22nd Pattaya International Conference on Economics, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences (PEEHSS-19), Aug. 12-14, 2019
Green Hotel Initiative: Response of the Industry to
Global Climate Change
Prof. Dr. David Cababaro Bueno
Dean of Graduate, and Colleges of Arts, Sciences and Education at Columban College, Inc., Olongapo City, Zambales, Philippines
Abstract- The study focused on the analysis of green initiatives of
hotels in a city as contribution and response in mitigating climate
change. The researcher used the descriptive cross-sectional
design by employing a self-administrated and closed-ended
questionnaire to survey the participants within a specified time
frame of the study. The conveniently selected hotels in the Subic
Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ) were taken from the directories of the
Department of Tourism (DOT) in the City. Thus, there were
thirty hotel employees and thirty guests, who served as
participants during the conduct of the study. The adopted
checklist was subjected expert validity and reliability test. Data
were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences
2.0 (SPSS 20.0). Consistently, turning off lights and appliances in
unoccupied rooms, taking advantage of the natural lights, and
replacing damaged doors/ windows were the common green
initiatives among hotels. The hotel staffs encouraged the guests to
report water leaks. Collecting rainwater for irrigating or other
non-potable use, and presoaking utensils and dishes in ponded
water instead of using a running water rinse were also practiced.
Solid waste and pest management initiatives were also observed
by eliminating bird nests, making the rooms free from trash and
checking for cooking odors, ensuring the ventilation system, and
cleaning spills promptly. Preserving existing vegetative cover,
pest management, grounds keeping and green food service
management were regularly initiated among participants. There
was no significant difference in the assessments made by the hotel
staffs and guests on energy and water conservation, solid waste
and pest management, indoor air quality maintenance, and
grounds keeping. However, there was significant difference on
building renovation and mold growth prevention initiatives. Such
green initiatives surely made significant contribution in
mitigating global climate change.
Keywords- Hospitality management, green initiatives, climate
change, hotel industry, descriptive cross-sectional design,
Olongapo City, Philippines
I. INTRODUCTION
The impact of the growth of worldwide tourism growth
on the environment has become a vital topic within the
hospitality industry (Berezan, Raab, Yoo, & Love, 2013). A
majority of American explorers and tourists now deliberate
themselves “environmentally conscious” (U.S. Travel
Association, 2009) and feel that hotel industry should
involve in sustainability actions (Weissenberg, Redington,
& Kutyla (2008). With increased customer awareness,
sustainable and green practices became imperative to
travelers in picking a hotel (Tzschentkea, 2008).
Climate change caused by global warming is a critical
environmental challenge facing the world of the 21st century
(Arcodia & Dickson, 2007). As a major sub-sector of the
tourism industry, the hotel industry’s operations are
inseparably tied to, contingent upon and essentially derives
from the varied environments and societies where it
operates. In fact, the hotel industry often impacts the very
social and cultural aspects of societies also the nearby
natural environment and local resources. Thus, it is
unsurprising that many hospitality industries worldwide
have been exposed to growing calls from the responsible
business movement to adopt a more environmental-friendly
and to become socially responsible approach to their
respective operations (Abaeian, Kyid, & Wei, 2014).
Thus, hospitality industry development is the central
capacity in the tourism industry. The issues on sustainability
and green are discussed when looking at the effort by the
resorts operators at practicing green approaches (Jamaludin
& Begam, 2013), and tourism is moving towards sustainable
tourism because it poses negative impacts on the
environment by consuming and producing many resources
such as water, energy and waste (Begam & Jamaludin,
2013). Moreover, tourism is part of the fastest growing
industries in the world, making it an important contributor
to the world economy. On a global basis, tourism currently
generates more or less 10% of the gross domestic product
(Bueno, 2017).
Moreover, it should be noted that tourism industry
becomes stable in terms of types of tourist attractions, trends
of tourist arrivals, business linkages, and services offered,
and the chances of the tourism attraction business operators
to maintain their position in the industry is high due to their
prudent use of eight marketing mix constructs such like
place, product, price, promotion, programming, partnership
among others, (Celis, Mendoza, & Baruc, 2013) and if they
are responding to climate change through green practices in
their respective operation. Furthermore, a study showed that
green and sustainable, high-technology, thinking from
customers’ side and Asian guests are the main trends in
hotels, and the main challenges faced by hoteliers are
branding and competition, operational space in hotels and
human resource. This study described many innovation
outputs which belong to product innovation, service
innovation and administrative innovation, respectively. It
also indicated that hotels utilized many interior and exterior
methods to follow up new trends and innovation.
