@xavierfont

Corporate social

responsibility in tourism and

hospitality: greenwashing or

marketing advantage?

Dr Xavier Font Leeds Metropolitan University

@xavierfont

Hotels- CSR disclosure only

CO

RP

OR

ATE

P

OLI

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LAB

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SUES

SOC

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NO

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Y

Total (0-100) Rankin

g

ACCOR 72 79 73 100 95 94 86 1º

BARCELÓ 43 50 45 70 62 82 58 7º

CARLSON 56 79 76 74 82 65 74 5º

HILTON 53 35 46 82 35 68 54 8º

IBEROSTAR 21 3 47 50 50 61 38 9º

INTERCONTINENTAL 59 82 77 91 66 96 80 3º

MARRIOTT 50 65 83 98 81 96 81 2º

RIU 0 0 18 70 29 12 27 10º

SOL MELIÁ 61 68 83 94 59 100 79 4º

STARWOOD 54 79 50 95 56 78 71 6º

Average per section 46.9 54 59.8 82.4 61.5 75.2 64.8

@xavierfont

Disclosure/performance gap

CO

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SOC

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ENV

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NM

ENTA

L IS

SUES

CU

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Total (0-100) Rankin

g

ACCOR 2 0 10 8 21 0 7 3º

BARCELÓ 2 0 1 15 16 0 5 1º

CARLSON 6 2 8 9 28 0 11 5º

HILTON 5 8 7 29 13 0 11 6º

IBEROSTAR 1 0 11 12 10 0 5 2º

INTERCONTINENTAL 7 0 11 34 27 0 15 8º

MARRIOTT 3 0 8 35 30 0 15 9º

RIU 0 0 4 69 19 0 21 10º

SOL MELIÁ 3 1 21 23 13 0 12 7º

STARWOOD 5 0 4 14 19 0 9 4º

Average per section 3.4 1.1 8.5 24.8 19.6 0 11.1

@xavierfont

Disclosure weighted by performance

CO

RP

OR

ATE

PO

LIC

IES

LAB

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R IS

SUES

SOC

IO E

CO

NO

MIC

IS

SUES

ENV

IRO

NM

ENTA

L IS

SUES

CU

STO

MER

EN

GA

GEM

ENT

TRA

NSP

AR

ENC

Y

Total (0-100) Ranking

ACCOR 70 79 63 92 74 94 79 1º

BARCELÓ 41 50 44 55 46 82 53 7º

CARLSON 50 77 68 65 54 65 63 5º

HILTON 48 27 39 53 22 68 43 8º

IBEROSTAR 20 3 36 38 40 61 33 9º

INTERCONTINENTAL 52 82 66 57 39 96 65 4º

MARRIOTT 47 65 75 63 51 96 66 3º

RIU 0 0 14 1 10 12 6 10º

SOL MELIÁ 58 67 62 71 46 100 67 2º

STARWOOD 49 79 46 81 37 78 62 6º

Average per section 44 53 51 58 42 75 54

@xavierfont

Category (number of indicators)

ALL (

29

)

GR

OU

P 1

(1

1)

GR

OU

P 2

(1

8)

TOTAL 16 39 3

ENVIRONMENT: TOTAL (84) 18 42 3

SOFT DISCLOSURE (13) 24 51 8

HARD DISCLOSURE (71) 17 41 3

MANAGEMENT (37) 20 43 6

PERFORMANCE (47) 16 41 1

A1 Governance structure and management systems 29 66 6

A2 Credibility 19 35 9

A3 Environmental Performance Indicators 16 41 1

Materials 0 0 0

Water 24 64 0

Biodiversity 0 0 0

Emissions, effluents and waste 19 48 1

Products and services 21 45 6

A4 Environmental financial indicators 5 14 0

A5 Vision and strategy claims 35 68 15

A6 Environmental Profile 16 39 2

A7 Environmental Initiatives 14 34 1

@xavierfont

Category (number of indicators)

ALL

(2

9)

GR

OU

P 1

(1

1)

GR

OU

P 2

(1

8)

