Eco friendly & sustainable hotels Students: Christellee Deillon, Juliette Lingg, Jeannine Müller & Maud Petigas Teacher : Gretel Qumsieh Class : HEG Tourism 703_e (2014) Module : 713 Deposited, the : 11 th November 2014
Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyze how ecological hotels are defined and managed. Thanks to our research, we were able to have a more precise idea of the situation worldwide. Through an example, we could understand the key points of this topic and how the concept is applied in practice. We found relevant articles, which allowed us to go more in depth in our study. Finally, comparing the situation to Switzerland we realized that luxury hotels are more and more appealing customers with their innovations. However, mid priced hotels have still efforts to provide. Keywords: ecological, hotel, innovation, tourism, green, eco friendly i
Table of contents Abstract... i Table of contents... ii List of figures... iii Introduction... 1 1 What is an ecological hotel?... 2 2 Example of the Marriott hotel chain... 3 3 Innovation... 5 Conclusion... 6 References... 7 Appendix I: Poster... 9 ii
List of figures Figure 1 A LEED Marriott hotel in Arlington... 5 iii
Introduction All over the world, many hotels are situated in areas of outstanding natural beauty, in historic cities and in places with a delicate ecological balance. It is important to notice that the hotel industry consumes raw materials such as energy, water, or food for example and this causes undesirable emissions. The point is that one single hotel does not cause gross pollution. However, it has to been seen as a whole when all the hotel industry around the world is added together. The other point is that, nowadays, many destinations are concerned about mass tourism and this does not help the environment. This is one of the reasons why there are many constraints when developing a new hospitality facility. There is a real environmental concern. The slogan think globally, act locally has to be taken into account as it summarizes the whole situation; problems are first of all created at a local level and furthermore have an effect on national and global level. As a consequence, the world s leading hotel brands increase their efforts to respond to environmental issues through investments in going green. Environmental sustainability is a top priority for hoteliers worldwide. Sustainability refers to being in relationship with the firm's compliance with its whole organic environment without damaging the relationship by ensuring the continuation of this relationship (Wilson et al., 2007). By installing visible ecofriendly technology, hotels can lower their environmental impact and gain attention from travelers. With a high visibility around the world, they can save millions of dollars and become a channel for social changes. Indeed, socially responsible activities may contribute to firm performance by saving operating costs or by indirect ways such as enhancing firm reputation. However, for this, hoteliers need to invest significantly and, without any evident benefits for their hotel, they can show restraint. Evidences of a positive relationship between the initiatives on ecological concern and the willingness to pay a premium for green practices would encourage hotel operators to consider their green initiatives as part of guests' experiences. 1
1 What is an ecological hotel? Tourism is one of the leading growth sectors of the global economy and has an enormous impact on the environment. David Kirk argues, the hospitality sector is more affected as most hotels and restaurants are situated near beautiful and historical places where the need for conservation is greater and even more vital (Kirk, 1995, p. 3 8). There is no hospitality industry standard definition of an ecological hotel. However, we can examine the meaning and understand what is a green hotel. To sum up, it means to enhance the well being of guests and staff as well as reduce waste, toxicity and overall costs. Any manager should take into account all the operations and identify the greatest opportunities for a possible environmental improvement. It is essential for an executive to understand that sustainability is a continuous process on a long term basis. The process of becoming an ecological hotel has benefits in financial performance, guest satisfaction and health of staff and guests that can be immediate and long lasting. Another point to take into account is that nothing can be done without the help of tourists. Even if a manager applies new ways of doing in the management of waste, guests still play an important role. As there is no real official definition for an ecological hotel, it is also hard to find the official criteria a hotel has to fulfill. However, we decided to take a green certification example, which is called ECOTEL in order to better understand some essential criteria. ECOTEL is an environmental certification, which is specific for hospitality. It enables hotels to be completely green and sustainable over the long term by involving owners, operators, architects, suppliers, employees and finally hotel guests. Their mission is to enable hotels to become sustainable by primarily reducing the environmental impact of their business and grow financially more viable and socially responsible. (Ecotel certification, n.d.) This concept is based on 5 principal criteria called the 5 globes: 1. Energy management: reduce the energy consumption; 2. Water management: evaluate the effective conservation of water of all departments of the hotel; 3. Solid waste management: recycle & manage waste; 2
