Research Project: Sustainability Promotion in Whitbread PLC

This research project investigates the use of communication and marketing tools in promoting sustainability within the hospitality industry, focusing on Whitbread PLC in Dunstable, United Kingdom. The report explores the concept of sustainability, examining its importance and various dimensions within the industry, including economic, environmental, and social aspects. It addresses research questions such as the definition of sustainability, the effectiveness of marketing tools, challenges faced by Whitbread PLC without sustainability, and potential solutions. The literature review covers the concept of sustainability in hospitality, marketing tools, and challenges. The methodology section outlines the research philosophy, approach, and methods, including the use of a survey. Findings from the questionnaire are presented with frequency distribution tables and interpretation. The discussion section analyzes the findings, and the conclusion provides recommendations and implications for further research. The report aims to provide insights into how hospitality industries can utilize marketing and communication to achieve sustainability and overcome related challenges.

Research project
(To identify the communication and marketing tools and
their use in promoting of sustainability within hospitality
industry: A study on Whitbread PLC in Dunstable, United
Kingdom)

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................3
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................4
Research rational....................................................................................................................4
Research questions.................................................................................................................4
Research aims and objectives.................................................................................................4
Significance of research.........................................................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................5
Introduction............................................................................................................................5
Main body...............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................8
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY........................................................................................9
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS.....................................................................................................11
Questionnaire........................................................................................................................11
Frequency distribution table.................................................................................................12
Interpretation........................................................................................................................13
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION..................................................................................................22
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR
FURTHER RESEARCH...............................................................................................................24
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................25

ABSTRACT
The following research report is associated with gaining knowledge regarding concept
of sustainability and its usage within business. In current time sustainability is the major aspect
which leads the business to touch new market heights and deal with their competitors as well.
With the help of sustainability various dimensions can be covered within hospitality industry
such as economic, environment and social. So this research is providing such aspects to the
organisation so that they can put higher emphasis over gaining and promoting sustainability.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Research rational
The major rational behind choosing this topic is to examine the effectiveness of
communication and marketing tools in order to promote sustainability in industry of hospitality.
This research will enable the researcher to develop understanding regarding marketing tools and
its positive implication over sustainability within hospitality industry (Ozturkoglu, Sari and
Saygili, 2019). Besides this researcher is having personal interest in choosing this topic which
could help them to develop their understanding related to sustainability so that this could be
helpful to deal with challenges in future job within hospitality industry. Besides this under the
current research various research methodologies are being used and this would be helpful for
researcher to conduct future researches in most appropriate manner.
Research questions
 What is the concept of sustainability in hospitality industry?
 What are the communication and marketing tools and their effectiveness in promoting
of sustainability in Whitbread PLC within hospitality industry?
 What are the major challenges that would be faced by Whitbread PLC without having
sustainability within a hotel?
 What are the different ways for overcoming challenges faced by Whitbread PLC
without having sustainability within a hotel?
Research aims and objectives
Research aim: To identify the communication and marketing tools and their use in promoting
of sustainability within hospitality industry: A study on Whitbread PLC in Dunstable, United
Kingdom
Research Objectives:
 To develop basic understanding about the sustainability within hospitality industry.

 To determine the communication and marketing tools for promoting sustainability
Whitbread PLC within hospitality industry.
 To examine the challenges that would be faced by Whitbread PLC without having
sustainability within a hotel.
 To recommend different ways for overcoming challenges faced by Whitbread PLC
without having sustainability within a hotel.
Significance of research
With the help of this research hospitality industries may understand regarding various
tools tactics that can be used by them for gaining sustainability. There are different tools of
marketing and communication which are utilised by hospitality industry and the same could
lead them to attain sustainability and this research is bridging gap between these two elements.
On the other hand this research is also explaining various challenges that are being faced by
hospitality industry while managing sustainability and the ways used for mitigating the same.
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Literature review is defined as such accumulation of various authors and their view
which are helpful for researcher to execute the current research topic in appropriate manner.
Literature review is associated with defining such opinions in which further researches can be
executed using these secondary data and proper conclusion can be drawn. In the context of
current research literature review is being elaborated as under:
Main body
What is the concept of sustainability in hospitality industry?
According to Hossain, Kannan and Raman Nair (2020), Sustainability becomes the key
part of the Society as it improves the quality of lives, preserves natural resources and protects
the ecosystem. In hospitality industry also sustainability matters most in respect of gaining
success in market. The Success of Organisation depends on cultural attraction and preserving
the natural resources as it attracts tourist to visit their Hotel. It is important for the hospitality

