Abstract (English)
Current regulative policies and sustainable tourism goals require the European hotel industry to create environmental intensity metrics and benchmarking initiatives for nonfinancial reporting matters. Optimizing and understanding energy use in this field is crucial for enhancing sustainability and operational efficiency. Arising from 40 key- words around the topic, this systematic literature review screened 1,170 peer-reviewed papers from Scopus and Web of Science Databases. Applying distinctive exclusion criteria, 99 key papers were identified and analyzed in detail using the Grounded Theory approach. Findings show that there is growing interest in the re-search field. The dominant intensity metric to measure energy consumption is primary energy use divided by hotels’ floor area (Energy Use Intensity, EUI). Furthermore, occupant- related metrics must also be integrated to display the hotel industry's distinctive features adequately. This review analyzes the energy audit results of 1,494 hotels and finds an average EUI of 273.9 kWh/m2. Further findings indicate that consumption generally depends on hotel characteristics such as size, quality level, and number of services. In addition, location and climate normalization play crucial roles when benchmarking on a global scale. Further research is needed to create a regulativecompliant intensity metric matrix and validate it with quantitative data from benchmarking audits in Central European and continental climate regions.