Ecocriticism: Solutions in Traveling
Throughout my life, I have traveled across the U.S. and stayed at many different hotels. Although I may not travel as much as others, considering those who travel for business and pleasure on a large scale, I have seen differences in the amenities that hotels provide with consideration to saving energy. In my more recent years of travel, I have noticed some changes in the particular rooms I have lodged in: Signs asking customers to re-use linen in order to save energy and water, specific bins designated for the towels that need to be washed, recycling bins in addition to garbage bins, and fluorescent lighting. After noticing these small changes, I realized that they must have a great impact on how hotels are affecting the environment because of how many people go through these hotels on a daily basis. .
This caused me to research the case further; I wanted to know how much damage hotels are implementing on the environment, if they can possibly put an end to these harmful effects, and if so, how? I have reached the conclusion that hotels need to turn “green” in order to prevent their harmful amount of stress put on the environment. In order to do this, they must yearn to make this positive change by gaining support from their eco-friendly customers and also be educated on how to convert to green standards and the positive results that will adhere by those changes. Concern over global warming continues to grow as scientific evidence has proven that our carbon emissions and wasteful practices are harming the environment. With the current world-wide rise in the hotel industry as well as the concern for the environment, hotels should be required to improve their environmental performance through conservation and management efforts. I understand that some may argue that the hotel industry may not be the most important aspect to consider in the effort to be environmentally-conscious. Take the Head of Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, David Kirk’s opinion. He claims that because the hotel industry is made up of a large number of small operations, it “is not one which causes gross environmental pollution nor does it consume vast amounts of non-renewable resources and therefore it may not be in the front line for environmental concern” (Kirk). Although his statement may be valid, I maintain that it is extremely important to pay attention to the hotel industry because of its destructive effects to the environment and the many ways in which hotels are able to implement new standards in order to be environmentally friendly. Let us consider an important question: Why is it important for hotels to implement environmentally friendly standards? Jim Butler claims in his case for sustainable management that because of the increasing customer demand in green initiatives, increasing government regulations, and the fact that “green buildings provide financial [and health] benefits that conventional buildings do not,” the hotel industry is in the front line for benefits and positive outcomes in the environment by changing to better environmentally conscious standards. Many people may believe that hotels should convert to green standards simply because it is the right thing to do for the sustainability of the environment. I also had this initial perception, but I came to realize that a number of benefits arise from the conversion such as financial profits and increased customer base for the hotel business, healthier environments for the customer and the worker, as well as the positive changes to the environment itself. |
With this we can see that the implementation of green standards in the hotel industry works twofold; not only is it important in consideration with the growing concern for the environment within individuals and larger corporations, but it also benefits the business/financial aspect of the hotels themselves. This is supported by Sarah Alexander with the Zero Waste Alliance which declares, “Environmentally responsible business practices dovetail well with the newfound popularity of ecotourism. They harmonize tourism and environmental sustainability” (Alexander). Ecotourism, tourism that is nature-oriented and environmentally focused- is growing rapidly as “43 million tourists consider themselves to be ecotourists. This represents a growing market for environmentally friendly options in the tourism industry” (Alexander). Along with this, Alexander also argues that the most costly and wasteful use of resources within the hotel industry are the consumption of nonrenewable energy, excessive water use, and generation of waste. This information may be a surprise to some- if it costs hotels more to be wasteful, why don’t they utilize more waste-conscious efforts? Hotels need to be educated about these benefits in order for them to further consider a more sustainable solution to their management efforts.
To take this to a more direct level, when individual hotels begin to take energy saving measures, such as energy management systems, fluorescent bulbs, ceiling fans, linen cards, lights out cards, motion sensors, etc., energy bills are much reduced. Hotels are further persuaded to utilize these measures when they are supported by their customers. There is a large population that takes environmental issues as a more serious issue, even in the hotel industry. For example, The Colony Hotel in Maine claims that their “bookings increased 25 percent after [its] green marketing campaign began” (Motavalli). Large corporations are also becoming part of the environmentally conscious population as they are “increasingly steering their travel business to hotels that meet ‘green’ environmental standards” (Yu). As a result of this, the companies can publicize their environmentally conscious practices and hotels are encouraged to implement energy-saving standards to attract guests. Although there may be a slight cost to add non-wasteful approaches to how hotels operate, but these costs are well worth it in the end, also exemplified by The Colony Hotel by stating, “the eco-amenities added two percent to construction costs, but this amount was soon offset by the increased bookings of environmental guests” (Motavalli). When hotels urge their customers to take action in their rooms to save energy and waste, some people may be impacted by these practices which they might not have been exposed to before. Being able to see how easy it is to use fluorescent lighting, use recycling bins, and save linens to be washed only when necessary could possibly influence people to take these environmentally friendly measures and use them at home. According to a Lodging Magazine in 2010, “a few years ago hotels weren’t comfortable putting recycling bins in guestrooms and public spaces, but people are getting used to them and appreciate it” (Colchamiro). As more and more hotels make use of “green” measures, customers will notice the change and hopefully be influenced by them to realize how important (and easy) they are. I can see a time when people traveling are surprised by the lack of these types of amenities and want to persuade the hotels they stay in to add energy-saving measures. |