Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Green Hotels
Green Hotels
Green Hotels
Table of Contents:-
-Hospitality: Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host. Today, it refers to the
reception people receive when theyre visiting friends and family or while theyre staying at a
hotel or eating at a restaurant.
-Hotel: Hotels are commercial establishments providing lodging paid on a short-term basis.
Facilities provided may range from a basic bed and storage for clothing, to luxury features like ensuite bathrooms. Larger hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a various restaurants,
swimming pool, business center, childcare, conference facilities and social function services.
Target Markets:
Business Hotels: The largest group of hotel types which cater primarily to business travelers and
usually located in downtown or business districts. Also, many tour groups, individual tourists and
small conference groups find these hotels attractive. Guest amenities at business hotels may
include complimentary newspapers, morning coffee, free local telephone calls, and Breakfast...Etc,
In addition to these facilities, access to business centre, personal computer, and Wi-Fi and fax
machines also are provided to the guest.
Airport Hotels: These typically target business clients, airline passengers with overnight travel
layovers or cancelled flights and airline staff. Some hotels might give free transport between hotel
and airport. Some hotels also provide meeting facilities to attract guests who travel to a meeting by
air and wish to minimize ground travel. Another attraction of these hotels is instead of charging the
guest on a daily basis guest can also pay for their room on an hourly basis.
Suite Hotels: These are the latest trend and the fastest growing segment in the hotel industry.
The main attraction of these hotels is guestrooms with a living room and a separate bedroom. In
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exchange for more complete living room suite hotels generally have fewer and more limited public
areas and guest services than other hotels. This also helps keep suite hotel's guestroom prices
competitive in the market. Professionals such as accountants, lawyers, business men and executives
find suite hotels particularly attractive as they can work and also entertain in an area besides the
bedroom.
Extended Stay Hotels: Somewhat similar to the suite hotels, yet usually offers kitchen amenities
in the room. These kinds of hotels are for travelers who want to stay more than a week and do not
want to depend on the service of the hotel. Extended service hotels usually do not provide any
F&B service or Laundry service. These kind of hotels are considered by guests as "Home away
from home
Apartment Hotels: Known by Residential hotels, provide long-term accommodation for guests
usually guests make a lease agreement with the hotel for a minimum of one month up to a year.
These lease agreements are renewed on a yearly basis. Guest rooms generally include living room,
bedroom, kitchen, private balcony, washing machines, kitchen utensils etc. Residential hotels also
provide Housekeeping, laundry, telephone and in some hotels a restaurant and lounge will be
present on the premises.
Resort Hotels: Usually located in the mountains, on an island, by beaches or in some other
exotic locations away from cities. These hotels have recreational facilities, scenery, and golf, tennis,
and sailing, skiing and swimming. Resort hotels provide enjoyable and memorable guest
experiences that encourage guest to repeat their visit to the resort.
Bed and Breakfast Hotels: Also known as 'Home Stays'. These are houses with rooms converted
into overnight facilities; they can size up to 20 to 30 guest rooms. The owner of the B&B usually
stays on the premises and is responsible for serving breakfast to guests. Due to the limited services
offered at these hotels the price of a room is much lesser than any full service hotel.
Timeshare and condominium Hotels: Another new type of the hospitality industry. These are
sometimes referred to as Vacation-interval" hotels. Guests purchase the ownership of
accommodations for specific period. These owners may also have the unit rented out by the
management company that operates the hotel. Condominium is similar to timeshare but the
difference between the two lies in the type of ownership. Units in condominium hotels only have
one owner instead of multiple owners, each for a limited amount of time each year. In a
condominium hotel, an owner informs the management company if when they want to occupy the
unit.
Casino Hotels: Hotels with gambling facilities may be categorized as a distinct group called
Casino Hotels .Although the food and beverage operations in casino is luxurious their functions is
secondary to and supportive of the casino operations. Casino hotels attract guest by promoting
gambling and other entertainments.
Conference Centers: These types of hotels focus on meeting and conferences and overnight
accommodation for meeting attendees. They also provide high quality audiovisual equipments,
business services, flexible seating arrangements, flipcharts... These hotels are mostly located
outside the metropolitan areas and have facilities like golf, swimming pools, tennis courts, fitness
centers, spas etc.
Convention Centers: Convention hotels are larger in size compared to conference centers and
likely to have more than 1500 rooms. These hotels are huge and have sufficient number of guest
rooms to house all the attendees of most conventions, even the size of the meeting rooms , ball
rooms, exhibit rooms are quite huge. They usually cater to convention market for state, regional,
national, and international associations.
