Kimpton Hotels’ Earth Care Program

Kimpton hotel was one of the first hotels which emphasize nature preserving in their line of business. Thus, to ensure their social responsibility is carried, Kimpton hotels cultivated a program known as “EarthCare Program” in 1981. Not only boosting their reputation toward society, Kimpton Hotels was labeled as an eco friendly hotel worldwide. To realize the program from mere theory to reality, Kimpton uses environmentally friendly products for their hotel such as ceramic cups and plates, towels, carpets and hangings all made of pure organic cottons.

In the year 2005, Kimpton promised social responsibility as their corporate strategy, and soon acted on all Kimpton Hotels worldwide. For the first step, Kimpton created a recycling unit to recycle plastics and wastes. Next, non-biodegradable products such as plastics are ceased to be used, also papers usage are greatly reduced and cleaning agents which are harmful to the nature are discarded. Then, the highlight of their promises are carried where Kimpton reduce construction wasting and cost by buying and reconstruct some of the oldest building in America. By doing so, Kimpton not only added value to their business but also by using the eco-friendly substitutes for the entire infrastructure and material has made Kimpton Hotels a pioneer in EarthCare program.

1. What are the benefits of Kimpton’s environmental sustainability initiatives? What are its costs? By implementing their many sustainability programs Kimpton will be able to reduce cost as well as affect their attractiveness. Environmental improvement is one of the benefits of diverting waste.

Some of the benefits are exemplified in their rollout phases, including: introducing non-disruptive and cost-reducing operational practices such as a recycling program, non-toxic cleaning products, promotional materials printed on recycled paper, complimentary coffee that was organically grown, implementing a towel/linen reuse system, investing in water and energy conservation, using organically grown cotton for their linens, and the most fundamental changes, renovating hotels or using these approaches in new hotels.

The case study also discusses some of the potential benefits of the program, specifically dealing with availability of non-toxic cleaning agents. They found that “common cleaning products such as furniture polish, carpet cleaner, spot remover, air fresheners, disinfectants and bleach can contain hazardous compounds such as toluene, naphthalene, and xylene. These and other hazardous ingredients found in many cleaning products are associated with human health concerns including cancer, reproductive disorders, respiratory ailments, and eye or skin irritation.”

Kimpton’s research showed that they were aligned with keeping their mission statement visible in their work. There initiative also has business benefits. In addition to saving money in the long-term, this initiative had the potential to generate new business with government and non-government agencies, corporations, convention planners, who were interested in selecting hotels using environment criteria. The biggest problem with completing this would be cost effectiveness.

It would take a large amount of money to complete the project but will have a slow rate of pay back for the project. Also they have suggested implementing organic cotton linen. However this also would be very costly to implement at one time. It was suggested that they implement the program at a slower rate for an example by introducing organic pillowcases and then organic sheets. That way the guest may not be sleeping in full organic cotton but resting their heads on them at night. By making these programs existent alone they would say a lot of money in the long run but not receive a very fast return.

2. How would you justify the EarthCare Program to Kimpton’s Board of Directors and stockholders? That is, what is the business case for this program? The EarthCare Program would be justified to Kimpton's board of directors and stockholders by explaining the benefits that the company and the stakeholders can gain out of these initiatives.

The environmental sustainability initiatives are going to assist in the process of creating a strong brand which supports being environmentally responsible. They would help them form a very strong public relations policy which will be focused on social responsibility as well as creation of an actual good cause. Also, by Kimpton’s hotels implementing an aggressive eco friendly plan marketing campaign, bookings from corporations and individuals who support the EarthCare Program would increase.

3. What challenges face the EarthCare Program, and how might Kimpton overcome them? The EarthCare Program faces the challenges of General managers being resistance to a centralize initiative, staff resistance to new products and procedures, slow pay returns for green investments, required investments exceeding hotels budgets, benefits are intangible to customers, the challenge of implementing the initial marketing for the program, regional variation in customer values and recycling infrastructure and regulatory environment.

Nonetheless, all those challenges may be overcome by gathering all the GM and preparing a strategy of how the goal of becoming an eco-friendly hotel is going to happen, communicating and always keeping the staff abreast of the eco initiatives happening at the hotels. Also, hiring a translator to translate to those who do not speak fluent hotel so that they may feel pride in joining the hotels goals of becoming an eco-friendly hotel, educating the public about the eco-friendly changes happening at Kimpton’s hotel. The hotel should market themselves as being socially and environmentally responsible for our planet.

Kimpton’s hotels will purchase environmentally friendly products that do not supersede the cost of the initial products that are currently being used. And finally, Kimpton’s hotel strategy could be to convert the hotels that are placed in regional variations and who has a better recycling infrastructure and regulatory environment first. Their transition would be much smoother allowing more time and money to be invested into those who may need more marketing or more “green” infrastructure completed to the hotel.

4. What further steps should Kimpton take to institutionalize its environmental commitments?

The ability of any organization to translate its policies and basic values into the day to day activities of its executives and employees is called the process of institutionalization. The main objective of institutionalism is to accommodate the code of conduct and goals and objectives into the structure and the culture of the institute. For institutionalizing its environmental commitments, Kimpton should make sure that its employees are very well prepared for the forthcoming changes that will occur in Kimpton’s entire hotel empire.

Staff, old and new, needs to educate on the risk and benefits of going green and the information disseminated needs to be in Spanish and English. A stronger marketing strategy geared toward informing guest of the benefits of the environmental programs and initiatives occurring at the hotel. The guests are to be ensured that they will still experience top of the line service and also make them that they are a part of the green journey.

And finally, begin program and events where environmental awareness is at the highest and slowly gravitate to those regions where environmental awareness is low.

5. How would you measure the success of the EarthCare Program, and how should it be reported to stakeholders? The success of the EarthCare Program can be measured by the profitability of Kimpton hotel, the amount of CSR each hotel can provide, how much money was saved during the implementation of the EarthCare program, maintain a niche market and Kimpton’s partnership with other organizations to promote green initiatives.