ENERGY CONSERVATION IN HOTELS: A GREEN APPROACH
3.7 LARGE HOTEL CHAINS VERSUS SMALL OPERATORS
It is not that hotels around the world are not aware of the implications of con- tinuing with the traditional methods of energy generation and consumption.
There are serious efforts being made by the leading chains as well as some small operators to green their hotels.
Accor Group’s Sustainable Development Through Planet 21 The Accor Group with 4,426 hotels and 531,714 rooms located in 92 countries is a major player in the global hotel market. It has presence in Europe, North and South America and the Asia-Pacific region. It caters to every customer segment with its Sofitel brand in the luxury segment and Pullman in upscale hotels. It is a world leader in the mid segment with brands like Novotel, Mercure, Grand Mercure, Adagio, MGallery and Thalassa. All seasons and Ibis brands cater to the economy lodging.
Motel 6, Etap, hotelF1 and Studio 6 chains are targeted towards the bud- get segment. The group plans to expand its operations and have 700,000 rooms by 2015. The group has come up with several new programs for energy, water, waste and biodiversity conservation. In 2012, Accor’s new sustainable development program named PLANET 21 has been launched with seven focus areas named Nature, Heath, Innovation, Carbon, Em- ployment, Local and Dialogue on which assessment is made. Accor’s re- sults for the year 2012 showed that:
89% of its hotels use eco label products;
79% of the hotels recycle their waste;
39% of hotels participate in reforestation project;
6% of the hotels use renewable energy;
23% have eco-designed rooms;
68% purchase and promote locally sources products;
31% of all nonbudget hotels are ISO 140001 certified.
Accor has developed a system for doing technical analysis of various fixtures and equipment in its hotels and through employee training and action plans it has been able to reduce energy and water consumption of up to 25% in some of its hotels without any additional investment on installations.
Source: Accor Hotels, 2013
The large chain hotels are well aware of need for environment preservation and have the requisite resources to implement the green initiatives. The ho- tels chains undergo a learning process and successful practices are transferred across other hotels brands and locations. They have advantage of knowing what worked well and where and how. They can leverage this information across other individual units.
Sharing of Best Practices in Hilton Worldwide
The Hilton Worldwide, the multi brand hospitality company (Hilton, Hil- ton Garden Inn, Hampton Hill, Embassy Suites, Embassy Vacation Re- sort, Doubletree, Conrad, Home2Suites, Homewood Suites and Waldorf Astoria) in the world has made sustainability a brand standard. As quality, service and revenue, sustainability too is a critical performance measure used for the business. The company has a strategy for efficient use of ener- gy and renewable energy; minimization of water usage, waste and carbon dioxide emission; sustainable hotel design, construction and operation and also on purchasing. Across its portfolio, it aims lower energy usage, carbon dioxide emission and waste generation by 20% each and water us- age by 10% in the five-year period from 2009 to 2014. The sustainability performance is being improved on a continuous basis on its properties.
The damage to the environment by any conference or meeting held at its hotels is evaluated. Through the active involvement and training tools the staff is motivated to participate in these initiatives. The company shares its best practices and complies with the local, national and international legislation. It also partners with its suppliers to improve the overall per- formance. It influences the use of land according to the environment and supports local initiatives. The achievements on the sustainability venture and communicated to the stakeholders. The results achieved against the set targets are published.
The performance of Hilton Worldwide in the year 2010 showed savings of 6.6% and 3.8% in energy and water usage respectively. There were savings of 7.8% and 19%, respectively in carbon emissions and waste generation as compared to the year 2008.
Source: HiltonWorldwide, 2012
The Starwood Hotels and Resorts committed to reduce the energy and wa- ter usage by 30% and 20%, respectively by 2020 as compared to that of 2008.
Panasonic has partnered with Choice Hotels to develop low power consuming televisions, which have one fourth the energy cost when in off mode as com- pared to regular models.Choice Hotels International is a franchise organiza- tion with brands like Clarion, Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn, Roadway Inn, Econo Lodge and Mainstay Suites. The multiplier effect of such initia- tives can be gauged from the fact the savings obtained would be substantial when all of these hotel properties adopt the energy efficient device. Marriott
International has developed a comprehensive plan to lower itsoverall environ- ment footprint of 2.9 MT of CO2 emissions. Its hotels worldwide have in the past decade installed fluorescent lights in place of more than four and a half million traditional light bulbs. It plans to have solar power in 40 hotels by 2017 (Zientara and Bohdanowicz, 2010). It is partnering with its main suppli- ers to offer greener products and to choose and design new hotels according to the Green Building Council’s LEED standards.
Westin Convention Centre’s Energy Efficiency Measures Westin Convention Centre invested $120,000 for the installation of the keycard system at its property in Pittsburg. The keycard system activates the lighting and the HVAC system of the room as the guest enters and switches it off automatically all the power consuming devices as the card is removed on exit. In the first year after the installation of this system the energy consumption reduced by 10% and the investment made was recovered in just ten months period.
Source: Energy Star, 2007.
In the case of small operators their knowledge, attitude and the willingness to act play a determining role in whether the sustainability ventures are incor- porated in the management of the property or not. The stand-alone operators also do not have the projects to reflect upon and learn from and the financial resources too are constrained (Kleinrchert et al., 2012). The small operators also lack the access to capital to initiate green measures.
Small Operator’s Big Savings
Leaf Lifestyle, a 1500 square feet wellness facility located in Santa Mon- ica, California offers personal training, massage services and nutrition consultancy. In 2010, it invested $750 on making minor improvements to its facility. The sauna was insulated to retain the heat for a longer duration.
The traditional light bulbs were replaced by energy efficient lighting. The natural daylight was used by installing frost windows and taking off the blinds. This resulted in a reduction in the monthly electricity bill by 80%
and led to $2400 saving per annum. The payback period in this case was less than four months.
Source: Goodman (2012)
The varied nature of the hotels and the facilities they provide onsite to the guests makes it difficult to devise a standard energy management systems for all types of hotels whether they are business hotels, part of an international chain or a small independent property.
Guests comfort and satisfaction should be in the forefront while making provision for any improvements. Thermal comfort has a huge bearing on the satisfaction level of the guest. So responsive heating, ventilation, air-condi- tioning and cooling system needs to be put in place to meet the guest’s needs and at the same time being energy efficient. There should be sufficient but not excessive lighting in the corridors and staircases and exterior portions of the hotel to make the guest feel secure. Efficient light sources, occupancy controls and timers can achieve this objective. Indoor air quality should be monitored so that it is free of any molds and cleaning agent odors, so as to provide a healthy stay for the guest.