Accor is the most sustainable of the world’s 10 largest hotel groups, according to the inaugural Tomorrow’s Value Rating.
Not only has Accor recognized the key sustainability challenges facing the hotels sector, says the new research, it has also designed a comprehensive approach to managing them. However, when it comes to many of the other large hotel operators, the news is not quite so good.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if campaigning groups soon started hanging ‘Please clean up your act’ signs on hotel room doors,” states Thomas Krick, global program manager of the Tomorrow’s Value Rating.
Researched and produced by Two Tomorrows, the Tomorrow’s Value Rating assesses companies on how well they manage their most pressing social and environmental issues. The new rating aims to further the debate on sustainable business, identify and reward best practices, and spur healthy competition among companies by examining the largest companies in globally important industries. Every two months, the Tomorrow's Value Rating is applied to the largest companies in a globally important industry.
The inaugural Tomorrow’s Value Rating results in the following hotels ranking:
1. Accor
2. InterContinental Hotels
3. Marriott
4. Global Hyatt
5. Choice
6. Carlson
7. Hilton
8. Wyndham
9. Starwood
10. Best Western
“Accor is exploring some commendable solutions to sustainability challenges," Krick said. "For example, it is piloting innovative energy-saving technologies and buildings, and working with communities to maximise local procurement, thereby ensuring that locals benefit from its presence.”
However, the rating also shows that many of the world’s largest hotel groups are only just beginning to address the wide range of social and environmental challenges facing the sector. Many don’t recognize how these may be relevant to the success of their businesses. Even major issues such as climate change, biodiversity or local employment receive comparatively little attention and only half-hearted responses.
“Tourists and businesses have reined in their spending on travel, and the sector is having a tough time that may well carry on for a while," Krick said. "But those that fail to take sustainability seriously now are going to find it even harder in future.”
The Tomorrow’s Value Rating methodology draws on five years of experience with its predecessor rating, the Accountability Rating. In that time, many large companies made significant progress in the areas of performance assessed by the Accountability Rating. The new Tomorrow’s Value Rating is designed to assess and advance the areas of sustainability performance that still have much scope for improvement among the majority of companies. That is why it focuses in particular on innovation for sustainability, sector-specific sustainability issues, and management of the value chain.
Visit www.tomorrowsvaluerating.com.