Introduction
The hospitality industry uses large amounts of natural resources and also releases wastes that degrade the natural environment. In order to minimize the negative effects on the environment, hotels and tourism resorts are adopting environmental sustainability in facilities management. Environmental sustainability refers to the responsible management of natural resources in order to preserve the lives of human beings and other organisms in the ecosystem.
Human beings impact on the environment through releasing toxic chemicals in the atmosphere that deplete the ozone layer. Human economic activities also use up natural resources as a source of energy. Economic activities also produce wastes that pollute the environment. All these factors have led to serious degradation of the natural environment. There are devastating consequences of environmental degradation such as global warming.
Failure to adopt sustainable practices will lead to the depletion of natural resources and pollution of the environment and consequently, the earth will not be able to support any form of life (Blackman and Carter, 2009). People are getting more informed about the effects of business activities on the environment. The hotel industry uses a lot of energy and water due to the nature of its operations. Many hotels are embracing environmental sustainability in hospitality facilities management.
They achieve this through using sustainable building materials, furniture, lighting, and cleaning supplies in the facility in order to cut costs, save energy, and improve the guest experience. Many hotels are also pursuing environmental sustainability certifications such as the ENERGY STAR and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications. Hotels also participate in the various green lodging state programs.
For a hotel to achieve a LEED certification, it must attain several sustainable requirements in indoor environmental quality, energy use, materials and resources, water efficiency, design process and innovation (Steiner, 2012). This paper explores the concept of environmental sustainability and its impact on facilities management and the hospitality industry. The drivers of change towards sustainability in the hospitality industry are also discussed. In addition, the importance of knowledge in environmental sustainability to future tourism managers is discussed.
Background
Facility management refers to processes that are required to maintain and operate businesses to support its principal goals. Developing facilities management programs enables managers to achieve several goals. It facilitates the preparation of future capital budgets that are more accurate. They are also able to reduce expenditure by developing more accurate and meaningful space requirements forecasts.
Facilities management programs also provide a framework for meeting the budgets that have been established. Space utilization is improved. Improved efficiency and morale of the employees is also increased. Reduction of the consumption of energy is also achieved. Moreover, the managers are able to effectively control and allocate resources needed to support all the operations. It also ensures the establishment of a more flexible, functional, and cost effective facility.
The manager is also able to develop efficient standards for equipment, workstations special facilities and offices. The overall cost of procurement is reduced (Atkin and Brooks, 2009). Environmental sustainability is one of the trends that are gaining popularity in facilities management in the hospitality industry.
There have been growing concerns over the protection of the environment and now most customers prefer hospitality facilities that are environmentally sustainable. People in the hospitality industry have become more aware about the impacts that the development and operation of hotels can have on the environment. Several factors have led to the adoption of sustainability, including investors’ changes in attitudes towards the environment, the need to cut on operating costs and strict regulations on development and operation of facilities, among others (Chen, 2011).
The concept of environmental sustainability began in the 1950s when some hotels in places such as U.S. Virgin Islands on Maho Bay and Caneel Bay Camps decided to enhance the experience of their guests by using natural elements in the resorts. In the 1960s and 1970s, increased awareness of how human health was affected by pollution and increase in environmental disasters led to the initiation of modern environmental sustainability efforts.
Moreover, the hospitality industry started focusing on strategies of conserving energy after the energy crisis that occurred between 1973 and 1974. The United Nations introduced the concept of sustainable development with the aim of conserving the natural resources for our use and also for future generations. The Earth Summit also encouraged environmental sustainability in the 1990s through initiatives like environmental certification programs for the hospitality industry and green building.
As from 2000, there were increased sustainability efforts in the hospitality industry. Hoteliers embraced environmental sustainability as a corporate social responsibility and partnered with environmental organizations. Hoteliers further increased their sustainability efforts in their operations and equipment after the 2008 financial meltdown in order to reduce costs (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).
I chose a global perspective because the issue of environmental degradation is affecting the whole world. Problems like global warming are a threat to the existence of the entire human race. Therefore, hospitality facilities all over the world should adopt sustainable practices in order to reduce the carbon footprint in the atmosphere. Every person is responsible for promoting sustainability in order to preserve the natural resources both for ourselves and for future generations.
Some of the hotels that have adopted environmental sustainability include The Proximity Hotel and Marriott international. The Proximity Hotel received Platinum, the highest LEED certification, in 2008. This hotel was constructed using sustainable materials, some of which were locally sourced while others were recycled. This helped in avoiding a lot of waste from being produced and dumped in landfills. The hotel also has windows that are energy-efficient and during the day, it utilizes the sunlight for lighting.
