As the concern regarding the preservation of our environment grows because of its impact to our business in the hospitality industry, the need to promote ecologically friendly facilities and practices has been a growing concern if not a standard operating procedure in developing a profitable franchise.
True to its ecological sustainability programs on natural resources preservation, reducing harmful impacts of the hotel’s daily actives on the environment and strictly implementing policies such as recycling and continuously educating associates, guests and communities on environmental protection, the hotel, upon opening its latest gym and steps club facility must provide eco-friendly amenities of superior quality to its clients.
This paper presents a study on energy bras and pants to be used in the hotel’s newest gym and steps club in providing energy from physical human activities executed inside the sports and recreation areas. The opening of a new facility area would mean an additional cost in terms of the resources for the hotel.
Aside from construction and equipment costs needed for the creation of our gym and steps club, a toll on the area’s environment resources would also be consumed additionally by the hotel as a whole. In our campaign to reduce and conserve water and energy, energy bras and pants for clients who want to avail our gym and steps club facility might be of great contribution to our environmental preservation advocacy.
Hotel staff, especially those in the front desk, must encourage newly checked in guests to use our gym and steps club amenities. As our way of extending our services to clients, we will be offering, free of charge, energy bras for women and energy pants for men to promote our latest health and fitness center and the services that come along with it.
The act of the offer will encourage our clients to work out in our new facility division at the same time while they are exercising; they will surely exert energy from their bodies thus producing sustainable power through the bras and pants given to them. The energy bras and pants can help charge a phone, laptop and other small devices.
While our clients go to the gym and work out wearing our energy bras or pants they can help power any device they like or even give back energy to the hotel as a whole. Gym charges are not free and clients will be charge from the use of our amenities. Only the energy clothing will be considered a complimentary item from the hotel.
The opening of new recreational activity centers such as the gym and steps club can be a problem in terms of the energy consumption with the lights, air conditioning and other exercise machines needed to cater to the needs of guests who want to work out at our center. This can post as a problem because they consume massive electrical power.
With the creation of energy clothings that can offset some of the hotel’s electrical burdens, they can help the conservation of resources at the same time lower down energy costs. Power provided from clothing is not new especially with Japanese Lingerie Giant Triumph’s creation of a solar powered bra that can generate enough electric energy to charge a mobile phone or ipod last 2008 (in.reuters.com).
The opening of our latest exercise facility can not only provide profit for the hotel but also help the company in saving energy which can lower down electrical bill cost and conserve power resources of the area.
Aside from this idea of giving out energy bras and pants to guests in order for them to be engage in a work out session in our gym and steps club we must also consider a few factors that may help minimize the impact of our fitness center to the environment. First a consideration of the centers design. The gym and steps club must be green in design allowing fresh air to penetrate the confines of the facility.
Other gyms are air conditioned providing the comfort of cool air during workout sessions. The disadvantage of this is that energy consumption is too high for the air conditioner alone. We can have the cooling device present in our gym and will only be used during extremely humid weather like the summers but when the weather is cool it would be highly recommended that fresh air be the source of ventilation of our center.
Second we must take into consideration the equipments and machines used in our gym. Instead of treadmills that are powered by electricity why not invest on those solar powered ones? Energy consumption will be lesser and with our energy bras and clothing we can be able to conserve more power. Third, the towels provided by the gym when the clients finish an exercise session and decide to refresh himself with a cool bath.
Since most of our gym goers are also hotel guests I highly suggest having a “bring your own towel” policy. Hotel rooms already provide towels to guests. It is more economical for guests to use only one towel, and that is the towel provided by the hotel or the ones they bring along from home if the client didn’t check in the hotel.
People in general have a tendency to abuse resources whether it is water, energy or even as simple as towels if they know it is not theirs. If we remove the provision of towels to gym goers the number of clothing to be washed by the laundry department will decrease thus the hotel can conserve water.
