The research claims hotels are still not doing enough to redress the balance between male and female directors on their boards as only approximately 10 per cent of all hotel board directors are women.
Accor Group, the international hotel operator and owner of the Ibis brand, are the only company in the study that come close to the HVS Executive Search recommended target of 33 per cent female board members.
InterContinental Hotels Group and Whitbread have top hotel boards
The global executive search company assesses board performance of all Europe's largest hotel groups. In the sixth year of the study InterContinental Hotels Group topped the list for the fourth time, narrowly beating Whitbread to the top spot.
Just 5 per cent separates the scores of the top three, which also includes Rezidor Hotel Group. However HVS Executive Search argue hotel boards still need to do more on adequate representation of women and transparency, including on executive pay.
Chris Mumford, managing director of HVS Executive Search said: "The boardroom has traditionally been a male dominated bastion which has been a hard one for women to break into. As the female presence in the executive, employee, and shareholder ranks grows so too does the call for more women to be sat at the boardroom table. Publicly quoted hotel companies need to show that they are non-discriminatory and also provide female role models to illustrate that the hotel business is one in which women can thrive just as well as men."
'Top jobs require sacrifices'
Earlier this year Debrah Dhugga, general manager of London's Dukes Hotel and a panellist at a briefing on women in hospitality organised by HVS Executive Search and the Leading Ladies of London Association, said women wanting the top industry jobs had to make heavy sacrifices.
The annual HVS Executive Search European Hotel Board study ranks hotel boards on the basis of a total score based on four areas of corporate governance. Commitment to executive and director performance pay, presence of exchange arrangements between companies board positions and insider participation are all scored as well as the size and make-up of the board.