The organisational value of implementing environmental policies and initiatives in the Irish hotel industry?
Authors
Ahern, John
Issue Date
2014
Degree
MA of Business Administration
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
Abstract
This research sets out to examine what value can be created for Irish hotel organisations that implement environmental policies and initiatives. The research focused on both The Garryvoe Hotel and The Westin Dublin both of whom have achieved the platinum award from The Green Hospitality Award. The motive behind this study is due to the environmental concerns which have led to widespread interest in environmental policies and initiatives in the hotel industry in the last 15 years. Nicholls & Kang (2012) have stated that the use of natural non-renewable resources is most prevalent in the accommodation industry. The primary research was carried out on The Garryvoe Hotel and The Westin Dublin. Unstructured interviews were used to gather industry data from three senior managers at The Garryvoe Hotel while semi-structured interviews were used to gather the necessary data from The Westin Dublin. A number of key findings have resulted from this study. It is evident that despite previous research suggesting that there are many benefits for hotels to go green, financial savings is where the most value is created for Irish hotel organisations. This research also found that contrary to previous research the idea of being a green hotel will become less important to customers in the future simply because this generation of customers have been brought up thinking environmentally. One of the key implications of this study is that if Irish hotel organisations are considering implementing environmental policies and initiatives, the main and most significant reason they should do it is to avail of the financial benefits. Author keyword.