Sustainability in Travel 2021: Emissions Benchmark of Six Global Hotel Companies

Report Overview

Environmental criteria are becoming increasingly important to investors, employees, and guests. As a result, most large hotel companies report on their emissions and targets in filings to the CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, a non-profit organization that encourages companies to disclose their environmental impact). We have used these filings to benchmark the current performance of six of the largest hotel companies.

This is not as straightforward as it may sound, due to the differences in capturing and reporting emissions information, as well as the different portfolios run by each company. This report sets out the main barriers to cross-comparing performances, and offers some ways to get around this.

Our analysis finds that Accor stands out as a top performer, in the best position to work towards carbon neutrality. Marriott, partially due to its largest portfolio, is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. When taking into account the different sized portfolios Hyatt Hotels is the largest polluter per room, closely followed by Marriott. Wyndham and Choice Hotels need to increase their reporting on emissions. Particularly Choice Hotels’ absence of any targets and reporting are highly disappointing and should be addressed by the company.

What You'll Learn From This Report

• The hotel company leaders and laggards in emissions reduction.

• The targets for emission reduction set by the six largest hotel companies, and the shortcomings of these targets.

• How chain scales have a major impact on company emissions, and how these chain scales can be used to provide a benchmark for company performance.

• The future challenges of continued emissions reduction.

• Shortcomings of current reporting standards, and how this could be improved.