Environmental sustainability, sustainable practices and hotels

Abstract

The paper presents the major focus areas of Environmentally Sustainable Practices (ESPs) in the Australian hotel industry. This study aims to ascertain the focus areas from the perspective of the managers of the hotels. This research involved a range of hotels with different profiles and management structures. The study conducted one-on-one interviews with hotel managers. The sample and sample size aimed to ensure representation by different segments of the hotel industry to include international chain affiliated hotels, Australian chain affiliated hotels and independent hotels. An analysis of the findings suggests that the key elements of ESPs appear to be relatively easy to implement in the day-to-day operations of these hotels without significant capital investment. It was also found that owners and shareholders are the biggest influencers of these practices as their investment takes primary importance. The stakeholder theory broadly informs this study. Owners, shareholders and others have a significant influence on the environmentally sustainable initiatives in the Australian hotel industry. The statements by hotel managers in this research show that implementing EPSs in the hotel industry is a complex task due to many stakeholders with differing agendas and objectives.