- Levels of service:
World class service: Called luxury hotels, they target top business executives, entertainment
celebrities, high- ranking political figures, and wealthy clients as their primary markets. They
provide upscale restaurants and lounges, concierge services and also private dining facilities.
Guestrooms are oversized, heated and plush bath towels, large soaps bars, shampoo, shower caps
and all amenities. Housekeeping services are given two times a day including turn-down service.
Above all luxury hotels give personalized service to the guest and have a relatively high ration of
staff members to guests.
Mid-Range Service: Hotels offering mid-range service appeal to the largest segment of travelling
public. These kinds of hotels do not provide elaborate service and have adequate staffing. They
also provide uniformed service, food and beverage room service, in room entertainment and also
Wi-Fi. Property may offer a specialty restaurant, coffee shop and lounge that cater to visitors as
well as hotel guests. Types of guests who like to stay at these hotels are business people, individual
travelers, and families. Rates are lower than luxury hotels as they provide fewer services, smaller
rooms and a smaller range of facilities and recreational activities.
Economy / Limited Service: These hotels provide clean, comfortable, safe, inexpensive rooms
which meet the basic need of guests. Economy hotels appeal primarily to budget minded travelers
who want a room with minimum services and amenities required for comfortable stay, without
unnecessary paying additional cost for costly services. The clients of these hotels include families
with children, businessmen, and vacationer retirees. These types of hotels might not offer food
and beverage facilities.
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Independent Hotels: These do not have an identifiable ownership or management affiliation with
other properties. That means that these properties dont have any relation to other hotels regarding
policies, procedures, marketing or financial obligations. An example for that would be a privately
owned and operated hotel that is not following any corporate policies or procedures. An
independent hotel however does not get the advantage of a broad advertising exposure or
management insight and consultancy of an affiliated property.
Chain hotels: This kind of ownership usually imposes certain basic standards, rules, policies and
procedures to standardize affiliate activities. In general the more centralized the organization the
stronger the control over the individual property. Some chains have strong control over the
architecture, management and standards of affiliate properties. Others concentrate only on
marketing, advertising and central purchasing.
- Star rating:
1 Star hotel: Provides a limited range of amenities and services, but adheres to a high standard
of facility-wide cleanliness.
2 Star hotel: Provides good accommodation and better equipped bedrooms, each with a
telephone and attached private bathroom.
3 Star hotel: has more spacious rooms and adds high-class decorations and furnishings and
color TV. It also offers one or more bars or lounges.
4 Star hotel: Much more comfortable and larger, provides excellent cuisine (table dhte and a
la carte), room service, and other amenities.
5 Star hotel: offers most luxurious premises, widest range of guest services, as well as
swimming pool and sport and exercise facilities.
Types of Tourism:
The Tourism industry has developed through the years and presently is one of the most
diversified, customized and specialized industries.
The most popular types of tourism worldwide where tourists are categorized by the purpose of
their visit are:
Business Tourism: Business tourism can be defined as travel for the purpose of
business. Business Tourism can be divided into three sections: Trading for goods to be resold on a
wholesale basis, conducting business transactions e.g. visiting a client, contract negotiations and,
Attending a conference, exhibition or event associated with their business.
Medical Tourism: Involving people who travel to a different place to receive treatment for
a disease, health condition, or a surgical procedure, and who are seeking lower cost of healthcare
and higher quality of care. Favorite procedures in medical tourism include Cardiology,
Cardiothoracic, Cosmetic Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Weight Loss, Neuron, Eye,
Orthopedic Surgery, as well as Organ Transplants (kidney). Medical Tourism services include
medical facilitation, travel arrangements, accommodation, transportation and tour packages.
Wellness Tourism: Wellness tourism is one of the fastest growing forms of international
and domestic tourism. This form of tourism involves people who travel to a different place to
pursue activities that maintain or enhance their personal health and wellness, and who are seeking
unique, authentic or location-based experiences. Wellness tourism include massages, body
treatments, facial treatments, exercise facilities & programs, weight loss programs, nutrition
programs, pre- and post-operative Spa treatments and mind/body programs.
