Comparative Study on Environmental Commitment of Luxury Hotel Brands with Five Globes of Environmental Responsibility

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to analyze the environmental commitment of luxury hotel brands with five globes of environmental responsibility. The study identified the top four luxury Indian and Foreign hotel brands. The brands include Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces and Marriott Hotels & Resorts. The study followed the convenience sampling approach to collect the data from the hotel Website. The information available in the hotel Web site under environment/sustainability was collected, segregated and coded to identify the level of environmental commitment with five globes of environmental responsibility. The five globes of environment responsibility include employee education, energy management, environmental commitment, solid waste management and water conservation. The results of the study indicate that the globe ‘Employee Education’ was not reflected in any of the hotel brands. All the selected hotel brands showcased excellent practices with regards to energy management, environmental commitment and water conservation. Evidence of solid waste management practice in Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces was not found. The study results will help the luxury hotel brands to include employee education as part of the environmental commitment to achieve sustainable environmental practices. In addition, the present study recommends the hotel brands to engage in an update of environmental commitment activities to showcase the efforts to various stakeholders and to gain a competitive edge for the brand in the market. This is one of the first studies conducted in the Indian context to compare the environmental commitment with five globes of environmental responsibility.