Environment

RLJ recognizes the strategic and financial importance of increasing environmental efficiency within our hotels and routinely evaluate opportunities to invest in programs that will reduce energy and water consumption and reduce waste, while increasing profitability. Our approach has been to measure and monitor emissions, energy usage, water, and waste across our portfolio while actively pursuing reductions at the property level. Recent and ongoing measures to address resource efficiency include energy-efficient lighting, low-flow water fixtures, building and guestroom-specific energy management systems, heating upgrades, ventilation, air-conditioning, refrigeration systems, and participating in regional demand response programs. We intend to continue implementing measures that bolster our commitment to environmental stewardship while assessing opportunities in underinvested areas.

Efficiency Investments and Environmental Performance

Our approach to investing in optimizing the overall efficiency of our hotels is reflected in our historical environmental performance across energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and water usage. While we recognize that environmental efficiency is an ongoing journey, we are proud of how our hotels have performed to date. We are also committed to working with our third-party hotel management companies to improve waste tracking, an area that we intend to focus on more in the future.

Since 2019, we decreased our energy intensity by 11% and our greenhouse gas intensity by 22%. These reductions are a combination of the energy grid using more renewables, efficiencies among our operators and our investments in energy efficiency projects. In addition to reducing our environmental impact, these initiatives have reduced our energy-related expenses.