Sustainability Practice at Hotels on the Island of Gotland in Sweden – an exploratory study

This study aims to investigate ten hotels on the island of Gotland and their daily, practical work towards sustainability. An exploratory study was conducted at ten hotel establishments on the island of Gotland in Sweden. Ten hotel managers were interviewed about their daily practice and work towards sustainable solutions at their hotels. The results show that there are big differences between these hotels regarding the way in which knowledge about sustainability issues are implemented and shared to the personnel as well to the guests. In addition, there is a clear difference in the way in which sustainability is expressed in practice: the accountability is largely attributable to most of the hotels, but a few convey responsibility. Some of the managers seem to take a more active role in mediation of sustainability issues than is the case with the majority of the hotel managers. Also, anonymity between hotel guests and staff, large number of seasonal workers and insufficiently trained staff can be seen as a hindrance for knowledge exchange over the sustainability issues. Working with sustainability issues can also be seen as a way to win market shares in the hotel business. The study makes contribution to the knowledge of processes of co-creation of sustainable values by exploring how some hotel managers are working towards sustainability on a daily basis. The study can help to share knowledge of possibilities and hindrances in daily work towards sustainable hotels.