Analysing the Role of Responsible Luxury in the Indian Hospitality Sector

Abstract

This paper evaluates the role of responsible luxury within the Indian hospitality sector. According to the concept of responsible luxury, comfort and opulence must be secured through sustainable practices. This paper adopts a qualitative approach using both primary and secondary data. The secondary data lead to the formulation of a theoretical framework containing the key elements of responsible luxury including communications, responsible procurement, resource conservation, sustainable development and indoor environment quality. The primary data was collected through an online questionnaire administered to 40 managers of various hotels in India. The questionnaire collected information on guest requirements with respect to responsible luxury and what the hotels must do to implement the principles of responsible luxury. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were used to analyse primary data. It was found that only the luxury and premium hotels situated in urban India have adopted some of the concepts related to responsible luxury. Indoor environment quality was found to be associated with indigenous design & fittings, promotion of day-light and fresh-air, use of green seal materials and reduced usage of chemicals and plastic. Similar findings were made with respect to the other constructs identified in the theoretical framework. Regression analysis indicated the factors were significant predictors of the constructs related to responsible luxury. These findings indicate which factors on responsible luxury, hotels in India must focus on and implement.