Lastly in our advocacy to preserve the environment let us use educate our clients who go to the gym, associates who help prepare goods and services and ourselves in our campaign towards sustainability initiatives. By promoting heavily on our environmental cause we will influence the whole community to make a difference.
Ten Eco-Friendly Hospitality Companies
- Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group – The company has an environmental program called Eathcare where every hotel and restaurant adopts environmental friendly products at the same time they religiously practice recycling among its chains. – Corporate Philanthropy (kimptonhotels.com).
- Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company – The company has created the Ritz-Carlton Environmental Action Conservation Teams (REACT) to deliver its objective in conserving the environment. The team is responsible for implementing eco-friendly practices to minimize environmental imprint of the hotel chain. REACT primarily works on projects aimed to restore native plants, protect endangered species and clean beaches and roadsides. – Corporate Philanthropy (corporate.ritzcarlton.com).
- Intercontinental Hotel Group – They created a program called Green Engaged where their objective is to reduce energy, water and waste, cutting carbon emissions, and raising guest and staff awareness of sustainable issues. They have partnered with National Geographic in educating people on environmental issues. –Corporate Philanthropy (ihgplc.com).
- Fairmount Hotels and Resorts – Created the Green Partnership Program which strives to minimize property operational impacts on the environment through resource conservation and best practices. – Corporate Philanthropy (Fairmont.com).
- Marriott International, Inc. – The hotel chain’s environmental goals are to decrease water and energy consumption by 25% per room by 2017, create green construction standards for hotel developers, educate partners, staff and guests about environmental issues and invest in conservation initiates such as the rainforest protection and water conservation. Corporate Philanthropy (Marriott.com).
- Omni Hotels and Resorts – The company is heavily practicing recycling, conserves energy by promoting hybrid and other energy efficient technologies, utilize eco-friendly products, reduce carbon footprints, create green roofs and plant more trees and water supplies. Corporate Philanthropy (omnihotels.com).
- Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. – The company has created an environmental sustainability policy aimed at conserving natural resources, minimizing waste and pollution, enhancing indoor environmental quality, establishing and reporting on key environmental performance indicators and educating associates, guests and communities on environmental issues. Corporate Philanthropy (starwoodhotels.com).
- Wyndham Worldwide Corporation – They created a program called Wyndham Green where they aim to develop environmental programs, products and services, set and measure environmental impact targets, and comply with climate policies and environmental laws. Corporate Philanthropy (wyndhamworldwide.com).
- McDonald’s – The fast food chain aims to help the environment improving waste management and sustainable packaging, conserving energy and having green restaurant designs. – Corporate Philanthropy (aboutmcdonalds.com).
- Lifetime Gym – The gym’s sustainability initiatives involve sustainable carpeting, designing a green building, energy and water conservation, recycling and promoting the use of environmental friendly products and services. – Corporate Philanthropy (lifetimefitness.com).
Works Cited
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“Environmental Policy.” Fairmont.com. Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, n.d. Web.
“Environmental Responsibility.” Aboutmcdonalds.com. McDonald’s, 2011. Web.
“Environmental Stewardship at Omni Hotels and Resorts.” Omnihotels.com. Global Hotel Alliance, 2011. Web.
“Environmental Sustainability Policy.” Starwoodhotels.com. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc., 2011. Web.
“Kimpton EarthCare Program.” Kimptonhotels.com. Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, 2009. Web.
“Marriott’s Strategy for Contributing to Environmental Conservation.” Marriott.com. Marriott International Inc., 2011. Web.
“Solar Bra Brings Conservation Close to the Heart.” In.reuters.com. Reuters, 14 May 2008. Web.
“Sustainability Initiatives.” Lifetimefitness.com. Lifetime, n.d. Web.
“The Ritz-Carlton Community Footprints.” Corporate.ritzcarlton.com. The Ritz-Carlton, 2011. Web.
“Wyndham Green.” Wyndhamworldwide.com. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, 2011. Web.