Enrichment

Environmental Care Policies at JJ Hotels

KalyanChakravarthy(818723), Debraj Mukherjee(820253).

6/22/2011

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Contents
Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Current Use of Environmental Policies in Hospitality Industry ............................................................... 4 Environmental Policies Currently At JJ Hotel ......................................................................................... 5 Food and Beverage Outlets .................................................................................................................. 5 Housekeeping Department................................................................................................................... 6 Front Office.......................................................................................................................................... 6 Engineering.......................................................................................................................................... 6 Finance ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Considerate Hoteliers ........................................................................................................................... 7 Recommendations ............................................................................................................................... 8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 10

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Executive Summary
Environmental care policies and CSR are now helping organisations in building a brand image and leaving a positive impact on all stake holders community and the society. This report summarises the findings and analysis of the current environmental care policies at JJ hotels and compares it to the current trend in the hospitality industry, it suggests hotel to develop strategies on the recommendations provided in the report to win a considerate hotel of the year Award.

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Introduction
Brian Gosschalk CEO of Mori explained in an article in financial times that stake holders want their organisation to make profit but not by causing a negative impact on them and the community. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the way organisations mould their operations and services, so that they do not have a negative impact on the society. It depends on the nature of services and operations of an organisation to develop its own CSR policies. (mallenbaker.net) This has become a big buzz word these days, as customers and investors are looking for the firms that are socially responsible with sustainable policies in improving the business, this really makes a difference, as this not only helps in creating goodwill but also contributes in doing good business. CSR focuses on the impact on customers, employees, local communities and the society. CSR not only emphasises on the environmental care policies but also charities, employee welfare and trade policies with the suppliers. Environmental policies play a crucial role in hospitality industry as most of its operations directly impact the environment, So it is very important for us to give it back in a responsible way to the environment.

Current Use of Environmental Policies in Hospitality Industry

Currently each and every hospitality organization has their own environmental policies and plans. These plans and policies are commended by the hotels to make people aware that they are socially responsible and reduce the usage of resources. Uses of adapting sustainable environmental policies:  Use of alternative energy sources and proper usage of equipments has resulted in achieving great results for the hospitality industry, like the use of solar energy and wind power to reduce the emission of Green house gases.(ihgplc.com)  Use of eco-friendly products has resulted in reducing costs by allowing the organisations to recycle and reuse .  Applying sustainable environmental policies has helped the community and stake holders like the use of local foods, controlling the litter and contributing for the charities will help the local community .  The use of sustainable environmental policies has proved that they yield better results in attracting the customers.

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In a survey conducted by the better business journey 88 percent of the people said that they will support the organisations, who participate in improving the society (SimplyCSR.com), this gives us an outline that customers are more inclined towards organisations who are responsible of the stake holders and the community will excel in the business.

Environmental Policies Currently At JJ Hotel

JJ hotel being one of the most business making hotels of London has its approach towards the environmental policies, JJ hotel follows easy and very basic environmental policies at the hotel, the best one is the recycling of paper and litter which are biggest contributors of garbage, but the current system is not very effective in avoiding excess garbage in the hotel, food and beverage outlets take a major share in the contribution of garbage. Other than the recycling there are no other very good environmental policies that will help the hotel in getting nominated for Awards like the considerate hotelier or the green award. Hotel meets the statutory requisitions of the law in being socially responsible, hotel does very well in reducing consumption of energy compared to many other hotels, if some changes are made to the current policies of the hotel and getting in some new equipments will definitely help the hotel in achieving the considerate hoteliers award. During the audit in the hotel, there were some key findings that are to be taken in to consideration for replacement or change of the current approach towards them, these changes will definitely will influence the operations, use of resources and business development in a positive way. A detailed report is listed below on individual departments of the hotel for developments and changes from apart from the current approach.

