Corporate social responsibility: what are top hotel companies reporting?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the level of socially responsible behavior of the top ten hotel companies. Design/methodology/approach - This study used content analysis method to identify and describe social responsibility (SR) patterns in web sites, annual reports and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports for the top ten hotel companies as listed in Hotels magazine. Findings - The findings reveal that 80 percent of the hotel companies analyzed reported socially responsible activities relating to some form of charitable donations. A diversity policy was reported by 60 percent of the hotel companies, while 40 percent provided some mention of SR in their vision or mission statements. Some companies were highly focused on providing a balanced approach to SR while other hotel companies were less focused in their efforts. The areas of SR that seemed to be lacking with regards to reporting were environmental, and vision and values. Research limitations/implications - Future studies should collect data from hospitality organizations and potential shareholders via interviews and surveys. Practical implications - With rising consumer awareness regarding corporate responsibility (CR), it is important for the industry to begin profiling their efforts at SR as part of their overall corporate and business strategies. Originality/value - This is one of the first research papers looking at CSR in the hospitality industry. It provides some practical implications about reporting of socially responsible activities for hospitality organizations. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.