Analysis of Effects of Green Practices on Sustainability in Urban Hotels in Kenya

Abstract

Adoption of green practices has been touted as the panacea for sustainability in many economic sectors. With urban hotels constrained in their adoption, this study sought to determine the extent to which urban hotels in Kenya had adopted green practices and to analyse the effects of green practices adoption on sustainability. To conduct the research, primary data were collected from 132 hotel departmental heads using a self-administered questionnaire and from 69 operations managers using an interview schedule. The results indicated that urban hotels in Kenya had only averagely implemented green practices. Nevertheless, the study found a positive significant effect of green practices on sustainability. The implications of these findings are that sustainability in hotels could certainly be achieved through adoption of green practices. As such effective incentives should be provided to encourage hoteliers to continue to adopt green practices. However, hotels need to recognize that adoption of green practices accounts for only a small change in sustainability in hotels. This suggests that other approaches could be sought to achieve sustainability more fully. The value of this study is that it clarifies effectiveness and relationship between green practices and sustainability in urban hotels which has hitherto been inconclusive.

Keywords

• adoption and effectiveness of green practices
• sustainability
• urban hotels
• kenya