As reported on Green Lodging News last week, the August issue of Cornell Hospitality Quarterly includes an article entitled, “Hotel Guests’ Preferences for Green Guest Room Attributes.” The article’s authors are Michelle Millar of the University of San Francisco, and Seyhmus Baloglu of the University of Nevada. The article summarizes the results of a study that was based on the responses of 571 business and leisure travelers. Seven sustainable practices were looked at: recycling policy, shampoo amenities, lighting control, energy efficient light bulbs, towel policy, linen policy, and green certification by an outside agency. It is worth noting that the study included only respondents who indicated a willingness to stay in green rooms. You can draw your own conclusion here but I suggest not drawing conclusions from the study about travelers in general.
The study’s purpose is to identify what kind of green hotel room business and leisure travelers would most prefer. The study also seeks to assess whether customers are willing to pay more to stay in a green hotel room, and if so, how much more.
The study applies conjoint analysis to understand and measure the bundle of attributes that are important to travelers in booking a hotel. Conjoint analysis measures the degree of importance of each product attribute individually and its influence combined with others on the consumer’s choice of the overall product.
What were the most interesting findings? Both business and leisure travelers ranked green certification as most important of the seven sustainable practices. This is interesting because previous research has shown that more than 95 percent of travelers cannot even name or recognize any green hotel certification programs. Second in importance to business and leisure travelers is towel and linen reuse programs. No surprise here because this type of program is often the most visible green program to guests. Ranking last, or seventh, among business travelers: lighting control. Ranking seventh, or last, among leisure travelers: recycling policy.
Not surprisingly, most travelers said they are not willing to pay more to stay in a green lodging property. Interestingly, there are hotels that are charging more for allergy-friendly rooms—rooms with air filtration, mattress and pillow encasements, etc., but this trend was not addressed in the study. Survey respondents indicated that they would prefer that recycling containers be in the lobby, not the guestroom. They prefer amenity dispensers over individual amenity bottles. They prefer key cards for guestroom energy management control over occupancy sensors.
The study’s authors conclude that much more research is needed on guest preferences. The authors also admit that other topics could have or should have been addressed in the study. I would have touched on green cleaning and the use of green cleaning products in the guestroom. This is a huge concern for travelers with asthma and for those with chemical sensitivities.
Click here to access the study.
