Investigating Ecolodges' Role in Sustainable Hospitality Development

This research investigates the role of ecolodges in fostering sustainable development within the hospitality industry, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employs a literature review to establish a conceptual framework for ecolodges, examines the significance of sustainability in the hospitality sector during the pandemic, and explores effective sustainability practices at Hilton Hotels and Resorts. Data was collected using frequency distribution tables to gather employee opinions, which were then analyzed and presented in graphs. The research concludes by highlighting the importance of ecolodges in promoting sustainability and offers recommendations for the hospitality sector to further enhance its sustainable practices, emphasizing the need for balancing economic development with environmental protection.

The role of ecolodges in
sustainable development
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Executive summary
The main purpose of conducting this research was understanding the concept of
ecolodges to maintain the sustainability in the hospitality industry. To complete the research
literature review was done to determine the relationship between sustainable development and
ecolodges and the various ways used by Hilton hotels and resorts to maintain sustainability in
their hotels and ecolodges and secondary data is used to complete the part of literature review.
The research methodology part was included so that multiple methods are used to analyse the
collected data. Frequency distribution table was used to collect information and opinions of
employees as they are the people who are closely working with the company and know almost
about every procedure and process. The collected views and results were shown in the graphs
with relevant data labels. Conclusion gave the brief of every part included to conduct the current
investigation as it gives reader to know about the each part of the research.
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Table of Contents
Executive summary..........................................................................................................................2
Acknowledgement...........................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
Overview of the topic.............................................................................................................5
Background of an organisation...............................................................................................5
Research Aim and objectives.................................................................................................6
Rationale of the research........................................................................................................6
Overview of the chapters........................................................................................................7
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................8
Conceptual framework of ecolodges......................................................................................8
Significance of sustainability within hospitality industry in Covid 19 situation....................9
The effective ways for developing sustainability at Hilton Hotels and Resorts within
hospitality industry.................................................................................................................9
The relationship between ecolodges and sustainable development within hospitality industry
..............................................................................................................................................10
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................12
Research and Findings...................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................21
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22
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Acknowledgement
I would like to show my special thanks of gratitude to my tutor who provided me an
opportunity to do this research and given their support for providing all facilities for completion
of the research.
I would also like to extend my appreciation to all those people who could not be
mentioned here but played their role to inspire me to finish the research.
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INTRODUCTION
Overview of the topic
Ecolodges can be defined as a kind of lodges which are different from all others by the
manner they are made or worked, or both of them. Ecolodges are situated in natural area or far
away from urban locations, it may be located in rural areas with less noise, traffic or any other
pollution. They are the enterprises that create benefits from connected to the local communities
while decreasing the environmental effect and giving the guests an improved natural
experiences. So, ecolodges are constructed for the people who want to live in between nature and
support nature. Generally they are small and have rooms not more than 50 and they have adopted
systems and technologies that provide protection to the surroundings and environment. These
lodges use different methods to save energy like technology of renewable energy (Knowles,
2019).
Sustainable development is a principle to meet human goals related to development by
protecting the ability of nature systems to give resources of nature and services related to
ecosystem on which mostly society and economy depend. The desired outcome is a stage of
society where resources are taken to constantly fulfil needs of human without disturbing the
stability of natural system. In a simpler words it is referred as creating developments that fulfil
the requirements of current situation without adjusting the capability of upcoming generations to
fulfil their self needs (Miller, 2017).
Background of an organisation
Hilton Hotels & Resorts earlier popular as Hilton Hotels, it is a brand which provides its
hotel and resort services globally. It is a multinational hospitality company and the founder of
Hilton is Conrad Hilton in 30 December, 2019. Hilton hotels and resorts have properties more
than 584 which have total rooms over 216379 in more than 94 countries and territories over 6
continents. According to Fortune magazine, 2020 ranked Hilton hotels and resorts number 1 in
the list of fortune. The brand is focused to provide services to leisure and business travellers in
cities, centres of convention, different destinations of popular vacations across the world. This
brand also provides various facilities and discounts like check in through digitally, entry without
keys and so on (Simpson and et. al, 2020).
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Research Aim and objectives
Research aim
To investigate the importance of ecolodges in developing sustainability within hospitality
industry during pandemic situation”. A study on Hilton Hotels and Resorts
Research objectives
 To develop basic understanding about the conceptual framework of ecolodges.
 To determine the significance of sustainability within hospitality industry in Covid 19
situation.
 To explore ways for developing sustainability at Hilton Hotels and Resorts within
hospitality industry.
 To examine the relationship between ecolodges and sustainable development within
hospitality industry.
Research questions
 What is the conceptual framework of ecolodges?
 What is the significance of sustainability within hospitality industry in Covid 19
situation?
 What are the effective ways for developing sustainability at Hilton Hotels and Resorts
within hospitality industry?
