating unnecessarily. Changes in waste quantities may indicate purchasing or operational inefficiencies. These are opportunities to improve financial performance, not simply environmental reporting requirements.

We do not collect data to complete sustainability questionnaires. We collect data to understand and improve hotel operations.

Incorrect Data Creates Compliance and Reputational Risks

Reliable sustainability information is also becoming increasingly important from a legal and reputational perspective. European consumer protection requirements, including the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EmpCo), strengthen the framework governing environmental claims and sustainability labels. When a hotel claims to have reduced energy consumption, water use or carbon emissions, it should be able to demonstrate how those reductions were calculated, which reporting periods were considered and whether the information is accurate.

Certification does not eliminate this responsibility. A certificate may provide independent assurance within its defined scope, but it does not automatically substantiate every environmental statement made by the hotel. Having developed sustainability criteria and certification frameworks, I know how important clear methodologies, measurable indicators and verifiable evidence are to credible assessment. Without reliable underlying information, neither internal reporting nor independent verification can deliver dependable conclusions.

Incorrect data does not become reliable simply because it appears in a sustainability report or certification assessment.

Hotels must treat data quality as part of operational governance, not merely as an administrative requirement associated with an external audit.

So What Is Going Wrong?

After years of implementing sustainability programmes and auditing hotels internationally, I remain surprised by how frequently basic consumption information becomes so difficult to obtain.

I have also worked with hotels where everything functions properly. Finance, Engineering and Sustainability understand their responsibilities. Information is available, figures are reconciled, and management can evaluate performance without unnecessary delays. Unfortunately, these examples are still less common than they should be.

In many hotels, the necessary information and systems already exist. What is missing is the connection between financial records, physical consumption, departmental responsibilities and management reporting. Sometimes the solution requires better procedures. Sometimes it requires improved access to invoices, clearer responsibilities, additional metering or a review of how estimates and actual consumption are recorded. The solution does not necessarily involve expensive software or additional employees. It starts with understanding how the hotel currently operates and identifying where the information flow breaks down. The objective is not simply to prepare a hotel for its next sustainability audit. It is to establish an effective information management process that supports resource optimisation, cost control, investment decisions, legal compliance and credible environmental communication.

A hotel should not need several weeks to establish how much electricity or water it consumed last month. And it certainly should not discover during an external audit that its reported figures cannot be verified.

Stop Collecting Data for Audits. Start Using It to Manage Your Hotel.

My message to General Managers, Financial Controllers and Sustainability Officers is straightforward: resource consumption data should be part of normal hotel management.

Do not wait until an auditor requests the information. Do not assume that financial expenditure represents physical consumption. And do not accept sustainability figures without understanding their source and reliability.

Hotels already monitor revenue, payroll, purchasing and operating expenditure. Energy, water and waste consumption deserve the same level of management attention. A hotel that understands its consumption can identify inefficiencies, reduce unnecessary expenditure, justify investments and demonstrate measurable improvements. A hotel that does not have reliable information is managing an important part of its operating costs without sufficient control.

To my fellow Hoteliers: if your hotel struggles to provide accurate and verifiable sustainability data, something in your management process needs attention.

Green Partner can help identify where the problem lies and establish practical solutions based on your existing operations, financial controls and reporting requirements. Before purchasing another sustainability platform or introducing additional reporting procedures, make sure the information you already have is correct, accessible and properly managed.

Your hotel has the information. The question is whether you are actually using it.

If obtaining reliable sustainability data remains a recurring problem in your hotel, contact Green Partner. We understand hotel operations, we understand the auditing requirements, and we know how to connect sustainability performance with financial and operational management.