Environmental Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry: Best Practices, Guest Partici... - 0 views
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To learn about guest participation and satisfaction in sustainability programs for over 89 hotel brands, we draw from a broad survey of 120,000 customers in the J.D.Power database over a period of five years, 2006 through 2010.
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Hotel operators are well aware of the potential ben-efits of sustainability, and many of them publicly promote resource conservation.
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Guest satisfaction with hotels’ sustainability programs is seen as essential for their success
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This article shares results from an environmental sustainability study of 100 US resorts and a separate survey of 120,000 hotel guests. It discusses a variety of sustainability initiatives such as water and energy conservation, recycling and waste reduction, LEED construction, and guest engagement. While guest engagement was significant, indicating 75% of guests surveyed actually participated in sustainability initiatives during their stay, the effect on guest satisfaction is modest at best. At best, only 0.6% of guests selected specific properties based on environmental sustainability. Guest participation in sustainability efforts were highest at extended stay locations, followed by luxury and upscale properties, with economy properties placing last. The most effective and commonly used aspect of sustainability efforts was towel and linen reuse, showing up in 91% of the survey responses. Overall, while the traditional drivers of guest satisfaction remain consistent across brands and property types (room, facilities, food and beverage quality), sustainability programs do not lower guest satisfaction, but are increasingly becoming a standard expectation of both guests and employees, and have significant cost-savings potential when implemented and managed effectively.