The adoption of environmental practices comes with a
financial crunch. The infrastructure cost increases by about ten
to fifteen percent in case of green buildings. Some hotels tend
to feel the pinch of high certification fees that has to be paid in
order to get eco-certification. To overcome this problem
hotelier should resort to implementing and adopting low cost
simple projects rather than adopting complicated measures
[63].
Small hotel owners feel that implementing green practices
in their hotels like use of recycled papers may hinder guest
satisfaction. Guests tend to have e mental block that green
practice adoption in hotels may lead to drop in overall
standards of the hotel. That may be the reason hotels tend to
release green initiatives that may jeopardize or come in the
way of customer satisfaction.
Green certified cleaning products such as Green Seal
improve indoor air quality and reduce emissions of volatile
organic chemicals. Some challenges accompany the use of
these products such as the effectiveness of these cleaners and
their higher price. Regardless of these challenges green
products certainly contribute to improving air quality by
reducing toxic emissions.
From the point of view of the customers there are those who
would go an extra mile to pay a little more to support the
hotel’s green cause/initiative. But some customers do mind
paying a little extra as price still remains a dominant factor on
customers mind when it comes to selecting a hotel [5].
Hotels that follow eco-certification programs generally
elevate their room rates in order to meet their eco-certification
expenses. This may lead to an increase in revenue per
customer but may bring down the volume of customers as
sales may go down. This may drive the customers to cheaper
hotels that do not follow green standards [6]-[8].
Most customers seeking hospitality services expect to find
facilities with freshly laundered linen, high pressure showers
and profuse supplies of food and drink, abundant supply of
towels and accessibility to swimming pools and saunas and
limousine services. Although it is possible for hotels to
provide more environmentally friendly services, they may fear
that doing so runs the risk of losing customers due to a
perceived degradation of service.
In this regard it is quite a challenge for hotel managers to
come up with plans that successfully integrate environmental
practices without compromising service. Again it is very clear
that it is almost impossible for hotels alone to implement such
measures without cooperation from customers. In this regard
hotels should encourage environmentally responsible behavior
among its customers and help them believe that the collective
efforts they are indulging in are good for everybody. The
balance between consumer expectations and green practices
could prove highly beneficial.
It is seen that the hospitality sector is lagging behind the
other industries in terms of consciously following eco-friendly
practices and research dedicated to such practices. As
mentioned earlier lack of knowledge and awareness is the key
factor for the cause of the same. Lack of increasing
environmental regulation, consumer demand and customer
satisfaction, managerial concern with ethics and maintenance
issues related to the need for aesthetics, physical plant,
financial barriers and stakeholder pressures are some of the
issues that hotels rustle with [64].
There is very low visibility of eco-certification programs
that hotels are accredited with. People either employees or
customers remain totally unaware. Employees remain unaware
due to lack of training facilities as well as induction at the time
of joining the hotel. Customers remain unaware of such
programs because of the lack of advertisement on part of the
hotels adopting such programs. Therefore hotels must consider
show-casing their eco-certification at the reception for guests
to view at the time of their check-in and registration. At the
same time they must promote the same on their websites and
other media channels. Hotels like Hyatt and Disney have their
own certification programs. This affects human psychology
directly or indirectly. Naturally they will prefer to stay at an
eco-certified hotel than the one which has not been certified.
Eco-certification reflects a brand with a different standard
altogether. This also changes the angle in which consumers
look at where they want to stay [65].