Eco-Friendly Practices in Star Category Hotels of Lucknow:An Exploratory Study

Hospitality industry especially hotel industry consumes natural resources and produces waste products. There are very limited resources of energy on earth because of which energy conservation has become a vital part of each and every industry and hospitality industry is not left behind. To conserve the energy, hotel industry have started using green practices such as linen reuse program, adjustable temperature control, occupancy sensors, recycling programmes and many more. Popularity of environmental concerns continues to increase in hotel industry because of increased awareness about environmental issues. Acknowledging this very fact, the present study focuses on exploring the eco-friendly practices exercised in star category hotels of Lucknow and as well as the challenges faced by the hotels in the implementation of green practices in their operations. A well-structured questionnaire was developed to collect information from the hotel personnel. The results indicated that there are certain eco-friendly practices like garbage disposal, installation of sewage treatment plant, usage of dual flush in bathrooms, electronic key cards and energy efficient lighting are mostly exercised practices in all the star category hotels of Lucknow. The findings also revealed that initial investment cost for green set-up is very high which is one of the prime challenge faced by the hotels in the implementation of green practices.