Food and Beverage Outlets

As the hotel runs a huge food and beverage operations, there are no in detailed procedures of environmental care policies and there is no specific authority in the hotel to supervise the environmental care policies. The first and foremost thing that has to be given priority is the exotic food for the French fine dining restaurant that arrives from miles to the hotel has individual packing with a lot of card board and paper, if we can order food in bulk with minimum package can reduce litter, we should be better looking for a supplier of these goods locally, food wastage is also a major concern in the casual dining restaurant as it serves lunch and dinner buffets, food is prepared in bulk and left over for the day is dumped in most cases, if we can use this left over for charities, we can at least reduce our carbon footprint. Pub should

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mostly focus on serving the guests drinks from fountains, it is very important to reduce on the cost of garbage disposal finding an alternative ways as the area in which Hotel is located costs the hotel so much in disposal of cost, one possible way is segregating the waste, which is recyclable and bio degradable and reducing the weight of it, we will however use recyclable materials, we can use the biodegradable materials for composting and producing gas or manure for the gardens which will reduce the cost to a great level(E. Arnold, ehow.com). The left over oil should be reused for making biodiesel.

Housekeeping Department
Housekeeping department has a great responsibility in reducing the cost on utilities, currently housekeeping is contributing most for the energy consumption as the washing machines, driers and the ironing machines are operated for long times, use of cards in guest rooms to use the linen responsibly and asking them to participate in our environment care policies will reduce the cost on utilities by 5percent and estimated 78 percent of the guests will participate and help us in succeeding the green mission(greenhotels.com), the chemicals used in the hotel should be kept in reusable bottles to reduce the waste, laundry bags and bin bags should be of recyclable qualities, which will help us in abiding the sustainable policies laid down.(umihotels.com),

Front Office
Front office is the face of the which will represent the policies of the hotel, the major concern in front office is the use of paper, reducing the use of paper in front office will show a significant reduce in the use of paper, printing the paper only when it is very necessary and important, using both sides of the paper will also help in reducing the paper usage, front office is the only place the every guest will pass through so, identifying good places and advertising about the environmental policies of the hotel will show an impact on the guests and allow the guests to take part in our programme, the furniture in the hotel has to changed as the seating in lobby is wooden sofas covered with cushions, which needs to be changed frequently, changing them to elegant wooden sofas with washable cushions or cushions which are of very dark colours will reduce the frequency of washing.

Engineering
Engineering is another significant department which will ensure that the energy consumption is very low, engineering department should come up structural designs which will help us in conserving the energy used, like the design of light efficient structures which mostly exposed

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to the natural light, use of solar energy for water heating and the use of steam energy for boiling purposes in the kitchen, will save a lot of energy and cost and will also contribute to our new green policy.

Finance
Finance is department should help the hotel in getting budgets for the new environmental policies that are to be taken over, it is not actively involved in the environmental policies as there is not to many resources being used in this department, the only thing that finance has to consider is to be responsible in using the resources.

Considerate Hoteliers
Considerate Hoteliers association was formed in 1991 in West minister by group of reputed hoteliers, from 1997 the membership was open to the hotels in greater London, and from 2003 it spread its membership open to all the hoteliers in UK. Considerate hoteliers is an association which will help the hotels develop sustainable environment friendly and socially responsible policies, they help, assist and motivate the hoteliers in adopting these policies which promote their business by reducing costs and making business by being socially responsible. They do it through their member hotels network and they are open to all in terms of nominating awards, the member hotels are encouraged to follow the policies laid by the association which are tested, practiced and result oriented.
Considerate Hoteliers Awards

1. The Considerate Hotel of the Year This awarded to the hotels who are excellent sustainable policies developed to reduce the usage of natural resources in every possible way. Battlesteads Hotel & Restaurant has won this award for the sustainable procedures used in day-to-day operations like growing vegetables in the kitchen garden and harvesting rainwater. 2. The Considerate Small Accommodation Provider This is awarded to small hotels, the award criteria s include the development and effective implementation of the green initiatives taken by the hotel to develop sustainable policies.
Lasswade Country House and Restaurant has won this award for 2010 for

being a inspiring small hotel with great CSR policies in place.

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3. The Considerate Sustainable Food Award This award is given to restaurants that are very keen in adopting sustainable policies and keeping high standards of business ethics, it may be in purchasing raw material to the fair trade agreement with supplier. Strattons Hotel and Restaurant has bagged this award for the year 2010 for its its sustainable food policies practiced. 4. The Considerate Green Team It is given to the hotel with a effective green team in place, who takes the responsibility of the hotels sustainable policies. Firmdale Hotels (for their hotel group) has won this award previously by showing excellent teamwork and commitment for the go green policies of the hotel group. 5. The Considerate Best Green Marketing Initiative It is awarded to the organisation that is successful in effective marketing of their sustainable policies. (consideratehoteliers.com) Footprint is another organisation which recognises the hospitality organisations with awards different categories like the sustainable use of logistics, consumer engagement, Corporate Social & Environmental Responsibility Award,(footprint-awards.com) this is a prestigious award as it covers the whole policy of the organisation, and any award like this would increase the brand image of our Hotel. To consider winning any of this considerate hotel award, we have to have all round development of the hotel in each and every department strategies are to be developed and sustainable policies are to be followed in reducing energy conservation.

