The primary purpose of the study by Sungpo Yi, Xu Li and Tun-Min Jai was to investigate guests’ perception of green hotels through a content analysis of online hotel reviews.
A total of 7370 comments were collected, and 737 green comments were analyzed based on TripAdvisor’s top 10 green hotels.
The results indicated that the majority of hotel green practices are perceived as positive. Hotel guests consider some green practices, such as a reflective roofing system, a storm water management system, and guest training, as sincere efforts by hotels to be green and they complement them.
However, some hotel guests assert that hotels may just be using green practices as a marketing tool or to gain financial benefits. Some green practices, such as temperature control, low water pressure, and degradable utensils, are actually not positively perceived.
Therefore, the results suggest to hotel operators how they should implement being a sincere green hotel and how green practices should be approached to build environmental friendly branding strategies.
