From room keys to food waste: Hotels in Ho Chi Minh City speed up green transition

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism on Thursday organized a training course on practicing green and ESG standards in management, which saw the participation of nearly 200 participants from hotels and accommodation establishments across the city.

The course was the first of a three-part training series aimed at improving management, operations and service development in the hotel sector in line with green standards and international integration trends.

Going green to cut costs

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, the city welcomed more than 7.1 million international visitors and nearly 31.7 million domestic tourists in the first seven months of 2026.

Total tourism revenue was estimated at more than VND237 trillion (US$9 billion), up 55.3 percent from the same period in 2025.

Revenue from accommodation and food services exceeded VND139 trillion ($5.3 billion), up 13.7 percent, with accommodation services alone rising 12 percent.

The market’s growth is also placing new demands on accommodation providers.

Along with amenities and service quality, hotels must consider the efficient use of energy and resources, waste reduction and the environmental impact of their operations.

Le Truong Hien Hoa, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said ESG should not simply be viewed as a set of criteria for obtaining certification.

More importantly, environmental, social and governance principles need to be translated into concrete solutions for management and operations.

Effective ESG practices can not only help protect the environment but also reduce business costs, improve service quality and create a competitive advantage.

According to an ESG practice report by the Vietnam Cleaner Production Center Co., Ltd. (VNCPC), an accommodation facility can directly save 13,504 kWh of electricity simply by reducing energy consumption in its lighting system.

Other solutions can start with very specific areas, such as optimizing ventilation for air-conditioner outdoor units, managing kitchen waste and adjusting water flow in urinals and hand-washing faucets.

The application of building management systems and smart measurement tools can also help hotels monitor energy consumption intensity and identify areas where resources are still being wasted.

Wooden room keys

An example shared by Thai Phuoc Vu, general manager of Novotel Saigon Centre, at the training program showed that the green transition can begin with very small changes.

The hotel has replaced plastic room keys with wooden ones and eliminated single-use plastic bottles in favor of glass bottles, while encouraging guests to reuse towels and bed linens.

Bathroom amenities have also been switched from small plastic bottles to larger dispensers to reduce the amount of packaging used.

Of particular note is how the hotel handles organic waste from its kitchen.

After being sorted, leftover food and fruit peels are sent to a partner for processing using black soldier fly technology.

The biomass generated through the process is then used as feed for free-range chicken farms.

Eggs from these farms are subsequently supplied back to the hotel’s restaurants.

Thus, leftover kitchen food is turned into part of a closed-loop process that both reduces the amount of waste requiring disposal and creates a source of ingredients for the hotel’s business operations.

Challenges of going green

According to Dr. Le Xuan Thinh of VNCPC, one of the challenges businesses face is that ESG data is often scattered across different departments.

Companies should not begin by “writing an ESG report” to track and communicate their environmental, social and governance performance.

Instead, they should first review the data they already have and determine who collects, verifies, compiles and approves it.

Accommodation establishments do not necessarily need to have complete data in their first report.

What matters is using the current situation as a baseline for setting improvement targets for the next phase and identifying data gaps.

For Thai Phuoc Vu, general manager of Novotel Saigon Centre, another major challenge is the initial capital expenditure (CAPEX).

Rather than viewing green criteria as an expense, managers need to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) and long-term value generated by such solutions.

Changing the habits of employees and guests is also a challenge.

Sustainable practices need to be incorporated into standard operating procedures, daily briefings and performance evaluation systems so that they become part of routine work.

For guests, Vu said hotels need to carefully encourage their participation in the green journey without making them feel that they have to sacrifice comfort during their stay.