Eco Friendly Operations & Practices Of GHG – Hospitality | G Hotel Group

Discussion

Discuss about the Hospitality of G Hotel Group.

The G Hotel Group (GHG), one of the international Australian Hotel chain aims to employ environmental management and green operating practices in their offered services so that they can also leave positive impact upon travelers as an eco friendly organization. With the intention to become a prominent hotel chain of Sydney harbor, a 4-star property located in Barangaroo Precinct so that they can meet with the growing urban demands of these areas. For this reason, this organization has developed a task force by involving Chief Engineers and Division Managers. This essay puts the importance upon discussing the eco-friendly operations and their practices with reference to the three clusters namely water consumption, energy consumption and waste management of the Green Operations Task Force of GHG. In this assignment, the proposed measures for GHG are elaborately presented in accordance with the three clusters.     

Due to the global water scarcity, in 2012, the major 16 global hotels under Water Working Group aim to suggest the hospitality organizations the measures to preserve maximum amount of water (Bruns-Smith et al., 2015). In the case of GHG, the key water issues need to be identified so that so that the available amount of water along with its quality can be assumed. The awareness about water preservation needs to be developed among the employees so that they can also understand the necessity of preserving sufficient amount of water. There are some important measures with which the management of GHG can successfully increase their possibility for water consumption:

• At first the management needs to prepare an audit of their hotels so that they can identify the areas where water can be saved in large amount in order to reduce the cost. As GHG aims to operate their daily hospitality operations by dividing their hotel rooms, it may raise the water consumption level. Therefore, the audit is very much required so that the hotel authorities can perfectly assume their water consumption rate on which the reduction measures can be determined.
• As opined by Chong et al. (2014), by installing Continuous Batch Washer (CBW), the management can ensure the usage of rinse washer for the purpose of pre-washing. On the other hand, employing of ozone laundry system, the international hotel authorities, having more than 500 rooms, can use ozone with water so that they can provide the travelers satisfactory wash of their cloths without using much water (Dinarès & Saurí, 2015).
• The swimming pools need to be cleaned after alternative 2-3 days in backwash system so that the water can be recaptured for the purpose of irrigation. The regular checking for leakage problem in the pools can also help to reduce water wastage amount.  
• The gardeners can use automated sprinklers in order to water the plants of their gardens. In this way, the water wastage can be reduced to 40% (Kuuder et al., 2014).
• In the kitchens, pre-soaking utensils along with taps with a flow rate of 9 liters/ minute can be used so that the managements of the hotels under GHG can save the cost and quantity of the running water.  
• By installing low flow technology such as low flow shower heads, taps etc in the bathrooms and kitchen sinks, GHG can save a huge amount of water without affecting their customer satisfaction level. In this way, the management can reduce the water consumption to 50% as a whole. Moreover, it uses almost 8.90 liters per minute which is supposed to be less than other contemporary water heads. For example, the famous hotel chain of Australia Holiday Inn utilizes this system by investing AUD $ 21500 for one year and becomes able to reduce their water consumption amount to around 49% (Xiaomeng, 2013).
• By employing Grey water system, the GHG can reduce the water wastage to around 52% at the time of toilet flushing in their hotels (Yang, Tong & Ou, 2014). However, as this system is quite expensive, GHG can face huge financial bills at the time of installing this system in all their local and international hotels. In order to avoid such obstacles and reduce the costs, the management of GHG can use this system in a retrofit manner.   

In order to leave a positive eco-friendly foot prints all the hotels under GHG need to stress importance upon reducing the energy consumption rate. The Global Carbon Trust indicates to the hotels for the reduction of energy consumption by adapting simple measures. There are some easy recommendations for GHG so that they can successfully reduce their energy consumption rate:

• The managements of the hotels of under GHG can install Energy Star skylights with which they can enlighten their lobby, night clubs, discos, restaurants etc. On the other hand, the employment of daylight can help to reduce energy consumption rate as the daylight can be used for their lobbies, washrooms etc during day times (Laustsen, 2012).
• The installation of Energy management System can help the hotel managements under GHG to control the lighting, air conditioning system to the areas when it is not necessary (Qi, Jiancheng & Chenhao, 2015). This method can help to reduce the energy consumption to around 35%.
• By employing Energy Star heating and cooling systems, the management of GHG can increase energy efficiency in their hotels. By fixing the heating set point to 72⁰ F or lower degree to that and by fixing the cooling point to 72⁰ F or above, the management of GHG can be able to control their energy consumption rate in their hotels (Niži? & Bra?i?, 2014).
• The frequent use of LED tubes, bulbs in the kitchen, lobby, which can effectively reduce the energy consumption rate in the hotels.
• The old machines including washing machines, dish washers etc with new water and energy saving facilities (Xiaomeng, 2013).
• In order to reduce the energy consumption rate without bothering the travelers, the management of GHG can utilize censored bulbs and tubes in the kitchen, bathrooms, and lobbies.
• From the viewpoint of Trivedi and Soni (2015), in the swimming pool areas air-source heat pump along with solar PV system so that water heating system in winter can be done without using any electricity. As opined by Yang, Tong and Ou (2014), this can help the hotel authorities under GHG to save ultimate energy consumption.
• The roofs, walls of the rooms can be built in a radiant barrier manner so that the inner temperature can be adjusted in accordance with the season. However, this measure can be proved to be very costly because GHG has several national and international hotels under it where the energy consumption rate also needs to be controlled (Yang, Tong & Ou, 2014).
• By switching to green roof for the hotels, the management of GHG can reduce their energy consumption rate. However, this measure is also considered as absurd because it is not always possible for a huge number of hotels.

