Challenges pertaining to implementing CSR in hospitality industry

By on August 2, 2012

Challenges pertaining to implementing CSR in hospitality industryThough hotel chains have been exhibiting concern towards environment for decades, the labor problems make it very difficult for hotels to implement the same. These consist of skills needs, women’s rights, fair wages, collective bargaining and capability to join trade unions. Though the hospitality industry is taking initiatives towards increasing up their efforts of CSR, the sector is still lagging beyond other industries. The environmental and labor problems are necessary areas of improvement to implement corporate social responsibility successfully in hotels.

Labor problems in hospitality industry

The International Society of Hospitality Consumption denotes the requirement for the hospitality industry to manage unions as allies and spend more money and time to training and recruitment. The training necessity was determined in the “Initiative for developing CSR in the hospitality industry signed by Hotrec and EFFAT, the partners of Europe for the hospitality industry (Grant Thornton, 2008). They recognize continuous and vocational training in the initiative as an area where the organizations must go beyond the legal needs and they emphasize the requirement for lifelong learning and training specifically among youth workers in hospitality industry. The hospitality industry employment is characterized usually by positions of low income with small opportunity for advancement. Several employees are recruited at low income established by fifteen local governments, while in higher paid positions managers are imported typically from home countries of big international hotel chains, permitting them to gain several financial benefits.

Environmental problems in the hospitality industry

While handling environmental problems can be a better way for hotels to prove commitment to security of environment, an extra encouragement appears to be the savings of costs. Typically whole service hotel spends between 5 and 7%t of its energy revenue and luxury hotel can spend more than 10%.  By gaining energy efficient programs that conserve energy and water and by lowering down waste production, hotels can save important amounts of money. Each decade the hospitality industry devours around United States $2 million worth of energy (Caroll, 1999). Lowering down consumption of energy and the associated prices without managing the service given to quality of their stay and guests is one of the most challenging problems faced by hotel industry (CBSR, 2003). The hotel must have a system in place for evaluating consumption of energy and targeting environments to gain reductions in energy consumption. Waste management is another necessary area for hotels to denote. Hotels produce huge number of waste in the form of glass, aluminum, steel, plastics, food and cardboard much of which can be reprocessed. A hotel can reduce its influence on environment by lowering down the waste amount it sends to landfills and lowers down consumption of energy simultaneously for the processing and transportation of waste.

References

  • Grant Thornton. (2008). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Necessity Not a Choice. Bangkok: Author.
  • Carroll, A. B. (1999). Corporate Social Responsibility: Evolution of a Definitional Construct. Business & Society 38(3), 268-295.
  • CBSR. (2003). Best People Practices: The Integration of Values into People Practices.Vancouver, BC: Author.

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