For the first time, hotels are set to be evaluated based on their environmental sustainability management. Hotels that do not make the needed improvements, or chose not to, will then be re-graded — this could involve them losing a star, QTA said in a statement.

Hotels that need to make extensive structural changes, which involve working on more than 40% of their infrastructure, will be given until December 31, 2020 to complete the changes before they are regraded by the QTA.

Bäuerle highlights some of the new elements of the new grading system. “There are minimum criteria that hotels have to hit, there’s no way around it. One is that the hotels have to measure their energy consumption, waste and water. A lot of hotels don’t know how much waste they are producing,” Bäuerle reveals.

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Minimum scores have also been set to achieve certain rankings. Out of a total of 400 points, hotels need to pass 320 points to rank as a five-star, for example. Out of this, environmental criteria can gain a property 60 points.

“One big part of the 60 points related to the environment is international certifications. According to this, hotels need to be LEED-certified or equivalent. And then there are also international certifications like Green Key, Green Globe, and Earth Check.

“Hotels can earn up to 20 points if they have two certifications: LEED and one international, which is very valuable,” says Bäuerle.

He points out that it’s not just the value of the rating, but gaining certifications can result in profitability. The news of being certified can be used in the hotel’s marketing to gain eco-conscious guests’ favour, and also for improving operational efficiencies and so on.

To make it easier for Qatar’s hotels to gain the international certification, QGBC is in the process of becoming the national operator for Green Key. Since Green Key operates out of Denmark, to currently be certified by them, you have to belong to a larger hotel chain with an existing agreement with Green Key. But that’s set to change once QGBC is authorised as the national operator. Right now, just one hotel in Qatar has the Green Key certification: the W Doha.