industry to adopt right sustainable strategies in order to improve the efficiency and attract large
number of customers that seeks Hotels which are socially and environmentally responsible
towards the Society. The Cultural and natural resources are the main elements that grab the
attention of tourists and it is also considered as a factor of growth and development in
Hospitality Industry. The hospitality organisation can keep their focus on some of the
sustainability practices in order to save the environment they can adopt using organic amenities,
conserving energy and reducing waste. The Company can provide training to their employees
that make them learn the ways through which they can reduce energy use. For example,
Organisation can install solar panels in order to save the energy. It is the responsibility of
Hospitality Industry to reduce the waste in their Firm; they can cut down food waste, adopt
food donation policies and install water efficient products to save the water. The Company must
also use organic products as they contain lighter carbon footprints and include natural
ingredients.

What are the communication and marketing tools and their effectiveness in promoting of
sustainability in Whitbread PLC within hospitality industry?
According to Liang and Wong (2020), For Hospitality industry it is necessary to minimise
the environmental impacts to make business more successful in Market and attract more and
more tourist towards the Hotel. There are various communication and marketing tools through
which Organisation can promote sustainability. The Company can raise awareness among
customers and provide them information related to the positive impact on destination and
consequences of unsustainable environment. The Company must encourage their guest to make
more sustainable decision and also influence them to participate in its sustainable practices. The
Hospitality industry must use some pictures and videos to attract their customers and translate
their sustainable mission and vision into some advertisement and emails as it helps in making
guest curious about the sustainable practices used by Firm.
There are various marketing tools which can be used by hospitality industry to provide
information of their sustainable practices, these marketing tools helps in reaching maximum
number of audiences. The Company can use print marketing materials, website, social media,
organise campaigns and events, email and other promotional items (Uyar, Karaman and Kilic,
2021). The Organisation can use print marketing materials in order to promote their sustainable
practices so that they can attract tourist towards the Hotel. Hospitality Industry can also
promote their sustainable practices on social media as it covers large number of people.
Through this marketing tools company can engage customers, provide information, promote
their brand, stimulate customer interest and build business.
What are the major challenges that would be faced by Whitbread PLC without having
sustainability within a hotel?
According to Melissen and Sauer (2018), sustainability is the major aspect of the
business which could be helpful for gaining long term survival of the business. In current time
there are various aspects related with sustainability and these are related with gaining
environment benefits. On the contrary when sustainability is not attained by hospitality industry
this may lead them to get various negative implications such as decreased market image and
lesser footfall of customer. In the industry of hospitality customers are treated as asset because

all the services are being rendered to customers and this would be helpful for the industry to
grow in prominent manner. Besides this another major challenge is related with not keeping
environment factor within business as this is stated that customers of current age are highly
attractive towards securing environment so in this manner when hotels are not emphasised over
using sustainable measures then this will lead them to lose customers trust as well.
What are the different ways for overcoming challenges faced by Whitbread PLC without
having sustainability within a hotel?
According to Gardetti and Torres (2017), sustainability is the major measure which is
required to be inhaled by businesses and specifically hospitality business within current age so
that market prominence can be attained and proper profitability can be aligned. In order to
eradicate the issues of not having sustainability within hospitality business the major practice
could be adopting such practices by which aspect of sustainability can be enhanced. Besides
this long term business goal can also be the preventive measure for the business by which
challenges can be mitigated. On the other hand communication is one of the prominent
practices which could be helpful for hospitality businesses to deal with issue which are faced by
them due to lack of sustainability.
Conclusion
From the above discussion within literature review this can be concluded that for a
business working within hospitality industry this is imperative to use such tools of marketing
and communication by which sustainability can be promoted so that long term business insight
can be seen. There are different barriers which may dodge and create certain barriers and with
the help of using various strategies such as communication these challenges can be mitigated.

