WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T
A. Hoteliers’/Managers’ Perception
Hoteliers feel that the importance of environmental
initiatives and practices should be imparted to the employees
during their induction and proper environmental training
programs should be conducted on a regular basis. Hoteliers
admit that hotels have a significant impact on the environment
which makes green practices essential rather than optional.
There exists a competitive advantage for the hotel in the
market when such practices are being followed.
Active cooperation with others by sharing and educating
other hotels and organizations about green practices is a social
and economic initiative. This was due to the lack of expertise
of other resort personnel regarding environmental issues. It
was also due to this lack of knowledge that only a few resorts
has educational activities to raise awareness in the local
community about environmental practices by conducting
programs and seminars holding exhibitions and giving talks to
different universities [37].
Facilities for those with disabilities and allocation of no
smoking sections were not popular as this was still not made
compulsory by the government. Encouraging guests to
participate in local customs and traditions was only practiced
by resorts which had a supply of local artists. Sponsoring
research on an environmental issue in the local community
was not done by any of the resorts due to the fact that local
universities had not yet approached them on the subject [38]-
[40].
Many authors have suggested that purchasing should be
done while adhering to the principle of ‘3R3E’ which includes
reuse, reduce, recycle, ecological, economic and equitable.
Hoteliers feel that they may face several challenges as they are
not sure if the variety of products can satisfy customers’ needs
and if customers will to accept reused and recycled products
before making purchase decision. Price of such purchases will
be relatively higher and it will be more difficult with fewer
options of products and suppliers. However, such policies can
make best use of energy, reduce pollution and reduce cost.
This is known as the concept of green purchasing. And most
of the hoteliers and top level management have started
encouraging green purchasing to do their best to benefit our
environment.
Hoteliers’ main motivating factors were to provide a safe
and healthy environment along with quality service in a clean
environment and reducing the cost of environmental hazards.
Eco-friendly hotel managers institute programs that save
energy and reduce solid waste while saving money. The
benefits include a satisfactory decrease in the level of
operating costs and a significant increase in the volume of
reservations up to 30% as well as in the satisfaction rate of the
guests. Moreover, hoteliers and managers feel that green
initiatives ameliorate the environment and society, as well
[13].
Hotel operators are motivated and encouraged to take the
initiative of food waste separation in conjunction to other
initiatives designed to encourage social and environmental
status of the organization. Several hotels are now offering
meeting and conference options that focus on greening all
aspects of the conference from zero waste and carbon
offsetting options to greening services such as compostable
and ecological products. Later include things like stationary
disposal free food and beverage service using reusable
products such as china and linen napkins focusing on ecotours
of the hotel and surrounding areas, and locally sourced
organic cuisine. There are a number of options to make sure
that meetings are green and the Fairmont Eco-Meet program
was one of the first and the most successful green meetings
program for a hotel chain. Again Hotels have the ability to buy
in bulk and to influence the supplier to provide less packaging
and use more environmentally friendly materials.
Along with these practices social responsibility is a new
highlight that every industry every sector every organization
every department every employee talks about. Corporate
Social Responsibility involvement brings together the
employees of an organization for the common good. The
hospitality sector too has its own set of CSR responsibilities
varying from hotel to hotel. The Accor group of hotels has an
Earth Guest Policy which focuses on the child protection,
local development, fighting against epidemics and food
elements of social responsibility [41].