Fair, confusing, opportunist, outstanding or accessory ? Understanding guests’ perceptions of hotels’ green practices.
Résumé
Given consumers’ growing awareness of environmental issues, hotels’ managers spend
substantial time and money on green practices (Gil-Soto et al., 2019; Kim et al., 2016).
However, existing studies reveal that such practices do not always influence intention to visit
or customers’ satisfaction positively (Han et al., 2011; Yu et al., 2017). Indeed, recent studies
highlight both positive and negative comments about green practices expressed through social
media (D’Acunto et al., 2020; Gil-Soto et al., 2019; Kim et al., 2016). Existing studies do not
systematically investigate the reason behind positive or negative perceptions. Moreover, they
often refer to a limited number of generic green practices (e.g. ‘waste management’ or ‘energy
conservation’). The purpose of this study is thus to build a detailed and integrative list of hotels’
green practices and to analyze how guests perceive them, beyond the simple positive-negative
dichotomy.