A Hotelier’s Perspective of CSR

Over the years different activities have been associated with the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility. In line with much of the business environment, the hotel industry also embraced the concept. Although, discussions and activities in general have tended to revolve primordially around the environment and the community, there has been a disparity in the extent to which the concept has been embraced within companies. The level at which hotel chains have engaged in CSR has also understandably been varied. Rather than offer a synoptic overview of how the hotel industry has engaged in CSR over the past decade, this chapter instead attempts to offer an insight from within the industry. Accordingly, it discusses the perspective of a key internal employee about how a specific company, namely Accor, has been engaging in CSR within the UK and internationally. Consequently, although issues discussed in the chapter occasionally refers to key debates, the chapter is based on a case study and hence is arguably subjective. Indeed, this chapter is merely intended to provide a hotelier’s perspective about CSR rather than presume to be an objective overview of the changing dimensions of engagement of hotel companies with the concept.