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is defined as accumulation of such practices which are used
within research in order to acquire appropriate research results and to get desired output as well.
Using significant research methodology may lead the business to take such actions which are
set of such plans and actions could be helpful for dealing with research objectives and attaining
the same. In the context of current research, research onion framework will be used which is
elaborated as under:
Research philosophy: Research philosophy is defined as such set of actions which can be used
within research in order to attain overall objectives of research in most prescribed manner.
Research philosophy is the set of such assumptions which are inserted within research and helps
the researcher to come out with prominent results (Jokela‐Pansini, 2019). There are two types
of research philosophy such as interpretivism and positivism. Under this research positivism
research philosophy is used by researcher in order to gain appropriate research results. This way
researcher get assistance in relation to maintain uniqueness within research so that objectives
can be attained in most appropriate manner.
Research Approach: Research approach is defined as such plans and procedures which could
be helpful for research to attain overall research objectives in most appropriate manner.
Research approach is such contextual frameworks which are based on some specific belief
within research so that various dimensions can be covered within research work. There are two
types of research approaches such as inductive and deductive. Under this research, researcher is
using deductive approach which may be helpful in carrying out quantitative research in
significant manner.
Research Methods: Research methods are defined as such accumulation of actions which are
helping the researcher to acquire various data and information which could be helpful in taking
out appropriate results within research. Research methods are such collective efforts which are
assisting researcher to develop research objectives in most appropriate manner (Lew, Yang and
Harklau, 2018). There are various types of research methods such as case study, interviews,
surveys and many more. These can be used by researcher so that to have collective efforts

within research and to gain appropriate insight within research. Under this research survey
research method has been used which could be helpful for researcher to collect significant
information.
Research tool: Research tools are defined as such aspects which are used within research in
order to provide them an appropriate path so that efforts of researcher can be aligned with
research objectives. Research tools help the researcher to complete the research in collect
various information related to research in systematic manner so that reliable and efficient
information can be collected. There are two types of research tools such as qualitative and
quantitative. Under this research quantitative research tools have been used which is helping
researcher to gather information in numerical manner so that statistical results can be carried
out. Besides this in terms of data analysis with the help of questionnaire opinion of various
respondents has been gathered and using frequency distribution table the entire data has been
assimilated.
Sampling: Sampling is defined as the manner or practice which is used within research in order
to select own population so that to carry out research process in most appropriate manner. This
is the process which is used by researcher in order to gather data and to involve appropriate
people within research so that decisive conclusion can be taken out. There are two types of
sampling strategy such as probabilistic and non-probabilistic. Under this research the researcher
is using probabilistic sampling so that to provide equitable chances to every respondents and to
carry out research more specifically (Thomas and Nurkhin, 2016). Under this research 20
respondents are taken those are employees of Whitbread Plc, and within the premises of the
hotel the research will be executed so that desired results can be attained.
Ethical implications: Under a research ethical consideration is defined as such movement
which is helping the researcher so not to cross their restrictions which may harm interest or
right of an individual. Under this research the major ethical implication is to maintain privacy
of responses provided by respondents so that to up-keep research results. In this manner this
would be profitable for researcher to develop and inhale such proceedings which are beneficial
for researcher to take out reliable and prominent results. Besides this other ethical implication is
associated with maintaining confidentiality in shared personal data by respondents so that to
provide them support in relation to gaining research objectives.

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
Questionnaire
Q1. Do you understand regarding essentialism of sustainability within hospitality industry?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2. What are the factors included within sustainability of hospitality industry?
a) Economic development
b) Environment conservation
c) Social justice
Q3. What are the major communication and marketing tools used by Whitbread PLC?
a) Social media
b) Direct mail
c) Brand management
Q4. Are these tools helpful in promoting sustainability in Whitbread PLC?
a) Yes
b) No
Q5. What are the major practices can be used by Whitbread PLC for gaining sustainability?
a) Water and electricity consumption
b) Using environment friendly practices
c) Maintaining hygiene in services
Q6. What is the role of sustainability over Whitbread PLC?
a) Higher customer experience
b Enhanced profitability
c) Intensified market prominence
Q7. Does hospitality sustainability have any direct impact over customer decision making?
a) Yes
b) No
Q8. What are the major challenges faced by Whitbread PLC by not maintaining sustainability?
a) High employee turnover
b) Staying behind market competition

c) Lack of brand image
Q9. What are the ways which can be adopted by Whitbread PLC for mitigating such
challenges?
a) Providing guidance to employees
b Using ways to deal with market competition
c) Introducing various promotional programs
Q10. In the current time of COVID is sustainability helping Whitbread PLC to grow in their
business?
a) Yes
b) No
Frequency distribution table
Q1. Do you understand regarding essentialism of sustainability within
hospitality industry?
Frequency
a) Yes 15
b) No 5
Q2. What are the factors included within sustainability of hospitality industry? Frequency
a) Economic development 6
b) Environment conservation 6
c) Social justice 8
Q3. What are the major communication and marketing tools used by Whitbread
PLC?
Frequency
a) Social media 8
b) Direct mail 8
c) Brand management 4
Q4. Are these tools helpful in promoting sustainability in Whitbread PLC? Frequency
a) Yes 18
b) No 2
Q5. What are the major practices can be used by Whitbread PLC for gaining
sustainability?
Frequency