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The aim of this study was to examine key attributes of sustainable service innovation (SSI) in the hotel industry. The research has used backcasting from sustainable principles and a few frameworks for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) concepts. The FSSD concepts such as 5LM and strategic ABCD lens helped to discover an integrated framework for evaluating SSI. Document analysis and interviews with 6 practitioners from a single case study organization informed on how they recognize and contribute towards sustainability. The study shows the competitive benefits of using SSI strategically in the hotel industry. The recommendation is for them to complement FSSD with SDGs, the Sustainability Principles (SPs) so they can have a better definition of sustainability to implement into their operational processes.   

This thesis contributed to the ongoing study on sustainability and its relationship to service innovation in addition to provide recommendations for companies striving towards sustainability path. The findings showed that SSI consists of four attributes: hotel industry, sustainable practice, organizational innovation, and resourcing. The result from the 5LM analysis and thematic analysis shows that sustainable practice has direct and indirect impacts on hotel industry, organizational innovation, and resourcing. Additionally, while using the ABCD approach resourcing appeared as the most important attribute. Since this research is based on a single case study, the future studies should conduct multiple case study to investigate the relationship between sustainability and service innovation.