What Eco-Conscious Travellers Want

As the holiday travel season approaches, many travellers are searching for comfortable accommodations. Alongside factors such as price, style, and service quality, a growing number of eco-conscious guests are now prioritising hotels that demonstrate environmental responsibility. But how do travellers, before setting foot in their destination, assess whether a hotel is truly eco-friendly?

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A recent study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School sheds light on this question, revealing that Asian and younger travellers value tangible ecofriendly actions and measures, while Western and senior travellers place greater importance on eco-certifications.

Key findings:

• Cultural and generational differences: Asians and younger travellers prioritise visible eco-efforts, while Westerners and older consumers favour eco-certifications.

• Decision-making styles: Travellers who focus on processes prefer hotels showcasing eco-efforts, while those who focus on results prefer hotels with formal ecocertifications.

• Targeted marketing strategies: Hotels should tailor their promotions based on guests’ cognitive preferences to achieve the most effective communication of their environmental achievements.

The study, titled How Eco-Certificate/Effort Influences Hotel Preference, was conducted by Professor Lisa Wan, Professor Elisa Chan, and doctoral student Xue Nan from CUHK School of Hotel and Tourism Management. The study was based on the implicit theory of intelligence which explains two prominent cognitive decision habits: entity and incremental. People with entity decision habits tend to focus on the outcome, while people with incremental decision habits are more likely to pay attention to efforts and intermediary processes.

When deciding on lodging, travellers with an entity decision habit lean towards hotels with eco-certificates as they value formal recognition and status. On the other hand, people with an incremental decision habit tend to prefer hotels that highlight their eco-efforts as they appreciate specific actions being taken.

Previous studies have indicated that age and culture can be a proxy for decision habits. While Westerners and the elderly are more likely to resort to entity decision habits, Easterners and youngsters lean toward incremental decision habits. The team’s follow-up studies confirmed these premises, revealing that Asians and younger travellers are more likely to focus on hotels’ eco-efforts. In contrast, Westerners and elderly travellers would appreciate eco certificates more.

Understanding these decision-making preferences enables hotels to refine their marketing strategies. “Hotels need to clearly communicate their ‘green’ attributes so that travellers can recognise and understand the value of these efforts,” says Professor Wan. She explains some hotels in the US did not experience a performance boost despite having eco-certificates, likely because many travellers are unaware of their sustainable practices during the search and booking stages.

“To address these challenges, hotels are advised to present their green initiatives effectively at the booking stage, identifying and targeting the dominant cognitive decision habits of the guests to streamline the eco-information presentation accordingly,” she adds. By leveraging big data and social media platforms, hotels can further segment customer groups and design targeted promotions that resonate with travellers’’ preferences.