UK Hospitality: Eco-Friendly Practices and Guest Hotel Choices

This project is a comprehensive case study examining the effect of eco-friendly practices on hotel selection decisions within the UK hospitality industry. It begins with an introduction outlining the research's aim, objectives, research questions, rationale, and significance, followed by a detailed dissertation structure. The literature review delves into the concept of eco-friendly practices, the benefits of eco-friendly technology, and various methods of implementation. The research methodology section describes the research type, approach, philosophy, data collection methods, sampling techniques, and data analysis procedures, along with ethical considerations and limitations. The core of the project involves data analysis, drawing conclusions, and providing recommendations for UK hospitality firms on adopting eco-friendly practices. Appendices include a questionnaire used for data collection. The project emphasizes the increasing importance of sustainability and its impact on consumer choices, particularly within the hospitality sector.

Ecofriendly practices and its effect
on hotel selection decision A case
study of UK hospitality industry

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................4
Background............................................................................................................................4
Aim.........................................................................................................................................4
Objectives...............................................................................................................................4
Research questions.................................................................................................................4
Rationale................................................................................................................................4
Significance............................................................................................................................5
Dissertation structure.............................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................................6
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................10
Research type:......................................................................................................................10
Research approach...............................................................................................................10
Research philosophy............................................................................................................10
Data collection.....................................................................................................................11
Sampling..............................................................................................................................11
Data analysis........................................................................................................................11
Ethical consideration............................................................................................................11
Reliability and validity.........................................................................................................12
Limitations...........................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS...........................................................................................13
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION................................................21
Conclusion............................................................................................................................21
Recommendation..................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................23
APPENDIX..............................................................................................................................25
Questionnaire.......................................................................................................................25

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Background
The eco-friendly basically refers to the earth or environment friendly practices
which is not harmful. It mainly accounts for the items which contributes to the green living
or the practices which helps in conserving the natural resources. This research study is based
on understanding the relevance eco-friendly technologies and practices over the UK
hospitality industry which is having amajor contribution in the growth and development of
the country. There has been change a in the perception and the level of awareness of the
people in respect to the well-being of the environment which has resulted into increase in the
implementation of environmental practices in place.
Aim
To investigate the ways in which eco-friendly practices has its effect on hotel selection
decision of guests in hospitality industryof UK.
Objectives
 To understand the concept of eco-friendly practices.
 To understand the benefits of eco-friendly technology and practices in hospitality
industry.
 To assess the methods of implementing eco-friendly practices.
 To recommend the ways which UK hospitality firms can implement in respect to eco-
friendly practices.
Research questions
1. What is referred by the concept of eco-friendly practices?
2. What are the benefits of eco-friendly technology and practices within hospitality
industry?
3. What are the methods of introducing eco-friendly practices?
4. What are the ways through UK hospitality industry can implement such methods?
Rationale
The rationale behind the selection of this research topic is that thereis an increase in the
usage of the eco-friendly practices by the organization which helps in not only benefiting the
organization and the environment but also has turned out to be an important factor in regard
to the attracting the customers and employees aswell. In the today’s world, there is greater
emphasis over the eco-friendly which also states about the reputation of the company. Thus,
this topic is important for research as it helps in analysing the impact of it.

