MARKETING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
5.7 PROCESS
Besides the mentioned physical evidences, Exodus also undertook “recy- cling and energy management programs” at its Head-Office, thereby ensuring that no employee or customer touch-point remains oblivious of the Respon- sible Tourism Policy.
same group. Hotel Leelaventure Limited belongs to The Leela Group whose product portfolio includes luxury hotel as well as resort properties (Currently at 8 different locations in India), real estate development and IT and business parks. The Leela Gurgaon Hotels and Residences offers 322 five-star deluxe hotel rooms and 90 one, two, and three bedroom fully services luxury Resi- dences (The Leela, 2013).
The Leela Group’s focus towards sustainability comes from the vision of the group’s Chairman, Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair, who has been the recipient of numerous awards, for his initiatives towards conservation of the environ- ment. The Leela Gurgaon Hotel and Residences has dovetailed its processes with the sustainability by looking at environment saving as a well-thought collection of initiatives towards energy saving, electricity saving, water sav- ing as well as HSD (High Speed Diesel) saving.
5.7.1 PROCESSES ENCOURAGE SUSTAINABILITY AT THE LEELA GURGAON HOTEL AND RESIDENCES
• Energy effective lighting system: Traditional lighting systems create lot of heat, which is not good for the air conditioning system. Leela Gurgaon Hotels and Residences hence, hires consultants to suggest alternate, higher quality lighting systems that are energy efficient and disseminate light but lesser heat. This in turn also saves energy, which would otherwise have been consumed by the air conditioning system to counter the extra heat from the lighting system.
• Sustainability Practice with respect to the Air conditioning system:
The Guest rooms have been installed with the Card–Key mechanism.
Typically in major hotels, even though electricity appliances switch off when the card is removed, the Air Conditioning system remains on.
But at Leela, the AC system too switches off once the card is taken out. Guests return to rooms which might have high temperature and the rooms remain uncomfortable for at least 10–15 minutes. However, guests understand the relevance of such practices and do not complaint about the same. This is an inference of the fact that consumers (both International as well as Domestic Travelers) too, aim at extending their support towards resource conservation.
• Minimizing the use of High Speed Diesel (HSD): At Leela Gurgaon, diesel gets consumed for two purposes—for the diesel generators and for the steam boilers and hot water generators. The hotel tries to maxi- mize the boilers’ efficiency, to avoid any diesel wastage, by conducting
frequent quality and machine checks. Since various machines and the laundry process require steam from these boilers regularly, minimiz- ing the use of HSD is difficult, hence optimizing it is a process which helps the hotel in maintaining sustainability. Alternatively this is also important from the cost saving perspective. Since the unit cost of diesel in India has almost doubled in the past three years, the hotel is stringent about units used and it aims at reducing the consumption of HSD by making a year-on-year comparison of the consumption figures.
• Use of Natural Gas: The hotel has initiated the process of using Natural Gas for the generators and boilers. Since Natural Gas is Clean fuel, this results in release of lesser carbon dioxide as compared to petroleum or coal. In National Capital Region the supply of Natural gas is limited but Leela remained rooted to its commitment towards sustainability by ar- ranging for Natural gas by associating with specific vendors.
• Water Recycling and STP (Sewage Treatment plant) at the Leela:
The hotel has a centralized STP where all the sewage gets treated. The clean water from the STP gets recycled and is being used for cleaning, gardening and to some extent for the flushes in the washrooms as well.
• Rain Water Harvesting mechanism: The hotel boasts of a strong Rain water harvesting system which further enhances its capabilities towards water saving.
• Solar Panels on the roof: The hotel does not have a large roof area to accommodate an elaborate solar system. However, the hotel is devising a mechanism to install some solar panels so that contribution towards energy saving is maximized.
• Substitution of refrigerant: Hotels commonly use (or used) Refrig- erant for Air Conditioning systems as well as the Refrigerators, even though the substance is harmful for the ozone layer. But Leela Kemp- inksi Gurgaon has started to use substances, which are more environ- mentally friendly now. Even the Indian Government has phased out the use of substances like the refrigerant, and is compelling organizations to substitute them with more sustainability friendly products.
