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This paper aims to summarize the main contributions and practical implications arising from the theme issue with reference to 22 case examples relating to sustainable hospitality and tourism industry development and one interview-based article drawing on practitioners with expertise is the practice of adaptive re-use.

This paper reviews the contribution made by this theme issue to the question: How can sustainability and the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) be applied to hospitality?

Through this study, it has been observed that progress has been made by hospitality firms in relation to sustainability, but additional work is needed to address the more complex issues raised by the UN’s SDGs.

A key outcome of this theme issue is that the 22 case examples and the interview-based practitioner opinion presented in this paper demonstrate that sustainability is firmly on the development agenda, and that a sense of urgency and commitment to sustainability principles has gained ground and significance.

This study aims to outline the rationale for the theme issue question and introduces articles written by MBA students at Les Roches Global Hospitality Education, Switzerland. The issue provides best practice examples of corporate social responsibility in hospitality settings and explores the outcomes and implications for employee quality of life.

This study provides a descriptive review of the theme issue approach and the ways in which industry case study examples have been integrated with a review of literature to analyse the ways in which corporate social responsibility initiatives are increasingly focusing on work–life balance and quality of life considerations.

During their analysis and case study research, the MBA group found that the provision for quality of life outcomes has been enhanced in recent years by hospitality and tourism firms, and that since the onset of the pandemic, momentum has been building. Yet, a bigger and more complex question relates to work–life balance – a critical component of quality of life outcomes – and whether it is transferable to society as a whole.

The aim of this theme issue is to explore the linkages between work–life balance, corporate social responsibility and the concept of circular economic thinking and how this impacts on quality of life. The authors argue that by better understanding these relationships, it is possible to contribute to the longer-term goal of sustainability and sustainable development. In part, this is because work life provisions are not only applicable at the micro level (firms) but also at the macro level (society), the latter through enhanced focus on circular economic thinking and practice.

This study aims to summarize and review the contributions made to the theme issue and observe that synergistic relationships between micro and macro levels of corporate social responsibility initiatives are needed to enable quality of life measures to be embedded in circular economic thinking and practice.

This study reviews the contributions made by each article in the theme issue with reference to case study examples of contemporary corporate social responsibility initiatives implemented in hospitality and tourism settings.

This theme issue sought to showcase how work–life balance provisions help to stabilize employee turnover, and that further to this, quality of life enhancements via corporate social responsibility initiatives at the micro or company level can stimulate circular economic strategies at the macro or societal level. This can play a key role in securing the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal number 3 (good health and well-being).

This summary argues that enhanced corporate social responsibility initiatives could shorten the journey to sustainability by focusing on improving societal and personal levels of quality of life. Only then will work–life balance measurements become more transferable from micro to macro perspectives through circular economic thinking and action. Hence, it is clear that work–life provisions are powerful drivers in the journey toward sustainability.

Maintaining human capital in the hotel industry is challenging due to high turnover. Through the implementation of circular economy theory, hotels are finding that human capital retention can be achieved via Quality of Life (QOL) outcomes by providing Corporate Social Resposibility (CSR) initiatives in the employee brand experience that focus on “place” attachment.

The approach is qualitative and three interviews were conducted with professionals from luxury hotels. The results were then compiled for each interview to determine whether QOL outcomes were in fact experienced by the interviewee in their designated hotel company.

Based on the interviews, all three hotels do incorporate CSR initiatives that focus on “place” attachment. Consequently, employees experience QOL outcomes that result in their retention within the hotel company.

An issue that hotels face is employee turnover. However, with experience-driven human capital management, retention can be achieved by ensuring that QOL outcomes are properly incorporated into the employee brand experience. In so doing, hotels can ensure that employees are engaged in their surrounding “place” through CSR initiatives that attach them to the local area.