Furthermore, these innovations and innovative practices
have improved customers’ satisfaction and business
performance for the hotels (Hua & Hua, 2015), and such
findings are contributory to green initiatives and sustainable
development in the hospitality industry.
However, with any ambition to give voice to
environmental and social ideals, there are problems. The
most significant difficulty lies in the sad truth that
environmental change is not the primary interest of many
growing Asian nations who would need to support and steer
any systemic changes. Instead of the environmental and
social problems in their regions, these entities focus on their
national financial health. Another tricky lies in the lack of
core competencies within many developing nations to
implement and execute future oriented environmental and
social ideals over the long term (Suess, 2009), including
green practices towards climate change moderation.
In spite of a wide range of literature on environmental
issues in the hospitality industry context, little research has
been conducted to explore on green initiatives of the hotel
industry in a city towards moderating climate change. Thus,
this study examined the green initiatives as response of the
hotels towards climate change.
II. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The study focused on the exploration of green
initiatives responding to a global concern, the climate
change, among hotels in Olongapo City, Philippines. It
specifically aimed to: (1) determine the green initiatives of
selected hotels from the viewpoints of hotel staff and guests;
and (2) analyze the significant variations on the assessment
of the green initiatives when grouped according to
participants.
conservation (.81); water conservation (.79); solid waste
management (.91); indoor air quality maintenance (.87);
building renovation (.76); pest management (.84); grounds
keeping maintenance (.81); food service management (.90);
and mold growth prevention (.89). An alpha coefficient of
0.70 or higher indicates acceptable levels of internal
reliability, which means that all the items in the same
category measure the same attribute. Thus, the instrument
validity and reliability were established. The surveyquestionnaire used a 5-point Likert scale (5; 4; 3; 2; 1) items
based on a scale from “5 = strongly agree” to “1= strongly
disagree”. Data were gathered between October and January
2018. Initially, a survey packet, a brief explanation as to the
nature of the research, an informed consent form, and
survey- questionnaire was sent to the hotel managers
through the guest relations officers. The hotels were first
contacted based on convenience of location. After obtaining
permission from the hotels, the researchers visited the hotels
to hand carry the survey-questionnaires to the hotel staff.
The researcher visited each department at the hotels and
explain the nature of the study of the head of the department.
The survey collection boxes were set-up in a designated
areas. The location of those boxes was given to the head of
each department. Follow-up visitations were made to the
guest relations officers. Data were analyzed using the
Statistical Package for Social Sciences 2.0 (SPSS 20.0).
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
III. METHODOLOGY
The researcher used the descriptive cross-sectional
design using a validated and reliable closed-ended
questionnaire. The design aimed to describe the
participants’ perceptions on green initiatives of hotels
during the specified period of study. The cross-sectional
design is an observational study using a validated
instrument. This means that researcher recorded information
about the participants without manipulating the study
environment. In short, the researcher tried not to interfere
while the participants were surveyed using a well-defined
instrument and compared the different perceptions and
various variables within the specified time frame (Bueno,
2017). The 15 conveniently selected hotels in the Subic Bay
Freeport Zone (SBFZ) were taken from the directories of the
Department of Tourism (DOT) in the City. Thus, there were
15 hotel staff and 15 guests, who served as participants
during the conduct of the study. Bueno (2015) described
convenience sampling as a sampling technique used to
obtain units or respondents who are most conveniently
available. The adopted checklist was subjected expert
validity and reliability test. The adopted survey-checklist
was tried-out to hotel industry practitioners, researchers,
Science professors, selected students and parents for face
and construct validity only. The instrument was subjected to
a reliability test. Alpha coefficients were energy
The Green Hotel Initiatives
Energy conservation initiatives include turning off the
lights and appliances when not in unoccupied rooms and
during non-use hours, as well as taking advantage of the
natural lights, are the observable green initiatives among the
hotels. Participants also observed replacing damaged doors
or windows to reduce the need for cooling in the building.
They sometimes practiced cleaning lights and fixtures
regularly to keep the light output high. The overall
computed means are 4.42 (always) and 3.82 (oftentimes),
for the staffs and guests, respectively.
Water conservation initiatives of hotels are encouraging
guests to report water leaks to the hotel staff. Fixing leaks in
faucets, toilets, and pipes right away are sometimes
practiced. Other practices such as collecting rainwater for
irrigating or other non-potable use, and presoaking utensils
and dishes in ponded water instead of using a running water
rinse are oftentimes practiced by the participants. The
overall computed means are 3.92 (oftentimes) and 3.95
(oftentimes), for the hotel staff, and guests, respectively.
Some green initiatives of hotels in terms of solid waste
management are encouraging guests to reduce waste,
recycling items such as papers, aluminum cans and plastic
bottles, and segregating dry solid wastes to wet solid waste.
