A true friend becomes apparent on a rainy day: corporate social responsibility practices of top hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

This research aims to reveal the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities carried out by the world’s top-ranking hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic. To accomplish this goal, the websites of the 100 hotels in the world were examined using the content analysis method. The findings reveal that hotels carried out 40 different CSR activities to reduce the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These activities are divided into 11 categories. Three main CSR themes were then formed based on these categories: community, employees and customers. According to the findings, 50% of hotels organized CSR activities for the community and 76% for their employees and 87% for their customers. Based on these findings, this research has also provided key practical implications for hotel managers to effectively implement CSR practices in the pandemic period.

KEYWORDS:

• Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• COVID-19
• Hotel industry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).