Significance
This research study will help the organization within the hospitality industry to
identify the changes which are coming and how it can affect the decision of makinga
selection of the hotel.This will be mainly useful for the firms within the geographical
boundaries of UK.
Dissertation structure
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of the research topic and what will be covered for
meeting the desired research questions.
Chapter 2: Literature review
It will provide an in-depth theoretical analysis of the various research themes which
is derived from the topic. It helps in gathering better information pertaining to the topic.
Chapter 3: Research methodology
This chapter provides information over the research tools and approaches which are
being utilized by the research for achieving aims and objectives.
Chapter 4: Data analysis
It involves analysis and interpretation of the primary and secondary data collected in
respect to subject based upon which final decision is made.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendation
It is the last chapter which draws the final conclusion about the research project and
based upon which certain recommendations are being made.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme 1: Understanding the concept of eco-friendly practices
As per Nguyen and et.al.(2020) eco-friendly refers to the approaches and the
methods which are being used by the businesses which helps in minimising the negative
impact its practices can have over the environment. It contributes towards the green living or
the practices which will support the protection and conservation of the scarce natural
resources. Almost all the business organizations have realized the relevance of such practices
over the business activities. This has resulted into increase in the introduction of such
practices which helps in positively contributing towards the environment and the society at
large. It involves making use of the recyclable materials like the products which is being
made from the glass, wood, or plastic which can be reclaimed from waste products and
converted into something new. According to Kim and et.al. (2019) these practices help in
bringing in sustainability which means that businesses do not deplete the natural resources
and leaving nothing for the future generation. It involves making use of such technologies,
systems and approaches which helps the reducing the negative impact of the business
practices on the environment.
As stated by Sharma and et.al.(2020)eco-friendly practices have nowadays
becoming not only the source of minimising the cost but have also turned out to be factor
which helps in drawing attention of the people towards it. People have nowbecome more
aware about the negative impact that the business practices have over the surrounding and
have put emphasis on the businesses which have promoted sustainable practices. Further
stated by the author that implementing such practices might be little costly in the initial stage
which will be later on will be of no much cost and will also result into cost savings.
According to Thao (2017) for advancing the factor of sustainability and to preserve
Mother Nature, it is significant for everyone to move off from the customary methods of
covetousness and abuse and search for a superior and more promising future to come. In the
event that the people and the industrialists step up for Going Green for a change, there will be
better drive for improvement in the spaces which are identified with environmentally friendly
sources of green energy. Reusing and recycling is additionally a great action through which
onecannotwaste or through the pre-owned material and use it again and again, which in other
words, implies that everyone is utilizing their assets effectively and in better way. Therefore,
it becomes important to effectively understand the importance and relevance of eco-friendly
practices from the perspective of the businesses whichresults into having awider impact over

the decision making process as well. This might lead to influencing the hotels election
process of the employees and the customers. the increase in the level of awareness and along
with the continuous pressure exerted by thegovernment over the entities has resulted into
making it crucial for the industries in implementing effective and less harmful practices.
Theme 2: Determining the benefits of eco-friendly technology and practices within
hospitality industry
According to Atstajaand et.al.(2017) there are number of reasons which makes it
obvious for the companies to introduce eco-friendly practices. The first and foremost reason
is that it saves money through the way of reduction in the amount of wastage and spending.
In addition to this, it is helpful in the betterment of the environment. In addition to this, it
gives public relations benefits in contrast to the competing advantage.But there are other
reasons as well which makes it important for hotels and hospitality industry to embrace eco-
friendly practices.
Millennials are requesting sustainability on their holidays. They are driving the
hospitality and the tourism industry. Also, they need hotelswhich embraces green and feasible
practices. Millennials are twice as liable to help brands with strong administration of natural
and social issues, and anticipate that brands should deal with their effect as well as convey it.
All hospitality industry depends on the natural beauty and scenarios that drawsthe attention of
theguests and go about as the fundamental driver of development and advancement in the
hospitality industry. Sustainable practices makethe hospitality industry to stand out among
others.As per Nanggong(2019) the present voyagers, café benefactors, hotel bookers and
customers care about the eco-friendly practices. They are interested inknowing that the
organizations they give business actually follows ecologically, socially and culturallyeco-
friendly practices. A dominant part of 20- to 30-year-olds and Generation Z will pay more for
items and administrations that are not harmful for the climate, exhaust natural and scarce
assets, or adversely influence the existences of individuals or wild life.
In addition to this, as per Abbas and Sağsan(2019)there are options which involves
eco-friendly construction of the building or a part of infrastructure which is developed with
the help of the materials and processes which are resource efficient and is also
environmentally responsible in the entire life cycle of the building. There has been an
increase in the popularity of the green buildings and other eco-friendly practices which brings
in various benefits in contrast to the other no-green buildings which ranges from the
environmental to the economic. Author further stated that implementation of such practices
will result into lowering the cost of maintenance and the operational cost. Along with that, it

