Accor surpasses water consumption reduction target and mobilizes hotels across the Americas

As a significant milestone in its sustainability strategy, Accor's Premium, Midscale & Economy division in the Americas exceeded its 2025 water consumption reduction target, achieving a 6.8% decrease per occupied room, surpassing the established target of 4% and achieving the best performance among all regions of the Group globally.

The achievement, celebrated during World Water Day week, reflects a consistent agenda of operational efficiency, innovation, and team engagement, consolidating responsible water management as one of the company's pillars of operation in the region.

As a way to recognize and promote this movement, Accor launched the Race to Reduce, an internal challenge that rewarded the three hotels with the best performance in reducing water consumption throughout the year in the region. The winners were celebrated during a meeting that brought together managers from the chain's hotels in the Americas, held last week. In first place, the Novotel and ibis budget Sorocaba combination, in second place, the ibis budget Maceió Pajuçara, and in third place, the Novotel Santiago Las Condes, in Chile.

“Responsible water management is one of the main challenges for the hotel industry, especially in water-stressed regions. Last year, we set a clear goal, and our teams responded with commitment and creativity, implementing solutions that allowed us to surpass it. This result reflects the collective engagement in transforming guidelines into concrete actions in our daily work,” says Antonietta Varlese, Senior Vice President of Sustainability, Communication and Institutional Relations, Accor Americas.

Among the initiatives that contributed to the hotels' performance were adjusting shower flow rates, resuming the operation of greywater treatment plants for reuse in toilets, and optimizing laundry cycles based on efficiency studies. The teams also reinforced preventative routines, with support from housekeeping, and reviewed operational practices in areas such as cleaning and the kitchen, amplifying the impact of these actions.

In recognition, the hotels received an exclusive trophy signed by São Paulo-based visual artist Eduardo Baum, known for his urban interventions focused on sustainability. The artist had previously collaborated with Accor on the creation of the artwork "The Wave," presented at the Sustainable Turnaround in Belém during COP30, constructed with approximately 30,000 recycled plastic pieces from cooperatives.

The piece created for the award symbolically translates the collective impact of water conservation actions. A tornado emerging from a drain represents the reversal of an invisible flow, giving form and visibility to what was previously lost. Produced in translucent acrylic resin, on a brass base with a silver drain detail, the work reinforces the idea of ​​transformation through small actions. The behind-the-scenes creation of the trophy can be seen in the video.

“I wanted to reverse the fate of water – that which always disappears, to make it emerge. The drain, so everyday and silent, ceases to be an end and becomes an origin. The form is born as a gesture of tension and ascension, transforming waste into strength and habit into awareness. While modeling, I thought about how small, almost invisible decisions carry enormous potential for collective transformation. This tornado is not about the water itself, but about the moment when we realize that each choice has weight and that, when aligned, they stop flowing away and gain form, direction, and impact,” Baum points out.

Global commitment to responsible water management

Accor has integrated responsible water management as a central pillar of its sustainability strategy for over 50 years, promoting practices focused on the conscious and efficient use of water resources, with special attention to the Food & Beverage sector, where consumption is more intensive. Among its commitments are increased traceability and strengthened collaboration with responsible local suppliers, ensuring that its operations do not negatively impact communities, in line with the principles of the Alliance for Water Stewardship, a global collaboration that brings together companies, organizations, and the public sector in favor of preserving water resources.

Source: ACCOR.