Sustainability certification and hospitality management. An enquiry on the Sardinian coastal hotels’ approach and criticalities towards the EU Ecolabel Certification

The purpose of this research is to highlight and analyse the main difficulties and critical points experienced by Sardinian coastal hotel managers and their staff when the possibility to obtain an EU Ecolabel certification is presented to them. The paper aims to identify some of the main factors that determine the decision of continuing the certification process or to abandon it. The study uses data collected through a set of interviews carried out with hotel owners and managers. The selected hotels took part in a certification support programme set up by the regional agency for coastal preservation (Conservatoria delle Coste) in late 2013. At the end of the process, out of 30 hotels, five obtained the EU Ecolabel Certification. The interviews were carried out in presence during the visit of a specialised consultant, which also collected the data related to the main features/critical points of the hotel. The data was used as an input to measure the distance in terms of points as awarded by the EU Ecolabel score datasheet. The results of this preliminary analysis is then elaborated with statistical methods in order to determine which are the main critical points and weaknesses experienced by the hotel managers and the rationality underlying the choice of facultative criteria. Motivation and actual awareness of the benefits of a certification scheme are also analysed.The study evidences that, although structural variables as size and complexity of the hotel physical structure are important, motivation of management and owners seems to be the main factor to influence the certification process success. Recently built hotels or less complex buildings may have on average far less difficulties in achieving the Ecolabel certificate while larger hotels require important investments in order to meet the criteria. Such investments are sometimes often not seen as easily redeemable by the hotel management. This fact, which is also influenced by a low capability of exploiting the certification in terms of visibility and appeal to new customers, reduces the motivation of the hotel owners to embark in a process deemed expensive, complicated and not useful. On the other side, when the investments are clearly connected to the reduction of costs (e.g. energy saving investments) they are perceived as useful and redeemable, making easier for the company to decide in their favour. The study is based on very detailed data and on a sample that is representative both geographically and qualitatively of the hotel sector of Sardinia. The current shift of the visitors’ preferences towards more sustainable destinations as experienced by tourism operators and evidenced by researchers, brings under light the subject of viable certification schemes and the need to create a managing culture that integrates environmental strategies and market results.