4. Employee environmental education and community involvement: training modules to familiarize them with the eco friendly initiatives; 5. Sustainability commitment: the hotel must prove his commitment to environment friendly atmosphere through operations, activities as well as written statements. Finally, we are going to talk about Eco labels defined as any form of certification giving assurance that the tourist operation or activity is conducted according to a known standard that enhances the environment or at least minimizes environment impacts (Fairweather, Maslin and Simmons, 2005, p.83). We decided to define two Eco labels used in the hospitality industry. The first one is called EHC, which means Eco Hotels Certified and ensures sustainability in tourism businesses. The evaluation of the hotel does not only find the problems but also specifies the improvements that could be done. The applicants are tested before using the label and it is a non profit organization. The second one is called BIO Hotels and the concept is to have only organic and regional products, which have to be sustainably certified in hotels. 2 Example of the Marriott hotel chain For this case study, we decided to take the example of an international hotel chain, The Marriott, with 3 900 hotels spread in 72 countries. In order to develop green hotels, this hotel chain has joined the U.S. Green Building Council s LEED Volume Program since 2007 (USGBC, 2014). LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It consists of a certification program for green building. Marriott also have its own strategy for insuring sustainability. It recognizes several values in its corporate responsibility. One of them is its environment commitment based on five goals (Marriott, 2014a): 1. Reduce consumption of water, waste and energy 2. Develop green hotels 3. Collaborate with supplier > green the supply chain 3
4. Inspire associates & guests 5. Support conservation globally For the first goal, they use the Energy and Environmental Action (EEAP) plans, a bestpractice auditing tool, to help its properties achieve energy and water reduction goals. As mentioned previously, the Marriott works with the LEED Volume Program in order to develop green hotels. Currently, Marriott has 106 LEED registered hotels, and 31 LEEDcertified hotels. By developing green hotels according to the LEED program, Marriott can achieve these improvements: 15 25% reduction in energy consumption (from current ASHARE codes); 10 20% reduction in water consumption generated from state of the art fixtures in water closets, showers and lavatories; Increased efficiency within the building s walls, roof and windows; Lighting controls, including LED lighting, low mercury content fluorescent lamps, occupancy sensors, daylight controls and time clocks reduce energy consumption (Marriott, 2014b). Moreover, Marriott buys sustainable products from its vendor as well: low energy bulbs, showerheads that use less water and even organic and responsible food for its kitchens. The hotel chain tries also to make their associates and guests aware of their responsibility and their role to play in sustainability: for instance, environmental awareness month for the associate or the re use policies of linen and towels for the customers. Finally, donations are made to several organizations working for the environment (Marriott, 2014a). Sustainability in the hospitality business is not only a matter of reducing consumption or recycling, but also a way of rethinking the whole chain, from the supplier to the customer. Marriott did understand that issue and this is why we choose this hotel chain as an example of green hotels. For instance, one Courtyard by Marriott selected sustainable products during a renovation and alerted guests to the initiative. MindClick reported that guest 4
