Name: Tran Thao Anh Thu

Keuka ID: 368152

Course: MGT353 – Business Government & Relations

Assignment: Kimpton Hotels’ EarthCare Program

Date: Oct 30th, 2019

1. What are the benefits of Kimpton’s environmental sustainability initiatives? What are
its costs?
Kimpton's environmental sustainability initiatives have proven successful and beneficial
in both business and environmental benefits. Improving the environment is one of the benefits of
waste transfer. Some of the benefits exemplified during their introductory stages include:
introduction of non-destructive operations and cost reduction such as recycling programs, non-
toxic cleaning products, promotional materials, brochures printed on recycled paper, organically
grown free coffee, their towel/linen reuse system. The case study also discusses some of the
potential benefits of the program, specifically dealing with availability of non-toxic cleaning
agents. Kimpton’s research showed that they were aligned with keeping their mission statement
visible in their work. There initiative also has business benefits. In addition to saving money in
the long-term, this initiative had the potential to generate new business with government and
non-government agencies, corporations, convention planners, who were interested in selecting
hotels using environment criteria.

2. How would you justify the EarthCare program to Kimpton’s board of directors and
stockholders? That is, what is the business case for this program?
Top executives have reviewed this program for many positive reasons. First of all, the
company's brand and mission is based on the EarthCare program - to maintain the care integrity
and uniqueness that customers have associated with their classic hotel chains. Kimpton wants
their impact to be felt everywhere, where this program can impact other hotels to start an
environmental initiative. In addition, the EarthCare program is ready to comply with applicable
company standards and regulations. It will also be about new success, new business partnerships,
being able to increase jobs and being more environmentally friendly than advantages.

3. What challenges face the EarthCare program, and how might Kimpton overcome them?
A couple of challenges that they face is the increased cost for some of the raw materials,
such as sheets. A way to overcome that is to have aggressive buyers that work diligently to get
the cost down by bulk buying for all of the hotels and then distributing from one central hub.
The second challenge would be employee’s acceptance to the program. This can be
overcome simply by getting all employee’s involved in the initiative and keeping the line of
communication open so that every stays informed and feels part of the decision process.
4. What further steps should Kimpton take to institutionalize its environmental
commitments?
Kimpton should show their commitment by becoming ISO 14000 certified. This would
show their commitment to customer, investors, shareholders and stakeholders.
5. How would you measure the success of the EarthCare program, and how should it be
reported to stakeholders?
The success of the EarthCare program can be measured by measuring:
 Evaluating the profitability of the company.
 The amount of money saved by the company.
 Analyzing the image of the company in the market.
 The partnership offered to the company.