Recommendations
To win a considerate hoteliers award, we have look in to the strategies of the hotel that has won the considerate hotel award last time, it is the Battlesteads Hotel which has won the considerate hotels award for application of sustainable ways of conserving energy and showing conscious in usage of natural resources like the rain water harvesting, using energy conserving lights all over the hotel and production of vegetables and herbs in the kitchen garden reducing food miles and allowing the organisation to reduce the cost on vegetable purchase.(battlesteads.com)

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The most important recommendations that we have to consider are 1. The most important thing to do primarily is to establish a team for supervising and enforcing the environmental policies of the hotel, the team should involve employees of all the departments, which will allow to keep a track on all the departments. 2. Food production department has dispose the waste responsibly, we have to reduce the garbage by segregating the recyclable and bio degradable waste and using the degradable things for making manure or using it for the producing Bio gas establishing a compost plant, the initial cost may be too much, but it will let the hotel get back its investment and result in profits after some years by reducing the cost of energy used, having garden to produce vegetables is not possible in our hotel because of the space factor. 3. The fine dining and casual dining restaurants have carpets on the floor, this is to create the ambience of the cuisine served, we can instead have wooden flooring which suits the at ambience, this reduces the energy in carpet cleaning. 4. House Keeping department should make cards that ask guests to be responsible in using the linen. This will reduce the cost of utilities. 5. Developing a rain water harvesting design for conserving the water, in a place like London where rain is very frequent will help the organisation harvest water which can be utilised for gardening and cleaning purposes, this also helps in saving the cost of water utility. 6. Should advertise and develop awareness in the employees and guests to participate in the mission. Front office should take the responsibility of presenting the hotels initiative in CSR.

Conclusion
JJ hotel group has a great opportunity of getting a considerate hotel of the year award, the advantage of the hotel is that it has a great flexibility in design for adjusting the changes, these recommendations will allow the hotel to do much, more than what they are currently doing, these findings and analysis will develop the hotel in approaching the environmental policies in more strategic and planned way.

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Bibliography
1. About considerate hoteliers Awards Available at: http://www.consideratehoteliers.com/ Accessed on 20 June 2011. 2. Advantages of CSR application in the business Available at: http://www.simplycsr.co.uk/the-benefits-of-csr.html Accessed on 19 June 2011. 3. Corporate Social Responsibility of Umi Hotel Groups Available at: http://umihotels.com/about-umi/umi-hotels-corporate-social-responsibility-policy Accessed on 19 June 2011. 4. Current environmental issues in hospitality Available at : http://hsc.csu.edu.au/hospitality/hosp_240/comp_units/SITXENV001A/4042/issues.htm Accessed on 19 June 2011. 5. Definition and impact of CSR on Stake holders and community Available at: http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/definition.php Accessed on 19 June 2011. 6. Environmental care policies of Battlesteads http://www.battlesteads.com/pages/Environmental-Policy.html Accessed on 20 June 2011. 7. Innovative hotels of Intercontinental Group of Hotels Available at: http://www.ihgplc.com/innovation/index.asp?pageid=23j Accessed on 19 June 2011. 8. Understanding the effect of environmental care policies on Business Available at : http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1075408504&r.i=10754086 00&r.l1=1074404796&r.l2=1074446322&r.l3=1075408468&r.s=m&r.t=RESOURCES&type =RESOURCES Accessed on 19 June 2011. 9. Ways of disposing Garbage by Elizabeth Arnold Available at: http://www.ehow.com/way_5176226_ways-disposing-garbage.html Accessed on 19 June 2011. 10. Quotes on CSR Available at: http://www.interpraxis.com/quotes.htm Accessed on 19 June 2011. 11. Foot awards categories and winners Available at: http://www.footprintawards.com/winners.html Accessed on 19 June 2011.