DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

As we discussed and reviewed the cases to understand the sustainability practices, it is understood that hotel organizations do have sustainable practices in place unfortunately some are only on papers and not really practiced. Perhaps, there are significant evidence of sustainable practices followed by many and some can be referred and practiced by other hotel organizations. Brand-wise good practices with respect to sustainability are discussed in this section. Water efficiency in Taj mostly comprises upgrading to w'ater-efficient equipment and having administrative controls in place. Recycling increased equipment efficiency, and rainwater harvesting could minimize freshwater withdrawal and preserve bodies for communities. They have introduced heat pumps and condensation water circulation pumps also. While building any new property Taj has started giving a lot of importance towards building the property using sustainable structure and contributing towards the society and ecological development. In the year 2016-2017, the Taj group was able to reduce 55,603,013 kg of CO, emissions which is the same as taking 18,659 cars off the road. In the year 2017-2018, 21% of their energy mix was renewable energy. 252,677,658 MJ of energy was procured from renewable sources. By using alternate fuels like Bio gasoline, PNG, CNG, they have reduced their scope 1 emissions. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions caused by the activities of the organization or any activity that is under their control. They have done certain developments with the waste produced in mass from our Hotels like the creation of Biodiesel from Waste Cooking Oil. Taj Group has played a very crucial role in launching several of India’s key tourist destinations, working in close association with Indian government. Vivanta Dal View, located in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir is one of the best examples of remote tourism. The IHCL (the mother company of Taj) has come up with new aspects to reduce the usage of plastics in the hotel. Taj exotica resort claims to be the first resort for zero use of plastic. Taj group has a luxury lodge which is named as Pashan Garh. Here the main motto of theirs is to provide luxury experience by preserving the forest and biodiversity conservation. The project also concentrates on the promotion of natural habitat and wildlife conservation.

Shangri-La started conserving water by using water saving shower heads and by collaborating with different charities. The shower head replacement program in staff facilities which can reduce water consumption by 20-30% by limiting the rate of flow was implemented, and this helped the company to achieve estimated water savings of 120 CBM per year. The Shangri-La Hotel selected all these technologies as part of a pilot project to improve their carbon footprint - Energy management control system (EMS), Room management control system,

LED lamps and New generation environmentally friendly chiller with VSD. They also conducted a chiller upgrade. SISC (Shangri-La Institute of Sustainable Communities) addresses the three fundamentals: natural reserves, community learning centers, and willing communities, to successful ecotourism that stretches across three areas of Shangri-La: the Napahai area (Kesong), Bazhu village and Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve. Not only that, a foundation of an ‘ecotourism resource center’ has been laid in Shangri-La’s Dukezong Old Town, in order to help connect all of the existing sites. Shangri-La in Delhi is promoting breathe easy stay, which is basically growing plants which can aid natural air purification. The hotel has also placed an electronic air purifier in order to keep the environment free from pollution. About 80% of the hotel’s power supply can be generated from solar and wind energy, which helps to attenuate commercial energy consumption. Shangri la not only offers care and hospitality to its guests but also to the local communities where the property operates.

Hilton hotel groups have been trying to conserve water for more than a decade now' and they have only been successful in reducing 22% water consumption. They have partnered with WWF and even pledged to preserve their aquatic ecosystems and even not to overfish. Hilton is also making international efforts to understand the local nature of water risk and its need to be sustainable locally. The remote location tourism provided by Hilton is the Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat is Located in the Sahyadri mountain range within the 320-acre Shillim Estate, which is a very remote location near Lonavala. Hilton also improves its biodiversity conservation by reducing single use plastics as well as their food wastage.

Accor group of hotels have created strategies and projects for increasing sustainability. One of the projects are the Planet 21 Program w'here they have identified various sustainability goals u'ith respect to the Sustainable Development Programme for 2030 and the SDGs validated by the United Nations General Assembly. Planet 21 focuses on tw'o specific issues: healthy and sustainable food with ban on food wastage; a move towards carbon-neutral buildings. Through this program they reversed their usual increase in energy consumption to a decrease of 7.2% in energy consumption. Accor began a program in 2006. titled the ‘Earth Guest’ program, that aimed to reduce water and energy consumption. Accor has been moving towards sustainability for quite a w'hile now, their PLANET21 drive has been very successful. They have also been successful in reducing their carbon footprint. They are planning to make sure that all the renovated and upcoming hotels are low carbon buildings and to reduce the energy consumption by at least 5%. The Sofitel The Palm Dubai and The Novotel Munchen City Arnulfpark are examples for hotels that have reduced their carbon footprint and increased their energy efficiency. The Accor group in 2007 with help from the Agency for Environment and Energy Management had started their journey in sustainability in the area of solar energy. They initially started off with 100 hotels and slowly had a goal of equipping 200 hotels with solar panels by 2010. They also partnered with ADEME to increase awareness on sustainable energy.