Climate change impact assessment in hotels: methodology and adaptation strategies for high quality hotels

Abstract

Hotels are buildings with major specific energy and water demands per occupant, due to high levels of services and comfort provided and expectation from tourists, meaning that they could be one of the building types more vulnerable to changes in climate. Usually high occupancy rates of hotels happen in summer, for beach and city hotels, increasing the vulnerability to climate change. Projected changes in mean and extreme temperature and precipitation over the Mediterranean region, in particular over mainland Portugal, will be likely to intensify the well-known asymmetries in the Portuguese climate, with more intense heat waves and with longer duration. This paper presents the methodology followed in project AdaPT AC:T to assess the vulnerability of hotels to climate change and the impact of some adaptation strategies.