 What is the relationship between ecolodges and sustainable development within
hospitality industry?
Rationale of the research
The topic chosen to carry out the research is different roles of ecolodges in sustainable
development, as it also determines the importance of sustainability in hospitality industry during
COVID-19 and it also examines various ways through which it develops sustainability in Hilton
hotels and resorts in the hospitality industry. The main reason for choosing current topic is that it
accommodates in fulfilling two perspectives: personal and professional. For personal perspective
it assists in identifying activities which are useful for understanding the importance of natural
resources and sustainable development which alerts candidates regarding environment. This
helped me in exploring ways which is saving natural resources, so in my real life I can also use
such practices to protect environment. The another benefit related to this research is
understanding the relationship between ecolodges and sustainable development in hospitality
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industry. For professional perspective, it helps in knowing the close relationship of hospitality
industry with sustainable development and the importance of saving and protecting natural
resources. In future it would help me in professional career to explain the importance of
sustainability in companies and organisations so that activities can be carried by protecting
natural resources.
Overview of the chapters
The current research has different chapters which are very important to carry out
activities as it accommodates investigator in conducting research. The first chapter includes
introduction in which basic definition of ecolodges and sustainable development with the
background of chosen company and it mentions aims, objectives and questions that are important
to conduct and continue research. The next chapter is literature review in which objectives are
clearly explained like concept of ecolodges and importance of sustainability in hospitality
industry. And the ways are also defined that are adopted by hospitality industry to maintain
sustainability in hospitality sector. The third chapter is research methodology that explore
various methods for collecting relevant and reliable data and information related to sustainability
in hospitality industry. Questionnaire is a source of survey through which data is collected in
which views and opinions of employees working in Hilton are collected. These collected data is
showed in graphs with proper data labels, after that conclusion and recommendation chapter
come in the former one it concludes every section of the whole research in a very brief way.
Then the latter one includes suggestions that can be adopted by the hospitality sector for
developing sustainability.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is defined as survey of books, theses and articles which is connected to
a particular topic or questions which are related to a research questions. In simpler words it is
defined as conclusion of sources but it has a pattern of organisational and mixes the two
synthesis and summary. Basically it provides important details and information from the
available sources and it provides a fresh interpretation with the old interpretations. It provides the
reader reliable and relevant information taken out from different sources. It focuses on
generating relevant knowledge and information for the reader through articles and books.
Conceptual framework of ecolodges
According to Mafi and Trupp (2020), ecolodges come under the tourist sector. These
ecolodges are situated in the destinations which are surrounded by nature from all sides and are
environment friendly. Basically they are situated near rural areas very far away from city life,
traffic, noise and so on. These ecolodges are lot more than one thinks, they provide
accomodations, restaurants with variety of foods, activities that promote local culture and so on.
Ecolodges have created their potential aross the world, basically those places which natural and
beautiful settings and can be reached by different means of transport. These ecolodges mostly
attract those people who are adventurous and who want to experience the wild life. Generally
they are built and designed which attract large number of customers and have workforce well
equipped with the training and guides who are very professional in work to handle guests from
different backgrounds. The locations are surrounded by natural resources and focus on protecting
the environment though initiating differnt programs. They also adopt different practices of
ethical employment which contribute in the respective economy. The framework of ecolodges is
defined through different factors which are explained below:
According to Lamnadi (2017), ecolodges focus on social economic development which provides
stability in climate, improves ecological and environmental health and balance, raises
productivity in agricultue through improving fertility of soil and availability of water. It has
direct benefits and indirect benefits where in the former one has income, wages and salary and
latter one has availability of market to begin production locally. The biggest benefit from
ecolodges is they help in conserving biodiversity which means natural resources and wilflife are
safe and protected.
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Significance of sustainability within hospitality industry in Covid 19 situation
According to Jones and Comfort, (2020), sustainability is defined as maintaining balance
between human and natural environment. It is concerned with exploitation of natural resources in
such a way that does not harm these resources and meet the present and future requirements of
humans. Moreover, it is also known as process of socio ecological and concerned with resources
that are natural and renewable resources on which humans can depend on outcomes in a long
run. COVID-19 has caused many changes in the relationship between hospitality industry and
the sustainability. COVID-19 has decreased the number of customers in hotels which has created
advantages environmentally because it reduced the emission of green house gases and the level
of pollution. The pandemic has also created more focus towards making new measures related to
environment that need to be followed by hospitality industry. Corporate social responsibiliy and
corporate sustainability in the hospitality industry are ensuring to introduce new programmes that
could support people's needs related to community, values and their aspirations.
According to Jones and Comfort (2020), COVID 19 has decreased the usage of carbon
dioxide and other gases and adopted renewable sources of energy and adopted various
procedures to recycle wastes from hotels. Sustainability is developed to provide emphasis on the
commitment to maintain positive relationship between human and environment and used
marketing campaigns that are environment friendly like digital methods for promoting hotels,
ecolodge, vacations and many more in the pandemic situation. By launching United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals helped hospitality industry during COVID-19 to achieve social
and economic gains that improved sanitisation process and worked towards removing poverty.