will add in enhancing the environmental quality as it results into less disposition of waste into
the surrounding and it involves making use of the waste and convert it into something
reusable which also help in reducing the unnecessary costs.
As defined by Verma (2019) if the firms within the hospitality industry effectively
identifies the benefits associated with the eco-friendly practices, then there are chances that
this will lead to bringing numerous advantages to the business in terms grabbing the attention
of the customers and guests, creating a positive image in the eyes of the customers which has
a full potential to impact their decision-making pertaining to the selection of the hotel.
Theme 3: Various methods of introducing eco-friendly practices
As per the view of Maksimovic(2018) there are number of eco-friendly technologies
which can be implemented by the firms within UK hospitality industry which will assist them
in taking advantage associated with them. The IoT has a huge boon in the sustainability
sector and therefore, the environment. This technology helps in organizations to expand their
services through the way of connecting the large number of decentralized devices and the
sources of energy such as the solar panels and microgrids in order to reduce strain over the
traditional energy sources. It is advantageous as it consequently leads to theenhancing the
connectivity, minimising the energy waste along with gathering the energy data so that it can
be better analysed and corrective actions can be taken. Inaddition to this, the automated
technology can also be used in respect to the building as it can be helpful in continuously
checking the environment along with finding out the ways to save resources. For instance, a
system might automatically turn off the lights when no one is in the room and in addition to
this, it can thermostat the temperature which could save the electricity without making others
feel discomfort.
According to Chams and García-Blandón(2019) there are various eco-friendly
practices which if implemented and promoted by the organizations within hospitality industry
then it will become an area of attraction. For example, the companies can introduce waste
water treatment which involves the key developments which are essential for the purposeof
making this water drinkable or significantly minimize the potential presence of pollutants
from what is discharged into the sea and rivers.Another practice which can be implemented
by hospitality industry is the effectively managing the solid waste. It can be made possible
through the way of using smart containers, automated food waste tracking system or the
automated optical scanning technologies which can be helpful inhelpful in sort mixed
plastics.

From the view of de Oliveira Felipe, de Oliveira and Bicas(2017)anotherimportant
eco-friendly approach is the wase t energy which is technology that helps in generating
energy from the garbage. For instance, a Tecam Group has developed waste treatment
solution through which it generatesenergy like hot water, electricity or steam which the
company can later utilize it for the internal processes. In addition to this, the hospitality
industry can work on using the solar energy conversion panels which involves the high
vacuum tube for the hot water, photovoltaic collector to produce electricity which can be
used within the hotel. This supports in reducing the dependency of energy on the
conventional sources from hydrocarbons or fossil fuels and thus, resulting into greener
solutions. One of the attractive practices which are being utilized the most is the vertical
gardens and farms which helps in saving lot of energy and various advantages to the
environment. It also helps in reducing the hearing intense pollution which comes from the
outside and along with that, it helps in significant savings in the energy and also isolates the
high temperature.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research type:
There are basically two types of research which helps scholar to accomplish the
objective of project in effective manner. These include qualitative and quantitative form of
research and selected & applied according to the area of study. Qualitative refers to
understanding concepts, opinions and experience of persons for deriving knowledge
regarding the same. It is usually used to present non numeric data and have deep insights into
behavior of person related to concerned issue or challenges (Gaus, 2017). On the other side
quantitative research type is used for collecting information for attaining specified objectives.
The selected type for doing research on eco-friendly practices and its impact on hotel
selection of UK hospitality sector is qualitative. . Reason behind selecting qualitative type is
to effectively obtain objective such as benefits, methods, etc of eco friendly practices.
Research approach
Inductive and deductive are two form of approaches used for conducting research in
system pattern. Inductive is used for qualitative research type as it helps in understanding
pattern of observation and development of explanation of theoretical concepts. Scholar uses
to it to provide information of developed theories. The other research approach is deductive
which is utilized by researcher in quantitative type. Aim behind using this is to testing an
existing theory as it designs strategy to investigate hypothesis. For the specified dissertation
suitable approach is inductive due to requirement of fulfilling objective of theoretical concept
of eco friendly practices and its effect on UK hospitality industry. With help of inductive
approach scholar can compliances with requirements of report.
Research philosophy
It is related with the way in which data should be gathered, evaluated and utilized. To
attain this purpose there are two philosophies such as interpretivism and optivism.
Interpretivism philosophy is used to conduct study through getting knowledge on the human
behavior (Leavy, 2017.). This is orientation to social reality for attaining objective of
understanding human behavior relates to particular topic. Optimism philosophy is used in
quantitative study to numerical data in systematic form. The scholar focus on interpretivism
to understand of decision making process regarding selecting hotel on the basis of eco-
friendly practices. Scholar can derive accomplishments of objectives by utilizing this
particular approach.

