An assessment and analysis of environmental management practices in hotel and resort operations

Hotel and resort businesses consume significant amounts of natural resources, expel large amounts of raw and solid waste and affect the sustainability of the natural environment in which they are developed and operate. The objective of this research study is to examine practices of lodging corporations and individual hotels and resorts for the purpose of identifying “best practices” in environmental management. It considers the application of life-cycle management to hotel and resort development and operating practices. This study attempts to identify new information that can help lodging companies and independent hotels and resorts more effectively value and implement environmental management programs.; The qualitative research methodology utilized for this study analyzes nine lodging case studies in order to determine operating practices for water and energy use, waste management, the quality of indoor air and the reduction of indoor noise levels. A comparative analysis of the case study surveys answers eight research questions posed by the study, the responses to which provide multiple forms of evidence as to operating processes and patterns within individual case studies and common practices for the case study group as a whole. A research model compares utility consumption usage by the individual case studies with existing corporate benchmarks as a means of determining the effectiveness of corporate benchmarking policies.; The data analysis results identify “best practice” operating activities that evidence 80 percent to 100 percent participation by the surveyed case studies as standard practices. Significant examples of the application of technology to reduce the impact of lodging and recreation activities on the environment are evaluated.; This study finds that corporate benchmarks for utility consumption and waste output fail to consider factors that effect a lodging property's ability to achieve them. Recommendations of this study include a need for rethinking the financial valuation of natural resources as a means of creating a higher value for environmental operating practices to stakeholders and the financial community, and the need for the adoption of standard operating “best practices” by the hotel industry at-large.