• Sustainability across the value chain: Leela Gurgaon Hotel and Resi- dences train their suppliers as well as vendors. Representatives from the hotel make regular visits to the suppliers’ workshops, factories and observe the production processes, simultaneously making relevant cor- rective suggestions. This is also in compliance with the ISO 140001, which mandates the hotel properties to train suppliers in production, procurement as well as disposal processes.
• Garbage as well as other waste from the hotel is sent to Government certified vendors who are trained and equipped to treat the waste and dispose it in the most environment friendly manner.
5.7.2 THE MOTIVATION BEHIND DESIGNING SUCH PROCESSES
The hotel believes that sustainability friendly processes are necessary because they save on operating costs, they help the hotel remain in tandem with the consistent upgrades in Government policies and largely they also help the ho- tel in designing a better guest experience. Evolved hospitality marketers un- derstand that such initiatives help in higher brand positioning because guests appreciate a hotel’s concern for environmental and cultural causes.
To this the Chief Engineer of the Hotel, Mr. Anil Kumar, says:
“The hospitality experience which we offer to the guests gets further accen- tuated through environment friendly processes. Further if a hotel does not progress towards the sustainability path, it will eventually stagnate in terms of sales.”
5.7.3 INVESTMENTS: WHO PAYS FOR THEM?
The government policies are being upgraded on a regular basis. All processes at the Leela Gurgaon Hotels and Residences, are in compliance with the lat- est Government regulations, which mandate the hospitality organizations to make investments towards such processes. Hence any progressive hospitality organization will make heavy investments towards processes, equipment and machinery to remain competitive in the industry.
Also such initial investments offer high returns in terms of cost savings hence it is wise to consider them.
The newer properties, internationally as well as in India, are being de- signed to remain technologically advanced and they have in-built sustain- ability friendly processes. Investments to the tune of INR 7,000 million are required to build a hotel property from the scratch and hence marketers con- sider it wise to incorporate systems, which will support the environment in this investment itself. However, even the properties that have been in exis- tence since long, invest heavily in up-gradation of their infrastructure every 5 years. Hotels typically allocate budgets ranging from INR 30–40 million for renovation of infrastructure. This amount may exceed depending on the size of the hotel, its stature, the business, which the hotel is doing, and the profits,
which it is making. Renovations are carried out for the restaurants, the lobby, the guest rooms and the machinery is also upgraded regularly. During such renovations, hoteliers incorporate pro-sustainability processes and appreciate investing towards the same, because of the long-term benefits, which get ac- crued, along with the elevation in the guest experience.
The owners of the hotel group typically pay for such investments. Techni- cians, consultants as well as experienced engineers are hired for this purpose and they design the infrastructure in such a way that returns on such invest- ments start to garner from the first day of implementation itself.
5.7.4 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Leela Gurgaon communicates to its customers that they are ISO 140001 certi- fied and ISO 22000 (from the Food Safety perspective). Communication to this effect acts as a promotional tool as well. International as well as domestic consumers recognizes such certifications. Hence they prefer to stay in hotels that have relevant quality certifications and which can offer a physical evi- dence that they are ‘Green Hotels’ (Kumar, 2013). Guests, especially Inter- national travelers, today understand the importance of environment friendly practices and prefer such hotels. Though not all guests use ‘Sustainable Pro- cesses’ as strong selection criteria, while choosing a hotel, but when they are informed about the same they support the hotel in the aforesaid practices.
Sustainability processes and efforts clearly drive sales and positively af- fect the bottom line as well. Kumar, from Leela Gurgaon, expressed that:
“A hotel cannot survive in the long run, if it does not adapt processes that promote sustainability. For us as hospitality marketers, it is not just the bottom lines, which motivate us to take this route, but it is also a part of the social duty that we must execute. Environment-friendly practices improve our efficiency, reduce wastage and must be looked at as the only way of functioning.”