Green management practices of leading eco hotels

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the currently relevant concept of “green” or “ecological” hotels, which finds its application in many developed countries. The relevance is due to the fact that the hospitality industry, which is one of the most important components of tourism and the economy as a whole, has shown unstable intensive development in recent decades, which often leads to local environmental disasters. To solve this problem, many hotels have embarked on the path of greening, developing and applying various methods and programs of environmentally sustainable management. An important role in the greening of the hotel industry is played by eco-certification, which evaluates the activities of hotels according to strict environmental rules and criteria. However, due to the variety of certifying eco-organizations, there is a lack of a specific set of criteria, which creates certain difficulties for the implementation and maintenance of green management. The article considers the green management systems of leading environmental hotels. Comparative analysis of international eco-certification allowed to generalize main criteria for environmental hotels. On the basis of these criteria, the authors analyze the primary tools and practices of the leading “green” hotels in the world market that contribute to the greening of hotels. As a result, the article presents a classification of various environmental tools that help hotels meet environmental standards, which can be used as a methodological guide for beginners and experienced hoteliers and managers.