In order to reduce the water, air along with soil pollution, the management of GHG needs to adapt some necessary measures so that they can be able to develop their desired Geo hotel. The carbon diffusion rate, mixing of chemicals in the groundwater and earth etc can help to create good impression upon the business (Chu, 2014). There are some recommendations for GHG hotels so that they can successfully improve their waste management system:

• The employment of waste recycling process, the management can be able to reuse their waste materials. Materials like newspaper, aluminum, glass, metal, cardboards etc can be easily recycled which can successfully reduce the waste amount from these hotels. Chu (2014) opined that it is necessary for the hotel authorities to ensure the employment of waste recycling process with which they can be able to stay environment friendly.
• According to Kuuder et al. (2014), by using different segmented waste bins near swimming pools, rooms, kitchen etc the management of GHG can ensure to make the waste collection procedure easy (Buso et al., 2014). The employment of colorful and innovative waste bins can encourage the hotel staffs along with the travelers to throw disposable wastes in those particular sections of these bins.
• By identifying the suitable waste disposable method along with the required costs with the help of a proper waste audit, the management of GHG hotels can determine their desired waste recycling measure along with their suitable training processes of their staffs (Trivedi & Soni, 2015).
• The old and rejected furniture can be distributed among hotel staffs and lower grade employees so that they can be used them. On the other hand, the old linen bedcovers, aprons, curtains of the hotel rooms can be used for making fashionable recycled shopping bags. The carpets can be created by using the rotten mattresses (Chong et al., 2014). Likewise, ceramic floor materials can be used for creating paths for the travelers.
• By using the above stated measures, the water and energy consumption rate also can be controlled.  

Conclusion

In this way, the eco friendly practices in GHG are vividly discussed in accordance with the given three clusters such as water consumption, energy consumption and waste management. The advantages and disadvantages of the recommended measures are also mentioned so that the relevance of these measures in the given context of GHG can be evaluated. With the help of these recommended measures, GHG can increase their sustainability in the present hospitality market situation in Australia. Thus the scope of GHG of further improvement is described in details.

References

Bruns-Smith, A., Choy, V., Chong, H., & Verma, R. (2015). Environmental sustainability in the hospitality industry: Best practices, guest participation, and customer satisfaction

Buso, T., Kurnitski, J., Corgnati, S. P., Litiu, A., & Derjanecz, A. (2014). Nearly Zero Energy hotels. REHVA JOURNAL, 51(1), 7-11

Chong, C., Ni, W., Ma, L., Liu, P., & Li, Z. (2015). The use of energy in Malaysia: Tracing energy flows from primary source to end use. Energies, 8(4), 2828-2866

Chu, Y. (2014). A review of studies on luxury hotels over the past two decades

Dinarès, M., & Saurí, D. (2015). Water consumption patterns of hotels and their response to droughts and public concerns regarding water conservation: The case of the Barcelona hotel industry during the 2007-2008 episode. Documents d’anàlisi geogràfica, 61(3), 623-649

Kuuder, C. J. W., Bagson, E., Prempeh, V. M., Mumuni, A., Adongo, R., & Amoako, E. E. (2013). Energy, water and waste management in the accommodation sector of Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. American journal of tourism management, 2(A), 1-9

Laustsen, J. (2012). Energy efficiency requirements in building codes, energy efficiency policies for new buildings. International Energy Agency (IEA), 477-488

Niži?, M. K., & Bra?i?, M. (2014). Effective use of resources in tourist facilities–focus on energy efficiency. In 22st biennial international conference Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Trends in Tourism and Hospitality Management

Qi, H., Jiancheng, K., & Chenhao, H. (2015). Construction of the Comprehensive Energy Consumption Assessment Model for Star-rated Hotels and the Difference Analysis. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 6(3), 164-171

Trivedi, J., & Soni, B. K. (2015), A Study on Household Waste Management Practices in Gandhinagar City. NMIMS Management

Xiaomeng, T. O. N. G. (2013), Energy-Efficiency Improvement in the Japanese Hotel Sector

Yang, X., Tong, Q., & Ou, X. (2014). Analysis of Technical Energy Conservation Potential of China’s Energy Consumption Sectors. Open Journal of Energy Efficiency, 3(04), 93