Moreover, sharing of periodicals with associates, instead of
receiving multiple copies is oftentimes practiced by all
participants; and saving of used papers, envelopes, but
folders for in-house reuse is always observed. The overall
computed means are 4.31 and 3.97, for the hotel staffs and
guests, respectively.
Moreover, the initiatives in terms of indoor air quality
maintenance such as eliminating bird nests or droppings
near outdoor air intakes; ensuring that rooms are free from
trash and chemical substances, and checking for cooking
odors or smoke in areas adjacent to cooking preparation and
eating areas, ensuring that ventilation system allows
adequate amount of outdoor air to enter the room, and
cleaning spills promptly are always practiced. The overall
computed means are 4.42 (always), and 3.92 (oftentimes),
for the staff, and hotel guests, respectively.
The green initiatives in terms of building renovation
such as preserving existing vegetative cover and trees;
ensuring that walls, floors, roofs and windows are as energy
efficient as possible; maximizing the use of natural daylight
in building interiors as a source of ambient light; and
considering the on-site materials such as gravel and sand for
construction are always practiced. Orienting the building to
catch the breezes, minimize heat gain and make use of
natural shading and light is oftentimes initiated. The
computed means are 4.31 (always) and 3.79 (oftentimes),
for the hotel employees, and guests, respectively.
While, pest management as an integral dimension of the
green initiatives among hotels is practiced by spraying
pesticides when children are out of reach; keeping lockers
and the building clean and dry; and storing pesticides in
leak-proof containers in a secure place. Moreover,
practicing good sanitation and proper maintenance of
structures and grounds is always observed, but fixing
plumbing leaks and other moisture problems are sometimes
observed. Thus, these eco-friendly initiatives are oftentimes
observed by the respondents as evidenced by the computed
means of 4.21 and 3.93, respectively. Cutting of grass on a
regular basis; practicing spot application of fertilizer where
a problem exists instead of the entire area; and using a
minimal amount of fertilizers on grounds is oftentimes
observed by the participants. Preserving local vegetation in
place, especially mature trees; and keeping the grounds free
from unwanted materials that can cause an accident is
always observed. The overall computed means are 4.62
(always) and 3.91 (oftentimes), for the staff, and guests,
respectively.
The food service aspect of the green initiatives among
hotels are using of washable wiping cloths instead of
disposables; keeping records for the demand for particular
foods and use them in menu planning; printing of daily
specials on a chalkboard rather printing daily specials on
new sheets of paper; and using of refillable condiment
bottles instead of single use packaging are oftentimes
observed by all the respondents. Reusing of large containers
for storage is always observed by the participants. The
computed means are 3.84 and 3.92, for the hotel staffs and
guests, respectively.
Lastly, mold growth preventions among hotels are
keeping building materials like wood, paper and fabric dry;
fixing the source of the water problem or leak to prevent
mold growth; avoiding standing water in ventilation
systems, air conditioning units or refrigerator drip pans; and
preventing rainwater from entering air intakes are always
observed by the participants. Inspecting comfort rooms for
signs of standing water, water stains or molds is oftentimes
observed. The computed means for these green initiatives
are 4.47 and 3.82, for the hotel staff, and guests,
respectively.
Growing detrimental effects on the bio-physical
environment have been responsible for a large number of
small firms to adopt a more strategic stance toward
exploiting
green-related
opportunities
(Leonidou,
Christodoulides, & Kyrgidou, 2015). The findings of the
current study responded to a study elucidating the essence
of sustainability in green building design implementations.
In this regard, a study attracted attention to the sustainable
energy performances of green buildings to identify the
influential parameters based upon the contemporary
successful accomplishments, and elaborated on the
contemporary trends and applications of green building
design and the respective impacts on sustainable
developments (Ghaffarianhoseini et al., 2013). Accordingly,
with view to the environ- mental assessment and energy
performance of buildings, it is vital to develop an overview
of current theoretical perspectives, trends, applications and
constraints towards the development of green
environmentally sustainable buildings. To confirm that,
previous studies put forward a theory representing that the
performance of green buildings is substantially related to the
level of their environmental assessment, thus, versatile
studies highlight the necessity of the identification and
consideration of sustainable energy performance indicators
in the environmental evaluation and any green
implementations. In this regard, the building energy
efficiency, the thermal performance of buildings and the
material efficiency are considered as significant parameters
of sustainable energy performance indicators to be fully
taken into consideration during the performance evaluations
(Mwasha, Williams, & Iwaro, 2011).To summarize, the
study refers to Berardi (2013) with regards to the analysis of
recent interpretations on sustainable buildings. Accordingly,
the respective study states: “sustainable building is
characterized by the demand for safe building, flexibility,
market and economic value; neutralization of environmental
impacts by including its context and its regeneration; human
well-being, occupants’ satisfaction and stakeholders’ rights;
social equity, aesthetics improvements, and preservation of
cultural values.