The hotel also uses solar panels as a source of energy for heating water. The building has also adopted efficient plumbing fixtures to save water including Cimarron Kohler toilets, faucets, and Kohler showerheads. The hotel also reduces the contamination of indoor air through the use of organic carpets and paints in the guestrooms. The Proximity Hotel acquired the facilities locally, including furniture, staircases and artwork (Steiner, 2012).
The Marriott International is another hotel that has shifted towards environmental sustainability. It has over 3000 hotels worldwide and is adopting environmentally sustainable strategies in all its branches. It uses recycled materials to make keycards, paper products and pillows that are environmental friendly.
The hotel aims to achieve the LEED certification by attaining sustainable construction standards, reducing the usage of water and fuel, using solar power, mobilizing the employees and guests to adopt sustainability and helping in rainforests preservation. This will reduce their carbon footprint. The hotel also plans to offer coreless toilet paper to the guests to help preserve trees and water. In 2010, Marriott International unveiled a prototype to help it in building sustainable hotels (Wauters, 2010).
Companies in the hospitality industry that aim to achieve environmental sustainability face several challenges. Firstly, they experience the challenge of introducing change to the organization. Introducing sustainability takes a lot of time and effort and it is challenging to convince the workforce that change is necessary. People are used to a certain way of doing things and introducing change is not easy.
If the management is unsupportive, introducing sustainability can be difficult to achieve. Another challenge is the perception that introducing sustainability is an expensive venture. Many people are not aware that the long-term economic gains will be higher than the investment costs. Ignorance is another challenge facing the adoption of sustainable practices in the hospitality industry. Many hospitality managers have little environmental awareness and therefore, they have no motivation to adopt sustainability (Dambyte, 2011).
Adopting sustainable practices in the hospitality industry presents several opportunities. Firstly, the facilities are able to achieve reduced costs in energy use, water use, and waste management. In addition, sustainable practices lead to improved guest experiences and this may help the hotel in attracting and retaining clients. Sustainable hospitality facilities also achieve sustainability certifications which show their commitment towards environmental preservation.
This can help in attracting investors. Sustainable trends in hospitality facilities management include, water and energy conservation, use of environmental friendly cleaning products and using sustainable building materials. Sustainable hospitality facilities can adopt several strategies.
They can start programs to reuse linen in the guest rooms. Hotels can also use LED light bulbs and turn down air conditioning and heating when the guests are not in the rooms. Lights should also be turned off in unoccupied rooms. The cleaners, paints, and sanitizers used should be nontoxic (Tiller, 2009).
Body
There are several drivers of change towards environmental sustainability in hospitality facilities management. These include cost reduction, improved customer experience, retention of employee, indicating a sense of corporate social responsibility, among others. Saving of costs is one of the main drivers of sustainable practices in the hospitality industry.
Sustainable practices lead to the conservation and efficiency of energy, water, and waste management. Hoteliers are investing in environmental technologies as an incentive to reduce operational costs. With the adoption of proper strategies that ensure performance and optimization of equipment and employees, the hospitality industry can be able to achieve reduced costs (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).
Another driver towards environmental sustainability is economic incentives. Various governments, organizations, and agencies have enacted economic incentives to encourage environmental sustainability in buildings. Such incentives include grants to support sustainable projects, insurance premium discounts, low interest loans, and tax credits, among others. In addition, the shift to environmental sustainability has been driven by increased environmental regulations.
There are various regulations governing hospitality operations such as waste management, handling of hazardous materials, and environmental safety and health. There are other legislations governing design and construction of hospitality facilities and operations. There are legislations focusing on emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere, among others. Therefore, hoteliers adopt sustainability in order to comply with legal and regulatory standards (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).
Another driver of change is improving the guest experience. Hoteliers are adopting sustainability in order to attract and retain guests by improving their experience. Use of some environmental technologies such as sustainable HVAC systems and devices for managing energy can improve the air quality and thermal comfort of the facility, resulting in a better guest experience. Employee retention is another driver of change towards sustainability.
Environmental sustainability helps in boosting employees’ satisfaction and morale and therefore, retaining them. Some professionals prefer to work in environment conscious companies. Organizations that encourage and uphold sustainable practices are more likely to attract and retain employees.
Other companies adopt sustainability because they want to demonstrate corporate social responsibility to the investors. Investors are looking for performance indicators of sustainability. This has led to the adoption of sustainability programs by many organizations (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).
Environmental sustainability is important in facilities management as it helps in saving costs through sustainable operations. The hospitality facilities management is mainly concerned with water, energy, and waste. Hotels use energy for various purposes including lighting, HVAC operations, cooking, space heating, refrigeration, water heating, ventilation, office equipment and other uses. Reducing the amount of energy used can be achieved through a process called commissioning.
