Developing a Hospitality Social Sustainability Accreditation Framework

The Dutch hospitality industry, reflecting the wider Dutch society, is increasingly facing social sustainability
challenges for a greying population, such as increasing burnout, lifelong learning, and inclusion for those
distanced from the job market. Yet, while the past decades have seen notable progress regarding
environmental sustainability and good governance, more attention should be paid to social sustainability. This
concern is reflected by the top-sector healthcare struggles caused by mounting social welfare pressure,
leading to calls by the Dutch government for organizational improvement in social earning capacity.
Furthermore, the upcoming EU legislation on CSRD requires greater transparency regarding financial and
non-financial reporting this year. Yet, while the existing sustainability accreditation frameworks offer guidance
on environmental sustainability and good governance reporting, there must be more guidance on auditing
social sustainability. The hospitality industry, as a prominent employer in the Netherlands, thus has a societal
and legislative urgency to transition its social earning capacity. Dormben Hotel The Hague OpCo BV (Dormben) has thus sought support in transitioning its social sustainability standards to meet this call.
Hotelschool, the Hague leads the consortium, including Green Key Nederland and Dormben, by employing
participatory design to present a social sustainability accreditation framework. Initially, Dr. David Brannon and
Dr. Melinda Ratkai from Hotelschool The Hague will draft a social sustainability accreditation framework
informed by EFRAG. Subsequently, Erik van Wijk, from Green Key Nederland, the hospitality benchmark for
sustainability accreditation, and Sander de Jong, from Dormben, will pilot the framework through four
participatory workshops involving hospitality operators. Later, during a cross-industry conference, Dr. David
Brannon and Dr. Melinda Ratkai will disseminate a social sustainability toolkit across their academic and
industry networks. Finally, conference and workshop participants will be invited to form a social sustainability
learning community, discussing their social earning capacity based on the revised sustainability accreditation.

Eindrapportage

The project encountered several challenges that were closely tied to its focus on developing a certification framework aligned with emerging reporting requirements. One major difficulty was the complexity of translating ESRS datapoints into hospitality-specific contexts. The European standards are broad and generic, while the hospitality sector operates with its own particularities, such as seasonal workforce patterns, supply chain dependencies, and guest-facing sustainability measures. This made it necessary to carefully interpret how these datapoints could be meaningfully embedded into a certification framework that operators would find both practical and credible.
A second challenge was the sector’s uneven readiness for CSRD compliance. While some larger hospitality groups had begun preparing structured reporting systems, smaller operators often relied more heavily on sustainability certifications such as Green Key. This uneven starting point highlighted the need to clarify how far existing certificates can support organizations in meeting reporting obligations, and where additional tools are necessary.
A third challenge was the limited availability of operators to attend workshops, largely due to ongoing staff shortages. Although interest in the topic was strong, many businesses could not allocate time or resources to fully participate in co-creation sessions.
From these challenges, several important lessons were drawn. The use of participatory design methods proved highly valuable, ensuring that the framework was not only technically aligned with ESRS requirements but also relevant to the day-to-day operations of the hospitality sector., but also very challenging to make it happen, especially if there is a strict timeline.
The involvement of student(s) helped us to strengthen the process by facilitating knowledge transfer between academia and practice, creating bridges between theory and application.
At the same time, the project demonstrated that certifications such as Green Key can play an important role in guiding companies toward better reporting practices, but they cannot be seen as a complete substitute for compliance with CSRD. Future efforts should therefore focus on clarifying the complementarities between certification schemes and formal reporting requirements, while also working on simplifications that make reporting more accessible for SMEs. By doing so, the certification framework can act both as an entry point for operators new to sustainability reporting and as a steppingstone toward full CSRD compliance.