| Summary: | It is widely acknowledged that tourism is an industry with significant importance as growth driver for the world economy. Notwithstanding, the overwhelming growth of the industry over the years was accompanied by a significant dependency for natural resources, excessive consumption of non-renewable energy and waste generation (UNEP, 2011) being responsible for the increasing pressure on the environment, and which results in the industry’s contribution of 5% to total greenhouse gas emissions (Pomering, Noble, & Johnson, 2011; UNEP, 2011). Organizations have been pressured to go green and the adoption of sustainable business practices is therefore seen as an important orientation strategy in order to lessen the industry’s side effects. This study aims at addressing these issues in a specific segment of the tourism industry– the luxury hotels. The purpose is to identify the CSR practices that allow a hotel to be sustainable while providing guests a luxurious environment and without damaging the hotel’s financial position, as well as to understand to which extent is sustainability a value embedded in the hotel’s business model. To fulfill these objectives a case study approach is adopted, being Inspira Santa Marta the hotel selected for the analysis.
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