Four Hotel Firms Among 'World's Most Ethical Companies'

The Ethisphere Institute just released its annual list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. This year’s list includes 110 companies. The World’s Most Ethical Company designation is awarded to those companies that have leading ethics and compliance programs, particularly as compared to their industry peers. Of the 110 companies, 36 are new to the list. Among businesses in the “Hotels, Travel and Hospitality” category, only Kimpton Hotels, Marriott International, Wyndham Worldwide and The Rezidor Hotel Group made this year’s list. How were companies chosen? A methodology committee of leading attorneys, professors, government officials and organization leaders assisted Ethisphere in creating the scoring methodology for the World’s Most Ethical Companies awards.

Over the course of the year, companies across the world submitted their applications to become 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies. Based on these applications, as well as information Ethisphere gathered throughout the year, a list of semi-finalists was created. At this stage, semi-finalist companies were notified and given an in-depth survey questionnaire to fill out regarding their ethics and compliance program, governance and corporate responsibility. Ethisphere then conducted data analysis on hundreds of companies based on their responses to the survey, as well as documents and information researched and requested by Ethisphere to confirm survey responses. Every company was then given an EQ score based on the results of the survey and measured against seven distinct categories.

The categories included Corporate Citizenship and Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Innovation that Contributes to the Public Well Being; Industry leadership; Executive Leadership and Tone from the Top; Legal, Regulatory and Reputation Track Record; and Internal Systems and Ethics/Compliance Program. The highest EQ scores for each industry became this year’s 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies. For more information on the methodology used, click here.

Congratulations to Kimpton Hotels, Marriott International, Wyndham Worldwide and The Rezidor Hotel Group.