This study examines the relevance of environmental management as a source of competitive advantage for hotels. The relationship between the environmental proactivity of hotels located in the province of Alicante (Spain) and their economic performance levels was studied, and three strategic groups, based on environmental proactivity, were identified: Proactive, Intermediate and Reactive. The findings show that the degree of proactivity achieved by these hotels does not strongly impact on their organisational performance. Nevertheless, performance levels increase as environmental proactivity grows.