Leisure Tourism: Leisure time can be defined as free time, not doing any work. It is that
time to do things that you normally have no time for in your daily life. Leisure tourism includes a
holiday with Leisure activities, Relaxation, Sleeping, reading, walking on the beach, taking a
scenic drive, Sport activities; hiking, swimming, surfing, running, Visiting places of interest and
local attractions, Visiting friends and relatives, Shopping for goods that will be used by the tourist.
Sports Tourism: Sports tourism refers to international travel either for viewing or
participating in a sporting event. Examples include international sporting events such as the
Olympics, world cup (soccer, rugby, and cricket), tennis, and golf.
Adventure Tourism: Adventure tourism is an outdoor activity that generally takes place in
an unusual, remote or a wilderness area. This adventurous activity can take place in the sea, in
rivers, in the air, in mountains and is associated with low or high levels of physical activity. There
are many types of products and services that fall within the Adventure Tourism category such
as: bungee jumping, mountaineering expeditions, rafting, rock climbing, diving, wind surfing,
paragliding and many more.
Cultural Tourism: Cultural tourism or sometimes referred to as heritage tourism is the
division of tourism concerned with the regions culture, specifically the lifestyle and history of the
people, their art, architecture, religion and other elements. Cultural tourism includes cultural
facilities such as museums, theatres and festivals. This is one of the most popular types of tourism
and attracts tourists from different parts of the world.
Religious Tourism: Religious Tourists or faith tourists are people of faith who travel on
their own or in groups to holy cities or holy sites for pilgrimages, conventions, religious tourist
attractions or missionary work.
Wildlife Tourism: Wildlife tourism is the observation of wild (non-domestic) animals in
their natural environment or in captivity. It includes activities such as photography, viewing and
feeding of animals. This form of tourism offer tourists customized tour packages and safaris and is
closely associated with eco-tourism and sustainable-tourism.
Eco Tourism: Ecotourism is Responsible travel to natural (unspoiled) areas that
conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people. The purpose of
ecotourism is to educate the traveler about natural destinations, to provide ecological conservation
and awareness, to benefit economic development, the political empowerment of local communities
and respect for the local culture. Here the traveler can experience the natural way of life
surrounded by natural circumstances.
Eco Tourism:
With advances in transportation and information technology, even the most remote places on
Earth are within reach of the traveler. In fact, tourism is now the world's largest industry, with
nature tourism as the fastest growing segment.
People want to experience the nature and the world, but should try to do so in a way that doesn't
impact the natural environment so in response to this increasing appreciation of nature
experiences, a new travel ethic has arisen called ecotourism.
Principles of Ecotourism
Ecotourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel. This means that
those who participate in ecotourism activities should follow the following ecotourism principles:
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Minimize impact.
Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people.
Raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate.
How is ecotourism different from nature tourism, sustainable tourism, and responsible
tourism?
Ecotourism is defined as "responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and
improves the well-being of local people." While "nature-based tourism simply describes travel to
natural places, ecotourism is a type of nature-based tourism that benefits local communities and
destinations environmentally, culturally and economically. Ecotourism represents a set
of principles that have been successfully implemented in various global communities, and are
supported by extensive industrial and academic research. Ecotourism, when properly executed
based on these principles, represent the benefits of socially and environmentally sound tourism
development.
Like ecotourism, such terms as sustainable tourism and responsible tourism are rooted in the
concept of sustainable development, or development that "meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs" (Bruntland
Commission, 1987). With this concept in mind, sustainable tourism was defined in the 1992
Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry as tourism that "meets the needs of present
tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future."
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Green hotel: a hotel or accommodation that has made important environmental improvements to
its structure in order to minimize its impact on the environment. The basic definition of a green
hotel is an environmentally responsible lodging establishment that follows the practices of green
living. These hotels have to be certified green by an independent third-party or by the state they
are located in. Traditionally, these hotels were mostly presented as Eco Lodges because of their
location, often in jungles, and their design inspired by the use of traditional building methods
applied by skilled local craftsmen in areas, such as Costa Rica and Indonesia.
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Going Paperless; for some companies, a common method of going green is to minimize or even
eliminate the use of paper. This can pose some disadvantages. For example, if employees lose or
experience the theft of laptop computers, sensitive information that would normally be kept in a
locked paper file could fall into the wrong hands. If companies dont properly back up their
computer files, a system crash could prove disastrous.
Customer Backlash; companies may intentionally or unintentionally make false claims regarding
the environmental friendliness of their products, a process known as green washing. If
consumers become aware that a company is engaging in green washing, the company may suffer
harm to its credibility.
