Keywords

Introduction

Sustainability is a concept that is being extended to more and more areas of our society, being very present in the business sphere through the so-called corporate sustainability. An increasing number of companies are taking the decision to apply sustainable practices in different areas of their organization, either to face regulatory requirements or simply to satisfy the pressures and demands of their customers.

However, the ability to determine which sustainable practices to apply in order to generate the highest return for companies still seems complicated. This is due to the fact that different variables intervene—for example, the type of sector in which the organizations operate and the level of development of sustainable practices applied by competitors.

Environmental practices and, in particular, the circular economy, are adopted both at strategic and operational level through the so-called environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria (Eccles et al., 2014). However, knowing what practices to apply or how to integrate the circular economy into the business model is still a complex process for organizations (Galbreath, 2009; Hahn, 2013). This is due to the fact that this decision-making process involves taking into account numerous factors if referring to a specific study—for example, the sectorin which the company competes, the demands of stakeholders, internal processes and structures, etc. (Baumgartner, 2014). In fact, there are authors (Engert et al., 2016) who argue that developing a sustainable strategy that determines which sustainable practices to implement requires an ad hoc study that includes the circumstances associated with each organization.

Purpose

In order to help companies in the Valencian tourism sector, especially hotel and restaurant companies, a project called ‘Innoecotur’ has been designed in which the main Valencian universities participate. This present study is the result of the first phases of the project’s work.

The aim of this work is to provide a model that can assist hotel and catering companies in their transition to a circular business model. Specifically, it shows the main circular practices that can be applied along the different points of contact that customers have with accommodation and catering services.

State of the Art

The circular economy (CE) is defined as the system that replaces the ‘end-of-life’ concept of the existing linear model, promoting the reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery of materials (Kirchherr et al., 2017). In other words, it is an opportunity to create value in a way that benefits society, business and the environment while contributing to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), the widely used framework in CE research is based on three design-driven principles: eliminating waste and pollution; making products and materials circular; and lastly, regenerating nature (EMF, 2021). The Capgemini Research Institute (2021) shows a series of actions (referred to as the 7 ‘Rs’) that can help organizations assess their current impact: reduce; reuse; redesign; repair/refurbish; restore/remanufacture; return/recover; recycle.

CE-related practices can be tailored to each type of company. The tourism industry is a vast and complex industry that encompasses a variety of sectors and connects with many other industries and value chains (Font & Lynes, 2018; Einarsson & Sorin, 2020; Rosato et al., 2021). In this case, this paper offers a study on how the tourism sector could integrate these types of practices throughout its value chain.

In this case, hotels and restaurants evaluate the journey that their customers follow during the interaction with their services to identify where in the value chain it is possible to implement more sustainable practices, either directly or through their suppliers.

Methodology

A qualitative method is used to explore these circular activities. After reviewing the literature, some reports from companies and organizations and the experiences of some companies through focus groups (De Miguel-Molina et al., 2022), the method selected to obtain information on the needs of companies in the application of the circular economy in hotels and restaurants is the focus group. Through this methodology, the integration of the companies is pursued from the beginning of the project. It is an information-gathering technique that seeks to find out what the participants think/feel about an idea (Krueger, 2015).

Service process models have been applied to follow all the steps that could contribute to a circular model (Kirchherr et al., 2017; Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). To represent the flow of these service processes, we have used the customer journey map (Tueanrat et al., 2021; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016) and infographics (Gareau et al., 2015) for a more visual representation.

Results

Tables 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9 represent the main points of interaction between customers and hotel and restaurant services. Additionally, the potential circular practices that could be developed in each process are shown and, finally, what type of suppliers can help companies to undertake these circular practices.

Table 5.1 Booking process for hotels and restaurants
Full size table
Table 5.2 Processes associated with the trip (hotels/restaurants)
Full size table
Table 5.3 Check-in process at the hotel
Full size table
Table 5.4 Access process (hotels and restaurants)
Full size table
Table 5.5 Processes associated with the use of the room (hotels)
Full size table
Table 5.6 Processes associated with table food service (restaurants)
Full size table
Table 5.7 Check out processes (hotels)
Full size table
Table 5.8 Other
Full size table
Table 5.9 Cross-cutting actions to hotels and restaurants
Full size table

Discussion

This work is part of the first phases of development of the Innoecotur project, so that soon the thesis shown here will be validated. In addition, part of the research is developed through case studies hand in hand with actors in the tourism sector. Therefore, this model has been proposed to hotels and restaurants, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as to different suppliers that are part of their supply chain.

On the other hand, two infographics are shown (Figs. 5.1 and 5.2) in order to visualize the processes in a clear and simple way to show how a circular model could be developed for hotel and restaurant companies. Small and medium-sized hotels and restaurants in the Valencian community have little access to information on this type of practice, so this work allows them to provide them with a clear and understandable model that can help them, as well as contribute to the literature on CE in the tourism sector.

Fig. 5.1
An infographic chart represents the circular operations in hotels. It includes an efficiency renewable energies reduce water, sustainable furniture reduce packaging, eco chemicals reduce, irrigating battery storage, reduce materials and packaging, reduce paper eco cleaning reduce textile.

Circular operations in hotels. Source: Authors

Full size image
Fig. 5.2
An infographic exhibits the circular operations in restaurants. It includes an efficient renewable energies reduce water, local supplier 0 kilometers reduce packaging, efficient sustainable furniture, irrigating battery storage, compost recycle packaging waste, reuse materials eco washing.

Circular operations in restaurants. Source: Authors

Full size image

Limitations

The qualitative data obtained through the realization of three focus groups with stakeholders of the tourism sector are from the Valencian Community in Spain, specifically, so the results of this work may not be representative in all geographical areas. The results of this work will be used to develop a platform where hotels and restaurants can find all kinds of suppliers of a variety of solutions with different approaches on sustainable practices to facilitate the implementation of circular actions in the Valencian Community.