Do hotel companies communicate their environmental policies and practices more than independent hotels in Dubai, UAE?

Abstract

Purpose– This paper aims to ascertain how hotels in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), engage in environmental sustainability and what benefits and negativities can be incurred from such activity, and to determine the extent to which hotels use their own corporate websites to disseminate information pertaining to their environmental sustainability.Design/methodology/approach– The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in business has infiltrated since the latter half of the twentieth century. The hotel industry claims to engage in environmental sustainability due to the impact hotels have on the environment and considering the benefits that can arise from being environmentally friendly, such as positive corporate image and awareness of company’s stakeholders regarding company’s policies, practices and initiatives. A literature review regarding the current, most commonly used environmental practices and policies of hotels was conducted and content analysis was carried out in websites of companies and independent hotels in Dubai, UAE.Findings– Key findings showed that the environmental practices and policies which were the cheapest and easiest to implement were the most commonly used among hotels, and that hotel companies provided more corporate online environmental information than independent hotels. Overall, currently, hotels in Dubai do not effectively use online environmental reporting to their stakeholders, which should be an area of improvement by 2020.Research limitations/implications– Further research should be conducted in small and medium enterprises to identify benefits and challenges of and create awareness of the importance of online environmental reporting preparing for Expo2020.Originality/value– The analysis presented aims to highlight the importance of online environmental reporting by hotels and to compare and contrast ways of communicating CSR activities between hotel companies and independent hotels in Dubai, UAE.