Comparability of ESG Disclosure Requirements in the Hotel Industry: A Crosswalk Analysis of GRI, SASB and BRSR Core

Abstract

Hotel companies disclose sustainability information using multiple frameworks, each of which defines indicators differently. This research examines the extent to which disclosure requirements for hotel companies are comparable. Through a descriptive document analysis of three authoritative frameworks—the GRI Standards, the SASB Hotels and Lodging standard, and India's BRSR Core—an indicator crosswalk is developed covering sixteen topics relevant to hotel operations. Each correspondence is classified as equivalent, partial, divergent, or absent, and a typology of definitional sources of divergence is constructed. No topic exhibited a three-way equivalent correspondence. Four topics showed only partial correspondence, six were divergent, and six were absent in at least one framework. Notably, the scope of coverage varied: the GRI Standards addressed fourteen topics, BRSR Core eleven, and the industry-specific SASB standard only nine, omitting greenhouse gas emissions, waste, occupational health and safety, and data privacy. The three frameworks employ distinct normalisation regimes, resulting in the possibility that a hotel may publish three correct yet mutually incomparable energy intensity figures. However, BRSR Core's acceptance of room-nights as an output denominator aligns unexpectedly with SASB. The most significant divergences occur in the social domain, where frameworks measure different constructs based on overlapping data. The seven-type conflict typology distinguishes divergences resolvable from published figures, those requiring underlying records, and coverage gaps addressable only by standard setters. This study presents the first three-way comparison of requirements for the hotel industry that includes an emerging-market mandatory framework, providing a measurement foundation for future empirical research on disclosure comparability in the hospitality sector.