Kimpton’s founder, Bill Kimpton, is credited with inventing the “boutique” hotel segment in 1981. By 2005, Kimpton Hotels was comprised of 39 hotels throughout North America and Canada, each one designed to create a unique and exceptional guest experience. While Kimpton was known for designing hotels that reflected the energy and personality of their distinct locations, by 2004 the company’s top executives realized that uniting its hotel portfolio under a single recognizable brand could add considerable value. One aspect of the branding effort was to add the Kimpton name to each property, as in “Hotel Monaco San Francisco, a Kimpton Hotel.” Another aspect of their efforts to establish the Kimpton brand was the development and roll-out to all of their hotels of a major environmental initiative they named EarthCare. EarthCare was built on an already-established commitment to environmental and social responsibility. Their Hotel Triton was a model for the program, as it already included initiatives such as: energy-efficient lighting solutions, low-flow/high-pressure showerheads and sink aerators, and toilets that reduce water use, linen and towel reuse program, non-toxic, non-allergenic, all-natural cleaning products, low-VOC paints used to paint walls and ceilings and more. Planned future initiatives went well beyond those in the Triton Hotel. There were two basic ground rules for the roll-out: New initiatives couldn’t cost more than what was already budgeted for operations and capital improvements, and they couldn’t adversely affect customer perceptions or satisfaction. The case allows students to explore whether there is a “business case” for the EarthCare Program as well as posing a number of implementation issues, including:

• Potential resistance by general managers to centralized imperatives
• Potential resistance by hotel staff to new products and procedures
• Investments might have slower payback period, lower rate of return, intangible benefits
• For some products, required investments might exceed existing budgets