The Variations on the Green Hotel Initiatives
The null hypothesis was accepted for the variables such
as energy conservation, water conservation, solid waste
management, indoor air quality maintenance, pest
management, and grounds keeping. Thus, there was no
significant difference in the assessment of green practices
along these variables when grouped according to the
participants. However, there was a significant difference in
the assessment of eco-friendly initiatives along these
variables.
The findings suggest that explicit and tacit
environmental management account for a variety of
organizational responses to the environmental demands of
stakeholders, depending on the stakeholders’ viewpoints
regarding environmental issues, the stakeholders’ awareness
to protect the environment, and the perceived environmental
and economic advantages of green activities (Burgos-jim &
Jos, 2003). Such response is considered vital towards Total
quality management (TQM) and corporate social
responsibility (CSR) that are relevant management
philosophies in the hotel industry to be able to generate a
sustainable competitive advantage (Benavides-velasco,
Quintana-garcía, & Marchante-lara, 2014), and towards
mitigating global climate change.
Over the years, the focus on environmentally
responsible behavior (Ogbeide, 2012), has grown
dramatically from hardly being talked about to being a major
concern for the travel and tourism industry (Gustin &
Weaver, 1996). According to Vora (2007), 43 million U.S.
travelers have indicated their worries for the environment.
Practices such as saving water, saving energy, and reducing
solid waste were three of the most common things green
hotels were doing to help the environment. But, even more
important than water usage and reducing paper waste were
changes like eco-cuisine, energy efficient lighting, installing
hinge activated lighting, and using electronics such as email
and electronic check-in versus using paper (Wolff, 2008).
These efforts had been continuously growing over the past
few decades. Since ‘green hotel’ is a relatively new concept,
it is interesting to explore the perception and attitude of
consumers toward green hotel/resort concepts in the twentyfirst century.
Clearly, there are a vast number of diverse
considerations that may be addressed by hotel industry that
choose to pursue a green initiative as response in mitigating
the global climate issue. Among these are concerns such as:
developing offerings that conserve energy and other natural
resources in their production process (Porter, 1991);
creating advertisements and other promotional messages
that accurately reflect a company’s commitment to the
environment (Kangun, Carlson, & Grove, 1991); setting
prices for green products that balance consumers’ sensitivity
to cost against their willingness to pay more for
environmental safety (Chase, 1991; Jay 1990); reducing
pollutants and conserving resources in the transportation of
products to market (Bohlen, Diamantopolous, &
Schlegelmilch, 1993); and a host of other marketing-related
decisions. To align themselves with the green initiative,
organizations often focus on one or more of the three broad
activities: reusing, recycling and reducing. Sometimes
referred to as the “3 R’s formula for environmental
management”, these practices are aimed at controlling the
amount of natural resources waste that often accompanies
organizations’ marketing pursuits. By reusing packaging
(offering products in refillable containers), recycling
materials (reclaiming elements from used products) and
reducing resource usage (conserving energy in the
production process), organizations can play a significant
role in protecting the environment. For services, reducing
would include reworking or “re-engineering” service
processes to reduce their impact on the environment. Such
practices may also help to position specific organizations as
green oriented in the public’s mind and attract the
increasingly large green consumer segment (Grove, Fisk, &
Pickett, 2015).
V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
There was no significant difference in the green
initiatives among hotels relative to energy conservation,
water conservation, solid waste management, indoor air
quality maintenance, pest management, and grounds
keeping. However, a significant difference in the assessment
relative to building renovation and mold growth prevention
practices was found. The hotel industry needs to practice
energy and water conservation at all times. They must
always maintain the quality of indoor air, proper laboratory
waste disposal, ground keeping, building renovation, pest
and mold prevention; maintain proper food management
services; regularly conduct orientation activities on proper
laboratory waste disposal, mold growth prevention, and
benefits of proper building renovations; regularly observe
the best practices on energy and water conservation, solid
waste and pest management, maintenance of indoor air
quality and grounds keeping. The BUENO framework for
hotel industry should be used as stepping strategy to actively
and functionally implement the pro-environment initiatives
and natural remedies as part to their corporate social
responsibility towards mitigating the global climate change
issue ( Bueno, 2017). The limitations of the present study
relate to the sample size and the number of hotels included
in the analysis. Thus, the findings must be interpreted with
cautiousness.
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