Analysis of strategic communication management for sustainability in the hospitality industry of the UK

DISSERTATION
(Analysis of strategic communication
management for sustainability in the
hospitality industry of the UK)

Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................3
1.1 Background of the topic.........................................................................................................3
1.2 Research Aim, Objectives and Questions..............................................................................4
1.3 Rationale of the study............................................................................................................4
1.4 Significance of the study.......................................................................................................5
1.5 Problem statement of the study..............................................................................................5
1.6 Background of the organisation.............................................................................................5
1.7 Structure of the study.............................................................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................7
2.1 What is the importance for hospitality company to communicate about sustainability?......7
2.2 What are effective communication strategies adopted by Marriott Hotel for communicating
sustainability?..............................................................................................................................9
2.3 What are the benefits gained by Marriott Hotel by communicating sustainability?...........11
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY................................................................15
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS..........................................................18
Theme 1: Porter five force on hospitality industry:..................................................................18
Theme 2: Pestle analysis on hospitality industry:.....................................................................20
Theme 3: Triple Bottom Line (TBL) on hospitality industry:..................................................21
Theme 4: Carroll's pyramid model on hospitality industry:.....................................................22
CHAPTER 5- Discussion, conclusions and recommendations.....................................................23
5.1 Discussion............................................................................................................................24
5.2 Validations of research objectives.......................................................................................24
5.3 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................25
5.4 Recommendations................................................................................................................26
5.5 Limitations of the research..................................................................................................26
5.6 Scope of further research.....................................................................................................27
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the topic
Sustainability is one of the pivotal issues for the hospitality industry's development. This
is the industry which attempts several ways for achieving this objective, effective
communication is one of the prevalent ones. There are many hospitality operators which refrain
from taking apt sustainable action (Cerchione and Bansal, 2020). In their view, sustainability
means that consumers require to sacrifice conveniences, which decreases the overall experience
of customers and also reduces their levels of satisfaction. There are many cases in which
customers raise complaints that hotels are focusing over saving their money by making
customers reuse the towels or refrain from having their rooms cleaned. This hinders hotels from
taking initiatives for sustainability. There are particular studies which show that this increases the
requirement of communicating sustainability to customers so that they can support the initiatives
taken by hospitality industry for maintaining sustainability in their business functions and
operations (Tiago and et. al., 2021). However, there are many tourists and travellers who
purposefully select hotels which are eco-friendly in nature. Thus, ineffective communication
between customers and hotel exists and impacts customer relationship management within
hospitality industry. The hospitality industry is consistently demonstrating their determination
and willingness for promoting sustainability. Hospitality industry has also adopted several
diversified methods for assisting their interaction with customers and communication is one of
the best ways. Communicating several sustainable practices through various channels have also
assisted hotels in their marketing procedure (Gil-Soto and et. al., 2019). This also hotels to stand
out in the presence of several number of competitors. Thus, communication is integrated in
customer relationship management for assisting hotels to realise the objective of sustainable
development. But, it is a challenging job for many hotels to effectively communicate and interact
a sustainable image and motivate customers of hotel to act sustainably. There are several
practitioners of the hotel who operate together carrying out effective communication strategies to
communicate sustainability in the business operations and functions (Sharma, Chen and Liu,
2020). Therefore, the present study aims at generating in-depth information about significance of
strategic communication management for sustainability within an organisation. This report also
includes the behavioural intention of the customers while booking their hotels and practices
adopted by them to remain sustainable.

1.2 Research Aim, Objectives and Questions
Research Aim
The aim of the present study is “To investigate the significance of strategic
communication management for sustainability within an organisation.” A study on Marriott
Hotel, London
Research Objectives
The objectives of the current study are:
 To evaluate the importance for hospitality company to communicate about sustainability
 To examine effective communication strategies adopted by Marriott Hotel for
communicating sustainability
 To discern the benefits gained by Marriott Hotel by communicating sustainability
Research Questions
The questions of the present research are:
 What is the importance for hospitality company to communicate about sustainability?
 What are effective communication strategies adopted by Marriott Hotel for
communicating sustainability?
 What are the benefits gained by Marriott Hotel by communicating sustainability?
1.3 Rationale of the study
The main motive of doing the current study is to highlight the requirement of
communicating sustainability by hotels to customers. It shows the strategic communication
management is essential for hospitality industry to for communicating sustainable practices and
strategies in a systematic manner (Kapoor, Balaji and Jiang, 2021). In the current time,
customers as well as hotels are aware about the significance of sustainability. So, this report
covers the various communication strategies to communicate sustainable practices to engage
with customers and retain them for long time. Researcher has also aimed at attaining two vital
objectives: personal and professional objectives. In terms of personal objective, researcher will
be learning about the significance of sustainability for protecting the society and environment.
On the other hand, in respect of professional perspective, investigator will be learning about the
several strategies of communication for communicating sustainable strategies.

