Retrofitting of hotels : the Protea Hospitality Group of hotels within Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract: The need for environmental retrofitting of hotels arose as a result of the large amounts of waste being produced by the built environment along with the excessive amounts of resources being consumed by the hospitality sector. Most of the consequences thereof are environmental in nature which includes air pollution, water scarcity, as well as high amounts of landfill waste generation and energy consumption. Retrofitting is an attempt at rectifying these issues by minimizing these negative effects to produce sustainable green buildings. Not all green buildings make use of the same environmentally friendly measures. The hotel sector also makes use of a range of environmental initiatives. The Protea Hospitality Group (PHG) of hotels, a large South African hotel group, has begun to retrofit their hotel portfolio over the last decade. A number of their hotels have recently undergone and still is undergoing retrofitting. This is a staggered process with hotels being retrofitted to green standards over time. This study investigated the green initiatives undertaken by the PHG in Gauteng. Ten of Gauteng’s 15 Protea Hotels were examined in detail; namely: Protea Hotel African Pride Melrose Arch, Protea Hotel Fire & Ice Melrose Arch, Protea Hotel Wanderers, Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton, Protea Hotel Parktonian Braamfontein, Protea Hotel Midrand, Protea Hotel Centurion, Protea Hotel O.R Tambo Airport, Protea Hotel Roodepoort, and Protea Hotel Manor. The focus of the research was on the motivations for retrofitting, environmentally-friendly measures implemented, amounts of resource consumption and waste generation, the expenditure associated with retrofitting measures, green awareness, green marketing, as well as the recent Marriott takeover. A comparative analysis amongst the study hotels was undertaken in order to identify the different levels of green retrofitting within the PHG of hotels within Gauteng.M.A. (Environmental Management