3rd essay ENG102 WP2 FINAL 3000 words essay

Yunwen Feng

Professor Menge

ENG 102

August 1, 2020

A Critical Introduction to the Role of Sustainability in Hotel Industry

I have been investigating the role of sustainability in the hotel industry. In an era of climate change and endless exploitation of natural resources, sustainability has gradually become an important way to protect the environment and help the next generation flourish. Many scholars, experts and strategists believe that the sustainable development of the hotel industry will improve the environmental and financial performance of the hotel and attract more guests with good reputation, while others believe that the green image has little impact on the choice of guests. In order to better understand the theme and explore the role of sustainable development in the hotel industry and the extent to which sustainable development affects hotel performance, I turned to the library database and read articles argued by both sides with the following keywords: hotel industry, sustainability, financial performance, protection and recycling. I specialize in articles published in the past few years to analyze the latest research in the modern context. I also use Google to search the topic to find more explanations why more and more people tend to think sustainability is essential to the hospitality industry. Throughout my analysis, most of the resources will be used to support the idea that sustainability is a growth point for hotels to revitalize themselves and achieve better performance, and I will also adopt the opposite view of the article to remain neutral, and provide different perspectives to the audience.

I used to think that it’s easy to choose one side on this subject, because all parties have been promoting sustainable development for long time. I regard sustainable development as an advantage for the long-term development of the hotel. However, after browsing the article from different angles, I gradually realized the complexity of this subject. Some argue that sustainability will provide the hotel with the potential to make more use of good reputation and financial returns, while others argue that there is little evidence of a positive correlation between sustainability and hotel performance. On the other hand, hotels are criticized for environmental related problems, so implementing sustainability in hotel management may help them get rid of negative images and attract more environmentally conscious guests.

Through all the articles read, I realized that although sustainable development may bring potential advantages to hotels, people in economically underdeveloped areas still think that sustainable development costs are too high and efficiency is not enough. The answer to what role sustainability plays in the hospitality industry seems to depend on different geographical or cultural backgrounds. Where hotels are competitive and the industry is booming, sustainability is prioritized for long-term advantage. Otherwise, it will not be considered necessary. In order to complete the research from all angles, I must look for more articles to study the relationship between sustainability and hotel development. I also need to understand how sustainable development affects financial performance, hotel brand image and long-term development of the entire industry.

Annotated Bibliography

Sakshi, Shashi, Roberto Cerchione, Harbhajan Bansal et al. (2020) Measuring the Impact of Sustainability Policy and Practices in Tourism and Hospitality Industry. Business Strategy & the Environment (John Wiley & Sons, Inc), vol. 29, no. 3, Mar. 2020, pp. 1109–1126. EBSCOhost, DOI:10.1002/bse.2420. The authors of this article are scholars and professors from India or Italy. Their credibility and academic achievements add to the reliability of the research outcomes. In this paper, authors conducted a survey targeting at hotels of different characteristics to analyze the impact of sustainability practices, such as resource conservation or energy conservation of hotels on their environmental and financial performances. The gathered data lead to a conclusion that both resource and energy conservation significantly and directly impact hotel’s environmental and financial performance, saves costs and improves profitability. So, hotels should invest more on programs as water saving, reuse, recycling, rain-water collection and waste reduction to gain future economic benefits. The exploration and exploitation of innovative strategies and technologies are also necessary. The authors indicated that the positive impact of sustainability is obvious, and they suggest conduct future research based on long-term observations. With all the evidence and data listed in this article and considering the publication of the article is in 2020, the claims from the paper are rather reliable and can be use as reference in current situation. This research supports my assumption that sustainability functions as a growth point for hotels to achieve better performance from various aspects.

