Learning from Best Practices: Sustainability Reporting in International Hotel Chains

Abstract

A growing number of hospitality companies choose to publish the performance in areas pertaining to sustainability separately from the annual financial reports. Additionally, effective environmental communication can become an advantageous differentiation factor and create a positive brand image. However, mandatory reporting is, at the time of writing this paper, only required for financial information. Unlike financial reporting, however, the communication of sustainability efforts or results is largely unregulated. A great diversity can be noted with regard to the way environmental and social justice information is gathered, written, and disseminated. This research aimed to discover current practices in regards to sustainability reporting from international chains and assess the meaningfulness of the information being reported and the level of comparability between companies’ reports and results. Recommendations on future reporting are made for enhanced benchmarking, thus making data being communicated to stakeholders more transparent.

Citation

Legrand, W., Huegel, E.B. and Sloan, P. (2013), "Learning from Best Practices: Sustainability Reporting in International Hotel Chains", Advances in Hospitality and Leisure (Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 119-134. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1745-3542(2013)0000009010