Energy consumption can be minimized through reducing the plug load, closing the building envelope, and lighting retrofits. Moreover, energy can be preserved through enhanced equipment scheduling, efficient ventilation of the facility, avoiding concurrent heating and cooling and appropriate sensor calibration. The use of renewable sources of energy such as geothermal, solar, and wind can reduce the energy costs.
Water is also used in hotels laundry, food preparation, in the bathrooms and in other maintenance operations. Hotels conserve water through use of rain or recycled water, reusing of towels and linen, treatment of grey and black water, improvement of plumbing and HVAC systems and fixture retrofits. Hotels also generate waste including food wastes, construction wastes, waste from equipment, appliances and consumables, and harmful materials such as cleaning detergents.
In order to reduce the costs of transportation and processing of wastes, hotels adopt strategies to recycle, reuse, and reduce wastes. The wastes are processed and converted to alternative sources of energy which are then sold to hotels at low costs. Facility management in the hospitality industry also focuses on training programs for staff to increase their satisfaction and performance, sustainable procurement and the quality of indoor environment including air quality (Tiller, 2009).
Environmental sustainability has numerous benefits to the hospitality and tourism industry. It helps in cutting costs in energy and water use and waste management. Sustainable practices lead to reduced operation costs because there is a reduction in energy and water use and effective waste management through recycling. It also helps to improve the customers’ experience and therefore leads to attraction and retention of guests.
Sustainable practices also enhance employee satisfaction and retention. Adopting sustainability also helps in boosting the company image and attracting investors. It also enables the company to get grants from governments and other organizations. Companies that adopt sustainability will not have legal problems as they will be in compliance with the environmental regulations (Sloan, Chen and Legrand, 2009).
In order for the hospitality industry to successfully implement sustainability, some needs have to be met. Firstly, they will need finances. Many hotels cite lack of finances as the main reason why they are unable to implement sustainable practices. There are many sustainable technologies in the market today and the hospitality owners will need the investigation and validation of these technologies in order to choose the most appropriate and cost-effective for the hospitality industry.
The hospitality owners also need verification of the financial benefits of the sustainable technologies so that they can be able to make proper investment decisions. The hospitality owners also need the processes of procurement and implementation of sustainable projects to be streamlined to make them easier and less time-consuming.
This will encourage more hospitality owners to adopt sustainability. After the implementation of sustainable practices, there is a need to conduct proper training of the staff in order to ensure that they adopt effective operational practices. Failure to train staff will lead to inefficient implementation of the sustainable practices (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).
As future tourism managers, knowledge about environmental sustainability will enable them to make sustainable decisions and strategically manage tourism resorts and institutions. The tourism managers will be able to prevent environmental degradation while providing a good experience to the tourists through sustainable practices. They will be able to instill sustainable practices in their employees and enlighten them on the benefits of sustainability.
Future tourism managers who will be enlightened in environmental sustainability will be able to contribute towards a more sustainable environment through implementing practices that will reduce the carbon footprint in the environment. They will ensure that all the facilities in the tourism resorts are environmental friendly. The tourism managers will also be able to explain to the guests the reasons for adopting sustainability, for instance, through reusing towels.
They will also be able to cut costs in the facilities that they will be running through adopting sustainable cost-effective alternatives. They will be able to oversee the construction of sustainable hospitality facilities to cut on both the cost and carbon footprint. Moreover, they will be able to attract and retain clients in the hospitality facilities because of adopting environmental friendly practices.
The manager will also be able to improve the image of the organization through sustainable practices and achievement of sustainability certifications like the LEED. The manager will facilitate the implementation of sustainable practices in the hospitality facility and this will improve the morale, satisfaction, and retention of employees. The tourism manager will also be able to assess current trends, goals, and strategies in sustainability in order to achieve enhanced harmonization of sustainable efforts in the facility (Gossling, Hall and Weaver, 2009).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is evident that environmental sustainability is a growing trend in the hospitality industry that cannot be ignored. Many hospitality companies are adopting sustainability to reduce operational costs, improve the customer experience, comply with environmental regulations, retain employees, attract investors, and reduce their carbon footprint. They are constructing sustainable buildings and adopting practices in water and energy use and waste management.
Therefore, knowledge in environmental sustainability is indispensable to future tourism managers as they will be able to implement sustainable practices in the hospitality facilities that they will be running. The hospitality industry uses a significant amount of natural resources.
Therefore, adoption of sustainable practices will lead to conservation of natural resources like water and energy and reduced environmental pollution through waste recycling. Consequently, we will live in a more sustainable environment with enough resources for our use and for the survival of future generations.
Reference List
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