HOTELS TO BECOME A GREEN HOTEL

Hotels to Become a Green Hotel



Abstract

The environmental concern starts to be a key challenging issue for organizations nowadays. In fact, we find a growing trend towards “green” consumerism, which in turns affects companies' strategy. The hospitality industry is not considered as one of the biggest pollution emitters, neither the one consuming the biggest quantity of non-renewable resources, but it is particularly interesting because of its increasing economic importance and the higher environmental concern it is showing. The whole process by which the hotels define policies, strategies as well as develop environmental practices in order to reduce their negative impact on the natural environment is named as Environmental Management. Those hotels that have followed this process and strive to be more environmentally friendly through the efficient use of energy, water and materials while providing quality services are defined as “green hotels”. Thus, in the present study we discover what motivated hotels in Sweden to become green, as well as the steps they followed in turning into green, including the definition of goals, the implementation of practices and the potential barriers that make this process difficult to execute.

In a first approach, we found in the literature review some theories related to the factors that influence companies to become green, as well as how to define a green strategy. In a second section, we focused on how the goals must be defined and which indicators can be used to evaluate the environmental performance. Finally, we presented possible barriers, relating this fact to the prioritization of objectives.

The main steps hotels followed to achieve this objective were the establishment of plans and goals, involving the department´s level, its implementation (practices), review, evaluation and improvement of the environmental strategy. But this process is not easy; hotels have to manage with the big cost associated to become green.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION6

Background of the study6

Introduction9

Research Questions13

Aims and objectives13

Purpose of the study14

Methodology14

Conclusion14

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW16

Introduction16

GREENING THE BUSINESS17

Influence´s factors17

1. Facility age20

2. Size21

3. Chain affiliation22

4. Operations management23

5. Control variables24

Green strategy25

Environmental Management27

Environmental Management System (EMS)27

Goal-setting theory30

Management by Objectives32

SMART32

Critics of policy implementation35

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)37

Barriers to implementation process39

Barriers39

Prioritization42

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY44

Research Design44

Green hotels45

Discussion of the problem46

Perspective47

Criticism of sources47

Choice of theories48

CHAPTER IV: DISUCSSION AND ANALYSIS52

Why the hotels become green?52

Steps to become green54

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION58

Conclusion58

Recommendations60

For hoteliers60

For Future Researches61

REFERNCES62

Chapter I: Introduction

Background of the study

The environmental concern starts to be a key challenging issue for organizations nowadays. The degradation of the environment constitutes a main concern of modern society and this, in turn affects firms' strategy. Industries affect the environment differently and each sector may have developed different strategies to tackle environmental issues. (Alvarez Gil et al, 2001). This environmental concern, which can be manifested through a wide range of practices, is considered to have many different consequences. It can contribute to improve the environmental performance of the company, i.e., to reduce resource consumption and waste generation, thus mitigating the negative impact exerted on the natural environment, and indirectly to improve company´s ...