TOTAL 16 39 3

SOCIO-ECONOMIC: TOTAL (110) 14 34 2

SOFT DISCLOSURE (23) 13 31 3

HARD DISCLOSURE (87) 14 34 1

MANAGEMENT (61) 13 30 3

PERFORMANCE (49) 15 38 0

B1 Governance structure and management systems 16 39 1

B2 Credibility 17 36 6

B3 Key Social Indicators 13 33 1

Labour and decent work 18 48 0

Human rights 8 22 0

Society 9 22 2

Product responsibility 9 23 1

B4 Social spending 0 0 0

B5 Vision and strategy claims 31 68 8

B6 Social profile 12 27 2

C1 Economic indicators 6 16 1

Economic performance 5 12 0

Economic impact on destinations 7 18 1

@xavierfont

Environmental hard/soft

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Environm soft

Environm hard

Total score

@xavierfont

TIES Guideline 1_

SocEn

t

2_

SocEn

t

3_

Com

/C

har

4_

SocEn

t

5_

Com

6_

NG

O

7_

Com

/C

har

8_

Com

A

verag

e

(m

ax +

10

, m

in

-10

)

Sustainable Management Local Community First 7 5 4 3 2 2 -3 -4 2.0

Lasting Impact 6 1 6 4 4 2 1 -1 2.9

Selecting and Working with Volunteers

Appropriate match 5 0 0 0 1 1 -2 -3 0.3

Clear goals & objectives 4 1 2 3 1 1 1 -1 1.5

Special needs 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.1

Alternative ways to

contribute 0 4 1 0 0 0 1 1 0.9

Defining Success & Measuring Impact Inappropriate behaviour 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.1

Transparency in Financial Reporting Money per trip 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0.8

Donations 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.0

Transparency in Non-Financial

Reporting

Impacts 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0.8

Needs Assessments 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.1

Show values 1 1 3 3 3 4 0 3 2.3

Managing Social and Economic Impacts Working with locals 2 4 1 3 0 2 3 -1 1.8

Sexual exploitation 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0.4

Background checks 2 -2 0 0 3 0 1 0 0.5

Interacting with children 0 -2 0 0 -2 0 -1 0 -0.6

Supporting Biodiversity & Heritage

Local conservation 5 3 2 2 5 3 3 2 3.1

Respect heritage 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.5

Respect wildlife 0 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1.4

(max +390, min -390 ) Aggregate 46 23 23 20 20 18 10 -3 19.6

@xavierfont

Responsibility per company

1_

So

cEn

t

2_

SocEn

t

3_

Com

/C

har

4_

So

cEn

t

5_

Com

6_

NG

O

7_

Com

/C

har

8_

Com

Averag

e

(m

ax +

38

, m

in

-38

)

Home page 5 3 2 0 1 4 0 -2 1.6

RT policy 12 7 8 4 3 4 5 2 5.6

Americas

(conservation) 8 7 7 7 7 5 5 -2 5.5

Asia (community) 10 5 2 4 4 3 -1 1 3.5

Africa (childcare) 11 1 4 5 5 2 -1 -2 3.1

Aggregate 46 23 23 20 20 18 10 -3 19.6

(max +390, min -390)

Average price per day £48 £19 £72 £57 £48 £47 £80 £87 £57

@xavierfont

Conservation Central/South America Responsibility vs Price

7_Com/Char

4_SocEnt

5_Com 3_Com/Char

2_SocEnt

8_Com

6_NGO

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

£0 £200 £400 £600 £800 £1,000 £1,200 £1,400 £1,600

Resp

on

sib

ilit

y

Total Price

1_SocEnt

@xavierfont

Community Development Asia Responsibility v Price

7_Com/Char

1_SocEnt

2_SocEnt 8_Com

6_NGO

4_SocEnt

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

£0 £200 £400 £600 £800 £1,000 £1,200 £1,400

Resp

on

sib

ilit

y

Total Price

5_Com

3_Com/Char

@xavierfont

Childcare Africa Responsibility v Price

7_Com/Char

4_SocEnt

1_SocEnt

5_Com

3_Com/Char

2_SocEnt

8_Com

6_NGO

-5

-3

-1

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

£0 £500 £1,000 £1,500 £2,000

Ch

ild

care i

n A

fric

a P

ag

e

Total Price

@xavierfont

Responsible Value vs Price (Average per Day)

8_Com

7_Com/Char

6_NGO

4_SocEnt

5_Com

3_Com/Char

2_SocEnt

1_SocEnt

£0.00

£10.00

£20.00

£30.00

£40.00

£50.00

£60.00

£70.00

£80.00

£90.00

£100.00

-10 0 10 20 30 40 50

Averag

e p

ric

e p

er d

ay

Aggregate Level of Responsibility

@xavierfont

1. Altruistic reasons

2. Better product reasons

3. Expect it already happens

4. Don’t want to know, but don’t mind if you do it

5. Will avoid your product

• 46% don’t want to think about being green - they want to relax

• 33% believe sustainability claims are often ways to save money and/or reduce service

• 15% think a hotel run sustainably will be less comfortable than one without green credentials.

