The Gen XY Lifestyle
Eco-Friendly Stays: What Asian and Younger Travelers Look for in Green Hotels
With more travelers seeking comfortable accommodations, the hunt for eco-friendly hotels is on the rise.
Besides considering price, style, and service quality, eco-conscious guests are now prioritising hotels that demonstrate genuine environmental responsibility. But how can travellers, even before their trip, assess if a hotel is truly eco-friendly?
A recent study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School reveals that Asian and younger travelers value tangible eco-friendly actions and measures, while Western and senior travelers place greater importance on eco-certifications.
Key Takeaways:
- Cultural and Generational Differences: Asians and younger travelers prioritise visible eco-efforts, while Westerners and older consumers favor eco-certifications.
- Decision-Making Styles: Process-focused travellers prefer hotels showcasing eco-efforts, while result-focused travelers lean towards hotels with formal eco-certifications.
- Targeted Marketing Strategies: Hotels should tailor their promotions based on guests’ cognitive preferences to effectively communicate their environmental achievements.
The study, titled How Eco-Certificate/Effort Influences Hotel Preference, looks into 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 those with incremental habits pay more attention to efforts and intermediary processes.
When deciding on lodging, travellers with an entity decision habit lean towards hotels with eco-certificates, valuing formal recognition and status. Conversely, those with incremental decision habits prefer hotels that highlight their eco-efforts, appreciating specific actions being taken.
Past studies indicate that age and culture can often predict decision habits. Westerners and the elderly are more inclined towards entity decision habits, while Easterners and younger travellers lean toward incremental decision habits. Follow-up studies confirmed these trends, showing that Asians and younger travellers focus more on hotels’ eco-efforts, whereas Westerners and the elderly appreciate eco-certificates.
Understanding these decision-making preferences enables hotels to refine their marketing strategies. “Hotels need to clearly communicate their ‘green’ attributes so that travelers can recognize and understand the value of these efforts,” says Professor Lisa Wan (Lead Author of the study). She explains that some hotels in the US didn’t see 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, 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.
Photos by Noah Buscher and by rafael albornoz on Unsplash