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Global:
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Green Globe: Green Globe Certification provides certification, training and education, and
marketing services in 83 countries worldwide. The Green Globe Standards are based on Agenda 21
and principles for Sustainable Development endorsed by 182 Governments at the United Nations
Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. Its website lists certified hotels by region and country.
North America:
Energy Star: The U.S.-based EPA program rates the energy efficiency of appliances used in
businesses. More than 241 hotels participate in the United States. A score of 75 out of a possible 100
is the minimum to be considered energy-efficient. You can search for certified hotels on their
website.
Green Key: (U.S., Canada). Based in Canada, this is a self-assessment program designed to assist
a hotel in determining its current environmental footprint. Upon completion of the program and
being awarded a one-to-five Green Key rating, an on-site inspection may be conducted to confirm
the rating.
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Green Seal: (U.S.) Green Seal is a non-profit organization founded in 1989. Their program
certifies a wide range of products and services in the United States, including hotels and
restaurants.
LEED: (U.S.) The U.S. Green Building Council created this programan acronym
for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Designto certify that buildings meet standards
of energy efficiency, conservation, and community sensitivity. USGBCs rating system has four
levels: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Green Building Councils in other countries have
similar programs.
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Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS): (U.K.) The GTBS is the national sustainable tourism
certification scheme for the UK. It is the only green tourism certifier validated by Visit Britain,
through the International Center for Responsible Tourism. Businesses are assessed by a qualified
grading advisor against rigorous criteria in areas like energy and water efficiency, waste
management, biodiversity and more. Businesses receive a Bronze, Silver or Gold award based on
their level of achievement. You can search the GTBS website for green certified places in England
and Scotland to stay, eat, shop and visit.
Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST): (Costa Rica). In Spanish its Certificacin para
la Sostenibilidad Turstica, and it provides certification services to hotels and tour operators in
Costa Rica. CST is regulated by the Costa Rican National Accreditation Commission and consists
of a scale of five levels of sustainable tourism achievement.
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GREAT Green Deal: (Mesoamerica, Caribbean). GREAT is an acronym that stands for Green,
Responsible, Exclusive and Amazing Tourism. GREAT Green Deal provides certifications for
hotels, restaurants, tour operators, transportation businesses and community-based tourism
projects. Based in Guatemala, it provides certification services to countries throughout
Mesoamerica and the Caribbean.
Smart Voyager: (Ecuador, South America). The Smart Voyager program was created by the
conservation organization Conservacin y Desarrollo (C&D) in 1998 and was launched to the
public in 2000. Though based in Ecuador, the program has expanded to include hotels and tourist
operations throughout Latin America. They certify tourism operations of all sizes from large resorts
to eco-lodges.
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Marriot: Marriot is dedicated to reducing their footprint, and their history and future goals prove
that. Working in close partnership with reputable environmental building associations, this chain
is able to empower its development partners to build with sustainability in mind. In fact, Marriot
was the first major hotel company in the U.S. to design and build a LEED certified hotel back in
2005. Today, the chain has 106 LEED-registered and 31 LEED-certified hotels.
And of course, their hotels cover all the basic yet crucial little things that cut a lot of waste: lowenergy light bulbs, low consumption showerheads, recycled key cards and pens, biodegradable
laundry bags, and more.
From the hotels to corporate offices, Marriot takes action to improve energy efficiency, conserve
water, and support projects that reduce deforestation.
Located at the foot of the White Mountain, Adrere Amellal offers unparalleled insight into the
traditional living of the people in this desert area. The 39-room lodge is constructed from clay and
water and sits on 80 acres. There's no electricity here -- all the lighting is from beeswax candles.
Water comes from a natural spring on site and natural ventilation keeps the resort cool. The food
is made from organic ingredients and all food waste is composted. The carbon footprint of this
amazing green hotel is almost zero.
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Located in the oldest rain forest in the world, the Daintree Eco Lodge and Spauses solar power,
LED lights and even grows their own produce for meals. It's a tranquil getaway with only 15
"Bayans" (villas) nestled among the trees. Daintree promotes ecotourism and is involved in
initiatives to preserve and protect the environment. In additional to their amazing spa treatments,
they also provide Kuku Yalanji aboriginal cultural guides, where guests can learn about
Australian aboriginal culture through education and experiential learning activities. The Daintree
Eco Lodge and Spa has won more than 40 national and international major awards for excellence
in eco, spa, health and wellness, nature, green and travel experience.
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