Sustainability as Cultural Governance in Luxury Hotels: An Interpretive Case Study of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Luxury hospitality has conventionally been framed as environmentally intensive, rendering luxury and sustainability conceptually incompatible. Recent shifts in the sector, however, suggest that sustainability is increasingly integrated into the cultural logics and governance arrangements of luxury hotels. While prior research has predominantly examined sustainability in luxury hospitality through technical and managerial perspectives, its cultural and governance dimensions remain insufficiently theorised. Drawing on an interpretive qualitative case study of a global luxury hotel group, this article explores how sustainability is articulated, legitimised, and institutionalised within luxury hospitality. Using qualitative content analysis of publicly available organisational texts, sustainability reports, and digital communications, the study conceptualises Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks as mechanisms of cultural governance that align sustainability with luxury brand meanings and organisational identities. The findings indicate that sustainability in luxury hospitality operates not only as an operational or compliance-oriented practice, but as a culturally mediated process through which moral responsibility, stewardship, and long-term value creation are embedded into narratives of luxury. By foregrounding sustainability as a form of cultural governance, this article contributes to tourism and hospitality scholarship by advancing understanding of how luxury hotels negotiate changing meanings of luxury within contemporary sustainable tourism development.