Industries
Procurement Scope 3 for hotels what is bought to look after the guest.
A hotel buys food and drink, linen, amenities, cleaning products, furniture, services and capital goods, and all of it falls under Categories 1 and 2 of its Scope 3. Xain measures those purchases with physical factors from purchase lines and the available documentation, and returns a traceable result per category.
Key figures
<10min
of your work in Xain Insight: the purchases spreadsheet from your ERP. Results in 1–2 weeks.
What a hotel buys
What goes into a hotel’s purchases?
Many purchases repeat every day. Measuring those that weigh the most gives a useful first result.
Food and drink
Ingredients, catering and beverages.
Linen and amenities
Bedding, towels and guest products.
Cleaning and maintenance
Products, consumables and contracted services.
Furniture and refurbishment
Equipment and works.
Hotels, chains and tourism operators receive footprint requests from tour operators and companies that organise travel and events, and want to understand the weight of what they buy. Most of that weight sits in Categories 1 and 2 of Scope 3.
What weighs the most?
It depends on the property, but it is worth looking first at the most repeated purchases: food and drink, linen and amenities, cleaning and maintenance. In food, the physical calculation tells ingredients apart, which spend cannot do; we look at it in the food and agriculture sector.
How is it measured?
With purchase lines and the available documentation of each product, applying physical factors. Where information is missing the most conservative factor is used and noted; if a supplier provides primary data, it replaces the generic data. It is the same logic we explain in physical factors versus spend.
And hotel events?
If the hotel organises events, see the events page, which details what goes into their footprint.
How do you start?
With a purchase list and less than 10 minutes of your work; results arrive in 1 to 2 weeks. More in procurement Scope 3.
What data do you gather to start?
- Annual purchases of food and drink, linen, amenities and cleaning.
- Main suppliers and a description of each purchase.
- Available documentation for the most relevant products.
- Events the hotel organises, if any.
Common mistakes
- Mixing hotel energy with purchases. They are separate chapters of the inventory.
- Treating all food the same. Ingredients change the result a lot.
- Calculating by invoice. Price does not tell one product from another.
Want a first result for your purchases? Talk to us.
Frequently asked questions
What companies usually ask before getting started.
Does it include the hotel’s energy?
This page deals with purchases (Scope 3 Categories 1 and 2). The hotel’s own energy is accounted for in other scopes.
Where do you start?
With the purchases that weigh the most, usually food and drink, linen and cleaning. A purchase list is enough to start.
Can suppliers be asked for data?
Yes, and when they provide primary data it improves the result. You do not have to wait for them to reply to get a first calculation.
Keep reading
Scope 3 for purchases
Measure purchased-goods Scope 3 (Categories 1 and 2) with physical factors. Xain Insight needs only the ERP spreadsheet: less than 10 minutes.
Food and agriculture
How to calculate the carbon footprint of a food product and the Scope 3 of food and agriculture purchases with physical factors instead of spend-based factors.
Events
How to calculate an event's carbon footprint: travel, accommodation, catering, materials, waste and venue energy. Cases: Noches del Botánico and AERCE Congress.
Physical vs spend factors
Differences between spend-based and physical emission factors: how they are calculated, what errors they cause and when each fits for products and Scope 3.
Tell us what you want to measure
One product, a catalogue or your purchases. We reply with the next steps.
Contact Xain