Data collection
To collect data scholar can use two methods primary and secondary ways. Primary
method refers to collecting data directly from the selected sample. It comprises conducting
interviews, sending questionnaires, etc. Secondary method is concerned with gathering
information from articles, journals, books, etc. These both methods provide complete
knowledge by collecting information from fresh and already analyzed sources (Mkandawire,
2019). This type of data is already analyzed which can be used to support the primary data.
Research will use both the forms of collecting data for having emphasis on understanding eco
friendly technology & practices utilized in hospitality sector. The questionnaire has been
prepared to get knowledge regarding guests decision making criteria for selecting hotels in
UK. It will help in gaining knowledge of number of people’s view point related to factors
which influence decision making in respect to selecting hotels
Sampling
There are mainly two types of sampling, one is probabilistic random sampling and
the other is probabilistic random sampling. In respect to this research study, the researcher
has used simple random sampling in which every item is given the equal opportunity of being
selected. Pertaining to this research project, the research has collected the questionnaire from
30 participant who are the frequently travellers within UK. This will help determining the
view point of the large number of tourists in respect to what factors they take into
consideration in respect to selecting the hotel. This will help effectively meeting up with the
designed aims and objectives of the research project.
Data analysis
In respect to the data analysis, there are mainly two approaches. One is thematic
analysiswhile the other is SPSS. The thematic analysis is used under the qualitative research
while the SPSS is used in the quantitative research in order to carry out the statistical and
numerical analysis (Castleberry and Nolen, 2018). In respect to this research study, the
researcher used thematic analysis as it helps in drawing the better outcomes from the data
collected. Under this data is collected based upon the various themes in relation to the topic.
This supports in getting the required answer to the research questions.
Ethical consideration
This is the most important part of the research project and the researcher has
complied with all the ethical standards. The researcher while carrying out the survey has
taken prior consent from the participants in written and has assured confidential of the data of
the respondents. In respect to secondary data, the researcher has provided proper

acknowledgement to the authors whose work has been used in this research in the form of
citation. In addition to this, the researcher has provided proper respect to the research
participants and was given a top priority. The data collected has been secured under theData
Protection Act.
Reliability and validity
This aspect is very important and the research has made sure that the reliable sources
has been utilized for the purpose of effectively meeting with research objectives. The
research has collected data the various sources and has taken approval from the mentor before
using it in the project (Mohajan, 2017). Along with that, the researcher has made sure that the
sources for data collection is copyright and authentic and proper referencing has been done
which depicts that researchers have undertaken in-depth investigation to the topic. The
researcher has reviewed and assessed every one of the sources of information to ensure that it
meets with the ideal or anticipated outcomes.
Limitations
The main limitation attached to this research is the limited availability of time. The
study constraint represents the elements which may have a likely effect over the result
produced in the research study.Apart from this, the researcher hasmade use of the data from
the past 5 years which might not provide the recent information in respect to the topic.