Corporate responsibility has an important theme known as resilience which concentrates on
reacting positively to the crises like COVID-19, it develops the positive surrounding in the
pandemic environment. Sustainability decreases the tension between environmental and society
and economy in COVID-19. Sustainability in COVID-19 provided an opportunity step back
from the conspicious consumption.
The effective ways for developing sustainability at Hilton Hotels and Resorts within hospitality
industry
According to Mollenkopf, Ozanne and Stolze (2020), sustainability plays an important
role in hospitality industry because it maintains the relationship between social, economic and
humans resources. It drives the development and growth of hospitality industry. Using different
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practices of sustainable development assist hopital industry to make their own place and stand
out from competitors. Environmental, social and cultural are the practices that should be
followed by hospitality industry. Some of the ways used for developing sustainability within
Hilton hotels and resorts are explained below:
 Decreasing waste: Hilton hotels and resorts have different opprtunities for limiting their
waste. The hotel can focus on cutting down food wastes and other wastes or adopt
donation policies to provide unused food. Installing various methods to use water
efficient systems like filters that save water which would make a difference by
decreasing waste.
 Usage of organic products: Hilton hotels and resorts focuses on using organic
commodities because they produce lesser carbon footprint. These products are made
totally from natural resources without using chemicals. For eg: toiletries used in hotels,
supplies used for cleaning and many more.
 Energy conservation: Basically it involves two approaches knows as efficiency and
reduction. Hilton hotels and resorts provides training to their workforce so that they can
behave towards decreasing the use of energy. The behaviour includes switching off
lights when it is of no use. Making aware guests to the usage of electricity and towels
and hotels initiating towards using green commodities and technologies.
The relationship between ecolodges and sustainable development within hospitality industry
According to Raub and Martin-Rios (2019), ecolodges and sustainable development have
positive relationship with each other. By adopting sustainable development, ecolodges fulfills the
requirement of their current guests by protecting opportunities for the future time. Ecolodges
focus on maintaining economic, economic and systems. Ecolodges concentrate on managing
resources in such a manner that environmental, social and economic requirement can be met, by
preserving integrity of culture, important processes related to ecology, systems for life support
and biological diversity. Sustainable development is achieved through ecolodges by giving
training to employees working there about sustainability. When ecolodges and sustainable
development come together in hospitality industry they start using systems of sewage treatment
systems that are eco friendly, systems for disposing waste, flora and fauna conservation. So
basically ecolodges are made and constructed to create sustainability by conserving and
protecting environment. Ecolodges are determined to dispose their waste properly, they do not
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cut out shrubs or tress even they find such places which are covered with these natural resources.
To maintain sustainability ecolodges are continuously working on reducing water consumption
and planting more and more trees with clean environmet.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodolgy is the particular techniques and procedures used for identification,
process, analyse and selection of details or information related to a study (Bairagi and Munot,
2019). This section accomodates reader to do evaluation critically about the relevancy and
reliability of the study. It has made to answer two specific questions: what was the process used
for collecting data? and how collected data was analysed?
Research approach: Research approach has two kinds of approaches known as deductive and
inductive. In deductive approach collected data is used for evaluation of propositions connected
to the existing theory where as in inductive approach collected data is used for exploring
phenomenon and creating a framework related to concepts (Knowles, 2019). As per the
requirement of current research deductive approach is selected because it provides data in a
quantitative manner in a very less time.
Research philosophy: In research philosophy there are two parts popular as positivism and
interpretivism, these are considered for collection and evaluation of information in respect to the
research topic. By considering the need of present research positive philosophy is chosen as it
does not need much time and provide data in a quantitative outcomes. Interpretivism is not
considered because of its nature that is it provides outcome in qualitative manner (Clarke and
Visser, 2019).
Research strategy: There are different strategies for the research like surveys, case studies,
action research and so on (Melnikovas, 2018). To conduct current research the selected strategy
is survey as it assists researcher for collecting quantitative and useful information in shorter
period of time.
Research choice: In this researcher is presented with two types of choices which are quantitative
and qualitative. As per the need of present investigation quantitative choice is selected due to it
gives out information in a quantitative style within a very less time (Patil and Mankar, 2016).
The another one shares information in qualitative style and takes more time.
Data collection: It is the process used for collecting data such as primary and secondary. By the
need of current investigation primary and secondary data collection method is selected because it
assists in answering all the objectives like the roles of ecolodges in sustainability. For that in
primary method questionnaire has been chosen as it identifies data in quantitative manner. And
for collecting secondary data books and articles are used (Dodds and Hess, 2020).
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