@xavierfont

• Be clear what response or change that you are hoping for from your customers

1. To make customers feel good

2. To raise awareness and change behaviour

3. To offer something extra

4. To get more customers

@xavierfont

@xavierfont

Why charitable donations

• Bedruthan Steps Hotel (Cornwall) explains to customers at the point of booking that they encourage guest donations to responsible causes (while highlighting that the hotel also does their bit).

• £5 opt-out donation per booking:

– Option 1: co2balance

– Option 2: Surfers Against Sewage

– Option 3: St Mawgan in Pydar Community Fund

@xavierfont

Using incentives to increase occupancy

• James Hiley-Jones. At Carey’s Manor and Senspa in Hampshire car-free visits get: – 10% off standard tariff rate – 2 for 1 tickets at Beaulieu – free steam train ride at Exbury

Gardens – 10% off cycle hire at Cycle

Experience in Brockenhurst.

• 10-15% of our leisure weekend customers and 30 to 40% of our mid week conference market now arrive car free.

• We’ve realised how corporate social responsibility has become a much bigger issue and we now provide a green travel plan for conference organisers.

@xavierfont

• Be clear about the impression you want to create –

• with your sustainability policy, photos, text...

1. Fun

2. Cultural immersion

3. Better service

4. Empathy

5. Trust/risk

@xavierfont

@xavierfont

We buy local whenever possible

• Food: what will sell more?

– Sustainable, low carbon footprint, ecological

– Fresh, unadulterated, honest

• Putting the client at the centre of the experience works for all messages

– Roof insulation

– Solar panels

– Kitchen waste

@xavierfont

Family Worldwide shows we share the same values…

• “What I’m finding more and more as I travel and talk to parents, is the overwhelming number of you who are becoming desperate to help their children to engage with the real world and leave behind the screen of a computer, phone, Playstation, Nindendo DS, X-Box, Wii...”

@xavierfont

• Integrate sustainability as part of quality through the channels you already use.

1. Certification

2. Awards

3. Press

4. Packaging

5. Brochures

6. On site communication

@xavierfont

Meet your public relations manager

• The Mill at Gordleton (Hampshire).

• Crispie the Duck, an orphan they adopted is now the hotel’s mascot.

• Photo calendar, children’s book and doorstops inspired on Crispie- with profits from the book, for example, going to a local children’s cancer ward.

@xavierfont

Your website

• Your website’s sustainability policy page is boring

• “minimise waste by evaluating operations and ensuring they are fit for purpose”

@xavierfont

The seasonality of your website

• When do photos say I should come next?

• Blog/social media- what to look forward to

• Get better photos. Seriously

• Be your own tourist information centre.

• Things to do

– per season

– for free

– real treats

– when it rains

– from our doorstep

– bird menu

@xavierfont

Best car free holiday page, because you planned everything

@xavierfont

@xavierfont

• You market your company all the time

• Help customers make informed decisions

1. Pre booking/purchase

2. After booking and confirmation

1. Food preorder

3. On arrival/ start of the tour

4. During the tour/ stay 1. Placemats

2. Menus

3. Maps

5. After the stay/visit

@xavierfont

Camden food co

@xavierfont

• The Venus Company thinks about their impact on the environment, but also the impact on customers’ taste buds and eyes.

• They use food to tell a story - of where the food comes from and how it’s good for you.

• They use over 40 organic products, source locally, and tell customers about it.

• Not tacky in your face way, but as part of reinforcing the message that you can enjoy being on holiday.

• They communicate “sustainability” everywhere - all their packaging talks about toxic free chemicals and hydrogenated fat amongst others

@xavierfont

Compelling language

Accurate website

User-friendly website

Social media marketing

@xavierfont

www.responsibletourismcommunication.com