1.4 Significance of the study
The present study holds great importance as it covers the most significant element within
hospitality industry i.e. sustainability. This shows that communication of sustainable measures is
also significant because it assists in engaging large number of customers and gaining trust of
other stakeholders towards the business (Krizanova and et. al., 2019). Other than this it also has
major significance for researchers, professionals, companies, students and so on. They can
depend upon this study for meeting their own objectives because it records accurate and reliable
information.
1.5 Problem statement of the study
The major problem identified in the current investigation is that hotels face issue in
selecting right method of communicating suitability (Preziosi and et. al., 2019). They generally
face issue in selecting right type of communication channel from the available several
communication channels. This becomes the barrier in communicating appropriately with
customers about sustainability and engaging them with the hotel.
1.6 Background of the organisation
The selected organisation for the existing study is Marriott hotel. Marriott hotel is one of
the brands which provides full-service hotels and resorts. The headquarters of the hotel is located
in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. The founder of the hotel is J. Willard Marriott and it is
founded in 1957.
1.7 Structure of the study
Introduction: The first section of the existing research is introduction which gives brief
about the selected topic. It also highlights the research aim, questions and objectives. This also
gives the purpose and rationale of the study.
Literature review: The other chapter covers the questions of the research and these are
addressed with the help of secondary sources. The secondary sources provide opinions and views
of several authors regarding the proposed research topic.
Research methodology: Another chapter is research methodology which provides
methods for accumulating information and analysing assembled data. Quantitative research
methods will be used by researcher.

Data analysis and findings: It is the chapter which makes discussion on the basis of
findings and systematic literature review (Gerdt, Wagner and Schewe, 2019). Questionnaire will
be formed and frequency distribution analysis will also be used by investigator to evaluate and
analyse numerable data.
Conclusion and recommendations: This chapter covers the summary of every chapters
and part of recommendations provides particular suggestions to the organisation.

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review provides a summary of previous research on a particular topic. The
different sources which are covered in literature review are journals, books, articles, government
reports, newspapers, websites, etc. This chapter mainly focuses on providing summary,
description and evaluation of each sources. Literature review is generally written as a part of
dissertation, thesis or research paper so that work can be situated in existing knowledge. A good
literature focuses on showing the sign of synthesis and knowledge about the chosen topic. The
goal of literature review is to inform the research topic and also identify the possible gap in the
scholarly literature for the further research. Thus, it provides an understanding about the existing
research to the specific topic and present that knowledge in the form of written report.
2.1 What is the importance for hospitality company to communicate about sustainability?
As per the opinion of Ozturkoglu, Sari and Saygili (2019), hospitality company can gain
various importance while communicating about the sustainability. Sustainability plays a vital
role within hospitality industry as it creates a positive influence on the experiences of customer.
Due to the number of travellers increases, the pressure on the environment also increases. Thus,
it is important for the hospitality companies and travellers to take the step in order to curb the
adverse effects of travelling on the environment. Hotels and travellers both are aware about the
fact that their activities have impact on the environment whether by utilising goods or producing.
In order to run the hotel in smooth manner, there is a requirement of water, electricity, goods and
many other factors which are consumable and durable. Hospitality industry generally creates
waste in the form of equipment, furniture, bulbs, appliances, tubes etc. In recent years, hotels are
focusing on implementing green technology and use the new green development projects. Hotels
are focusing on using alternative source of energy in order to produce energy such as solar, wind
an air. Through implementing unsustainable practices, hospitality company can stand out from
its competitors. When company go green it leads to higher customer satisfaction, better loyalty
and word of mouth marketing (Cerchione and Bansal, 2020). Sustainability within workplace
helps in saving money by reducing waste and spending. It also reduce the negative impact on the
environment by taking efforts to be green. The benefits which can be availed by the company
through implementing sustainable practices are attracting more and more customers, improving
brand image, minimising cost, improving employee retention and many others. By