Martínez, Patricia, et al. (2019) Corporate Images and Customer Behavioral Intentions in an Environmentally Certified Context: Promoting Environmental Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry. Corporate Social Responsibility & Environmental Management, vol. 26, no. 6, Nov. 2019, pp. 1382–1391. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/csr.1754. The authors of this scholarly article are researchers and professors at University of Cantabria in Spain. They are both interested in whether the growing environmental awareness of guests has made them increasingly demand that hotels provide them with eco-friendly services and products. This article emphasizes on how customer perceptions of hotels influence their behavior intentions. In other words, it clarifies to what extent the hotel images make a difference to customers’ purchase choices. In this paper, authors conducted a questionnaire of potential customers with different characteristics to analyze does the green images of hotels affects customers’ emotional image and does this further impacts their purchasing behavior. The results suggested that “the influence of green image on customer behavioral intentions was found to be nonsignificant.” And the positive evaluation of environmental-friendly hotels doesn’t surely lead to purchase decisions. To win more edges over traditional hotels, green hotels need to emphasize their advantages and persuade customers through media advertising, speeches, newsletters and social media channels. This article can be used to show the opposite opinion of my argument and provide hotels with practical advice to exploit the potential of sustainability.

Mihalič, Tanja, et al. (2012) A Hotel Sustainability Business Model: Evidence from Slovenia. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 701–719. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/09669582.2011.632092. The authors of this article work at the Faculty of Economics in University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. They are all experts in economic fields and very familiar with their domestic hospitality industry, therefore their analysis centering the sustainability in Slovenian hospitality industry is credible. The purpose of this article was to investigate compared with other indicators, how important sustainability is to hotel managers and do they make efforts to manage sustainability. The paper reports the hypothesis, data, methodology, results and conclusion of the study. Various indicators as profitability, customer satisfaction, human capital, environmental awareness, biodiversity have been introduced into the survey. The results indicated that economic thinking has been taking a predominant position in Slovenia and environmental performance wasn’t valued much by many. Because sustainability was considered too costly and couldn’t bring instant economic outcomes. The neglected hotel environmental performance in Slovenia can be used to refute my argument in that sustainability is not always a good influence, the large investment costs and slow feedbacks make it unrealistic for smaller-scale hotels.

Hydrofinity. (2018) Why Water Conservation Matters for the Hospitality Industry. Hydrofinity Sustainable Laundry Solutions. Retrieved from https://www.hydrofinity.com/blog/why-water-conservation-matters-hospitality-industry. Hydrofinity is a company that provides sustainable laundry solutions to hotels. It aims to empower hospitality leaders with a new way of doing laundry that is increasing efficiency and cutting cost across the hospitality industry. The article pointed out the dwindling water supply facing the current world and proposed efficient water usage solutions in hotels. The company suggest that adopting sustainable laundry is a gesture to engage in resource conservation and the eco-friendly concept of hotels will attract more customers with environmental awareness, enabling them to fulfill social responsibilities while enjoying the comforts of fluffy towels. Sustainability help create an eco-friendly business model, which not only attracts guests with a green image but practically save costs by reducing water consumption by 50% per guest. This article provides evidence for the possible positive role that sustainability plays in hotel industry.

Connors, Lillian. (2019) The Importance of Water Conservation in the Hospitality Industry: Hospitality Net, Hospitality Net, retrieved from https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4094490.html. The author Lilian Connors is a senior digital marketing strategist at Bizzmark. As a senior consultant, Lilian is well-educated in this field and believes that ethical principles should be at the core of commercial ventures, making this opinion statement article a credible one. This article was published in 2019, quite recently. So, many opinions from this article are worth considering and can be used as guidance. Lilian mentioned that water is an important composition of luxurious experiences in hotels, contributing to massive water waste. She suggests that hotels implement appropriate water conservation practices to cut down unnecessary water waste in a way that does not compromise guest’s experience. To practice sustainability, hotels should measure water consumption, replace outdated fixtures, fix potential issues and conduct regular maintenance. Prioritizing sustainability and making business more eco-conscious will set good examples for others within the hotel industry and attract more potential eco-conscious customers. The best possible result is that the whole hotel industry will be encouraged to become one of the most eco-conscious industry with resource conservation becomes regular routines of hotels. This source grants me more space to argue the encouraging role that sustainability plays in hospitality industry.