HOTEL ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PERCEPTIONS: CUSTOMER AND MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

With increasing relevance at the national and global levels, the sustainability issue leads to countless adjustments to daily human behaviours, which should minimize the impacts on the environment through products, services, and procedures. The hotel industry is one of the trades that has done significant efforts to reduce the ecological footprint by introducing many improvements in their daily labour routines. This work addresses a survey that originated 320 questionnaire responses from customers, and five hotel managers’ interviews addressing their motivations and difficulties in adopting sustainable practices. This research focuses on finding the main perceptions and behaviours of consumers and hotel managers on conservation of the environment itself and their perspective about sustainability towards the hotel industry. Preliminary findings showed that consumers are introducing more often sustainable policies in their routines and consider environmental sustainability as an important practice in their life. Moreover, respondents assume that the hotel industry has an important role in preserving the environment. Yet participants do not choose a hotel or local accommodation due to their environmental practices, issues such as price or location are more important in the selection process.