Kimpton Hotels Earthcare Program Essay

What are the benefits of Kimpton’s environmental sustainability initiatives? What are its costs? The benefit of the program is to put back into the earth what is being taken out. Many companies who support Eco friendly establishments will book specifically with the Kimpton hotel in support of their EarthCare program. The costs are greater for not putting back into the environment what is taken out. In the long run being non eco friendly will cost Kimpton hotels more than what they spend on the initiative. How would you justify the EarthCare program to Kimpton’s board of directors and stockholders? That is, what is the business case for the program? The business case for the stockholders would be increased bookings from corporations and individuals that support the EarthCare program. By Kimpton hotels implementing an aggressive eco friendly plan, their hotels will stand out from the rest and be well known for their commitment to put back into the earth what they take. What challenges face the EarthCare program, and how might Kimpton overcome them? A couple of challenges that they face is the increased cost for some of the raw materials, such as sheets. A way to overcome that is to have aggressive buyers that work diligently to get the cost down by bulk buying for all of the hotels and then distributing from one central hub. The second challenge would be the employee’s acceptance to the program. This can be overcome simply by getting all employee’s involved in the initiative and keeping the line of communication open so that every stays informed and feels part of the decision process. What further steps should Kimpton take to institutionalize its environmental commitments? Kimpton should show their commitment by becoming ISO 14000 certified. This would show their commitment to customers, investors, shareholders and stakeholders.