satisfaction and referral scores improved by 150 percent compared to guests that weren't aware of the initiative (Higging, 2014). Figure 1 A LEED Marriott hotel in Arlington Source : Tuppen H. (2013) However, there are several ways in order to be sustainable. This was one example of a huge chain hotel. Hotels might use other labels or even base their green efforts on their own decisions, such as for the little independent hotel. In our opinion, labels or certifications are a way to be greener. It may help chain hotels to standardize their business. Yet, not all hotels necessarily need them. Since they are costly and sometimes could be called into question, the independent hotels could structure their sustainability by themselves as well. 3 Innovation The Alila Villas Uluwatu in Indonesia is one of the most luxurious eco friendly hotels. It is located on the top of the Balinese cliffs hilltops with sweeping views of the Indian Ocean. Its innovation is based on a local purpose. People The Hotel tries to help the poverty of this country by employing the majority of the staff from Indonesia and 1/3 is from the local region. Furthermore, they also employ orphans from Indonesia. They really want to help as many people as possible to avoid not having more poverty in their country. 5
Animals & nature Throughout the construction process, the Hotel ensured protection of the natural environment. As the flora and fauna are very important for this destination they really pay attention to save their environmental nature. This is the reason why lots of animals can be seen and heard from the resort. Environment & building All the rooftops are flat and design topped with local lava rocks that act as a natural cooling system. The waste products are either composted or collected. To conclude, the Alilas Villas in Indonesia is very eco friendly and is still working out some improvements to become even better. Moreover, they want to help to decrease the poverty of the country by developing tourism so that they can provide more jobs. According to Gizem, Karakadilar & Sinan, sustainable innovation of the hotels shapes the market conditions and the benefit of whole community (2005, p. 753). Conclusion All over the world, hoteliers are increasing their efforts in order to develop more sustainable hotels. Even if there is no definition of ecological hotels, general criteria and labels help to categorize hotels as ecological. Innovations as well are a way to expand the sustainability of hotels. Finally, in Switzerland, we can find different hotels that already have defined themselves as ecological and follow the criteria of the different labels that we found elsewhere in Europe and in the world. For example, the Whitepod Eco Luxury Hotel (Swiss Lodge) in Les Giettes is part of the Ecoluxury label. However, most of the ecological hotels are luxury hotels. As a result, we can say that mid priced hotels could develop themselves in a greener way. 6
References All ecolabels on tourism. ECOLABEL INDEX. Retrieved from http://www.ecolabelindex.com/ecolabels/?st=category,tourism on November 5, 2014 An architectural masterpiece, balanced on a Balinese cliff, this hotel wows from the moment you arrive. Retrieved from http://www.ecoluxhotels.com/173_alila_villas_uluwatu.html on October 31st, 2014 Gizem, G., Karakadilar, I. S., & Sinan, A. (2013). 9th International Strategic Management Conference. Innovation and sustainable growth measurement in hotel industry: A hierarchical decision making model. Original Research Article, 752 761. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s187704281303992x Fairweather, J. R., Maslin, C. & Simmons G., D. (2005). Environmental Values and Response to Ecolabels Among International Visitors to New Zealand. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 13:1, p. 82 98. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17501220508668474#.vgcbo8mrhmo Higgins, S. (April 7, 2014). Standards in sustainability. Hotel Management, 229.4, p. 38. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1514471587/9a97ff0377fc4370pq/1?ac countid=15920 Kyung Ho, K., Stein, L., Yoonjoung Hero, C., & Lee S. (2012). Consumers willingness to pay for green initiatives of the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31,p. 564 572. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0278431911001368 Marriott. (2014a). Corporate responsibility. Environment. Retrieved from http://www.marriott.com/corporate social responsibility/corporate environmentalresponsibility.mi 7
Marriot. (2014b). Courtyard LEEDS the ways. Retrieved from http://www.marriott.com/multimedia/pdf/hotel_development/courtyard_leed_vo lume_program_overview_brochure_v2.pdf The five globes. ECOTEL The Hallmark of Environmentally Sensitive Hotels. Retrieved from http://ecotelhotels.com/brochureg.pdf on November 5, 2014 Tuppon, H. (2013). Greenhotelier. Marriott celebrates 100th LEED property. Retrieved from USGBC. (2014). Marriott International. Retrieved from http://ch.usgbc.org/organizations/marriott internationa Weissman, A. (2014). A complete overview: What is a Green Hotel. Retrieved from http://www.greenhotelier.org/our news/industry news/marriott celebrates 100thleed property/ http://hotelexecutive.com/business_review/199/a complete overview what is agreen hotel Whitepod Eco Luxury Hotel. Retrieved from http://www.whitepod.com/wpod/winter/ on November 9 th, 2014 8
Appendix I: Poster 9