Abstract for: To invest or not to invest in sustainability? Dilemma of a small hotel

It is no secret that hotels, while pursuing profitability, are largely responsible for many of our sustainability challenges today. The hotel industry consumes a huge amount of energy and resources in its relentless pursuit for customer’s satisfaction. In turn, its operations often create many sustainability problems such as food waste, high energy and water usage and pollution. While many hotel owners understand their moral responsibility to direct its operations towards more sustainable practices and often through the adoption of green technologies, they are faced with a dilemma of choosing between profitability and sustainability. This is especially the case for small hotel owners. In this study, we examine closely a small hotel’s courage and ingenuity in adopting and investing on green technologies from a system perspective. We model the intertwining relationships between the adoption and investment of green technologies and the hotel’s profits and provide the evidence to shed light on how this delicate balance between profitability and sustainability can be achieved and sustained.