ECO GRAVITY MODEL FOR ENHANCING THE COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE OF KARNATAKA HOTELS
Dr. Padma Srinivasan

Introduction:

World trade witnessed a tremendous growth with many countries liberalizing their policies and globalization topping their list of priorities. With the rapid growth of telecommunications worldwide and the ease of international air travel, service providers have spotted an opportunity in the global delivery of a wide array of services. Most hotels are concerned with the cost reduction queries to achieve cost effectiveness especially when

• There is a rapid influx of foreign player who play on their merit or ally with partners suitable to enhance regional stand

• There are many groups that diversify in this arena, with more cash flows

• Regional promotions from the State owned Tourism Development Corporations

• Market treaties and franchise agreement from established players

• Niche to Niche movement of the established, branded players.

So, it has become imperative to scout for means and methods to fatten up the bottomline. One of the techniques for a long-term survival is tightening the belt using waste management to ensure optimum use of resources. It is built on the axiom ' a penny saved is a penny earned'.

The WM PROCESS & STRATEGIES MODEL: The researcher to enable an "Effective & Profitable WMP&S" has built this model. It simply solves questions to a hotel management like-

• Why do we need WM?

• Do I have a strategic alternative?

• Can I cover all my activities?

• Can I match costs & benefits?

• Can it suit me at different seasons, covers?

The parameters that are excluded for the conception of the model are:
 1.Relative Risk Differential
 2.Cause & Effect Differences
 3.OpportunityCost 
 4.Reverse Influences of environmental issues.
 5.Management of people
 6.Troubleshooting.

KARNATAKA HOTELS SCENARIO:

The system, sub-systems and processes of Waste Management in Karnataka Hotels are similar to all the hotels in the Indian sub-continent. There is sufficient amount of

• Hesitation to invest in WM plans

• Lack of vision and Low awareness

• Short term profiting attitude

• Simplicity in thinking

• Lack of consultants in the rural & sub urban areas.

But it all made the research to have a sound meaning and have a worthy cause to activate more such studies, simply to state the truth that 'WM CAN MAKE INDIAN HOTELS WORLD CLASS'

RESEARCH CONCERNS: 

The author visited nearly 300 hotels in Karnataka. Using a questionnaire to probe about the WM aspects was moderately helpful since the respondents did not feel good to talk on wastage part or the awareness level was low. New markets and segments are emerging to tap the opportunities to make the most of potential markets and have strategic decisions, which can be done only with a sound WMS.

1. TYPE OF HOTELS UNDER STUDY: 

While the 5-star and 5-star deluxe and to some extent the 4-star hotels are the domain of renowned hotel companies, an unorganized market exists for hotels operating below these ratings. Hotel companies such as EIH and ITCH as well as international hotel chains are aggressively entering into the mid-budget hotel. The type of hotels surveyed included mostly of duo (which is Hotel + Restaurants) forming 83% of the sample. Lodge makes 4% as that as Resorts, Dhabas and Ayurvedic centers account for 1% each. Pure Restaurants come upto7% of the total sample. 

Table: 1                Category of hotels surveyed in Karnataka.

Bangalore was the only city hotel market in India to register an increase in occupancy rate and a stable ADR between 1999/00 and 2000/01. With limited expected additional supply anticipated and buoyant demand from the corporate segment, occupancy and ADR are expected to be fairly stable in the next couple of years.

2. USAGE OF WM AT THE HOTELS:

The green revolution has brought extensive changes in the hotel operations. The introduction of computers has virtually changed the existing trends of business strategies for cost effective decisions for the hotel sector, especially in waste control, JIT for inventory management and management control.

Table: 2. WS Programs implemented at the hotels.

In this survey it is found that 77% of the hotels use different strategies for their WM. Only 33% use the methods handling WM in a unscientific manner especially in the rural sector. Which performing the correlation study between Table 1& 2 indicates a positive (0.951046) correlation.

The Best practices adopted by champions world over could be to develop recycling programs. All champions examined their energy, water, and sewer use to reduce inefficiencies. Colony Hotels aggressively established guest friendly practices that include educational programs and in-room recycling.

Table: 3.     Champion cases & strategies

RECOMMENDATIONS based on the research:

1.Town planners, municipal Governments, environmental regulators,, citizens' groups and non-governmental organizations need to develop a variety of responses which are rooted in local dynamics, rather than borrow non-contextual solutions from elsewhere.

2.The hotels should start showing more vigor in their implementation plans.

3.Any day, a small step in this direction could go a long way. And Earlier start can give quicker returns in a long term.

By directing financial and human capital toward the goal of gleaning meaningful information regarding existing customers, and continually refining the operation to address issues identified during this process, a hotel can significantly increase its level of repeat business, thereby inducing future room demand.

'WM WILL BENEFIT ALL & BRING A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE' 

Author:
Dr. Padma Srinivasan,
HR-Head & Company Secretary, Bangalore
Visiting Faculty, ICFAI Business School, Bangalore