Potential for Further Opportunities

Multiple factors encourage business owners to adopt sustainable measures in the standard operations of their hotel businesses. The most obvious factors include reducing the cost of operation and demonstrating corporate social responsibility to the investors. Other factors include improving the customer experience and retaining the employees. The purpose of incorporating sustainability in the hotel sector is to minimize waste and to minimize the use of resources. This minimizes
the operational expenses and reduces the impact of the business on the environment. The food and beverage production process can be green in its entirety. The first consideration is the source of the items available in the menu. Locally produced vegetables and proteins sources should have the first priority (HVS, 2012). This reduces the pollution caused by the transportation of the items from the production location to the restaurant.
When selecting beverage containers, it is prudent to stick to cans, plastics, or bottles. This simplifies recycling of the containers. Restaurants should prefer the buffet-style meals to the plated service meals because they result in less wastage. Buffet-style meals allow the guest to choose the food they prefer, and the quantity they find comfortable. When planning meetings, the event organizers should enquire the precise number of guest attending the meeting and the preference of each guest if possible. Beverages should be available to the guest from dispensers instead of bottles or cans. This saves on money and wastage. The guest attending a meeting should be provided with information behind the rationale of choosing the menu items (Webster, 2000).
Every year, the average restaurant spends about 300,000 gallons of water. The restaurant must conduct periodic water audits to determine where and how water is used. Sub-meters are idea for this purpose. Periodically, the restaurant should shut all the taps and read the meter to determine if there are any leaks. If the meter continues counting after shutting all the taps, there is a leak within the system. Repair all leaks immediately to help save on money and water. The restaurant must have goals; however, they must be realistic and high enough to require substantial effort for a positive outcome. Paramount for the success of water use reduction in a restaurant is employee involvement. The restaurant may also create competitions within to determine which department uses the least amount of water. This increases the employees awareness about the sources and use of water (HVS, 2012).
The restaurant should consider using low flow devices at all points where water is dispensed. Such devices include waterless urinals, ultra high-efficient toilets, low flow showerheads with an on and off valve, and solar powered touchless sensor faucets. Replace all water using equipments with green star qualified equipments. Green star qualified equipments are designed to use less water. The restaurant should consider water catchment and reuse and always monitor the amount of water used through the monthly bills. Following the history of water use enables the restaurant to determine the progress. For new restaurants, the furniture, and building materials should be recyclables. The building design should incorporate sustainable measures to reduce the use of energy, such as increasing the amount of natural light in the building to save on lighting (Pauline 2005). The design should enable natural ventilation. If the use of artificial ventilation, air cooling and heating is necessary, the thermostats should be programmable, and the air-conditioning system should meet the green star criteria.
Constraints to Achieving Sustainability
There are many factors driving the sustainability efforts in the hotel industry; however, the hospitality community faces a number of constrains as they endeavor to implement environment sound programs. The most pressing of these constrains is finance. Many hotels cite the lack of finance as the main resource they are not taking advantage of the energy efficient opportunities. Many hotels are willing to implement sustainability initiatives when a third party funds the project. The availability of alternative financing with improve the rate of adoption. The adoption of sustainable operation standards is especially expensive for established restaurants because they have to redesign the buildings and buy new equipment that meets the green star standards (Marc & Adriana, 2010). This is something the hotel managers are unwilling to do because the hotel operates with the goal of making profit.
According to Ferhan (2006), the large number of green technology in the market poses another challenge to the hotel owners. There are many differing technologies from different vendors claiming high cost effectiveness and contextual appropriateness for the hotel industry. The high rate of innovation results in the introduction of a new technology as soon as the earlier is adopted. There is no central body responsible for the vetting and confirmation of these technologies to ensure the hotel owners make the right choice. The industry lacks an umbrella organization to benchmark and audit the facilities performances against others to ascertain the gains made and potentials for improvement. A grade audit can help the hotel owners understand the technical and financial implications of environmental initiatives. Financial information about the aspects of environmental investments is difficult to find (Pauline 2005). This makes the decision-making process more difficult for the hotel managers because there are not in a position to analyze lifecycle of the environmental initiative in monetary terms.
The procurement and project implementation procedures are too complex. The process has too many details and is time-consuming for the hotel owner. This discourages the hotel owner from retrofitting his business because of the time and detail factor involved. The industry lacks a central authority for the procurement of environmental friendly equipment and the implementation of the projects. The equipments and projects are bided out separately by different consultants and vendors (Gössling, Hall, & Weaver, 2008). A hotel may spend large sums of money in the purchase of environmental technologies; however, this does not guarantee efficient operation. The actual building operators are the employees of the hotel. The employees must receive relevant training to increase their awareness of the environment and the technical details relevant to enable them operate the building successfully (HVS, 2012). This will reduce resources consumption and improve the environmental performance of the hotel.
Conclusion
Sustainability issues are relevant to every aspect of a hotel operation. There is a direct correlation between sustainability and financial performance of a hospitality enterprise. Information available indicate that the hotel industry is adopting sustainable operations not only as a means to conserve the environment but also as a means to optimize efficiency, operational cost, guest satisfaction, investor expectations, and employee morale. The current sustainability efforts focus on improving the operational efficiency of the hotel. Three primary areas are the main concern; they include water, energy, and waste. Up to 20% of energy is saved through technical reviews. Saving on water use is achieved using low flow devices, fixing leaks prudently, and harvesting rainwater. Hotels have strategies in place to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. Vendors are also providing services that convert some of the waste from a hotel into energy. A good example is the use of used vegetable cooking oil as fuel for automobiles.
 References
Ferhan G. (2006). Components of sustainability: Two Cases from Turkey. Annals of Tourism Research, 33(2), 442-455, ISSN 0160-7383
Gössling, S., Hall, C. M., & Weaver, D. B. (2008). Sustainable tourism futures: Perspectives on systems, restructuring and innovations. London: Routledge.
HVS. (2012). Current Trends and Opportunities in Hotel Sustainability. New York: HVS sustainable services
Marc J. Epstein, Adriana R. B. (2010). Solving the sustainability implementation challenge. Organizational Dynamics, 39(4), 306-315, ISSN 0090-2616
Pauline J. S. (2005). Sustainability and Mass Destinations. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(3), 811-813, ISSN 0160-7383
Webster, K. (2000). Environmental management in the hospitality industry: A guide for students and managers. London: Cassell.